Indiana Fiber and Music Festival Debuts April 30-May 1
The Indiana Fiber and Music Festival, a new weekend-long event that promotes natural, sustainable and renewable products, debuts in 2011 at the end of April. The Indiana Fiber and Music Festival will offer workshops, demonstrations and vendors displaying and selling handmade fiber art, along with musical entertainment and children’s activities, according to Jerry Merriman, one of the event organizers.
The event will take place Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, at the Clark County 4H Fairgrounds, located about 20 minutes from Louisville in Charlestown, Indiana.
Organizers expect the spring festival to complement the Southern Indiana Fiber Arts Festival held in Corydon in the fall and to boost interest in the art before the fiber season winds down.
“Most festivals are in the fall and leading into the winter, which is usually the time when people are considering working with fiber,” Merriman explained.
Organizers scheduled the festival for the weekend before Derby in hopes of drawing more people.
The festival’s participants come from six states and include some of the most talented dyers, spinners, knitters and weavers in the Midwest, Merriman said. Some of the workshops offered will cover knitting, spinning, felting, weaving and braiding.
Among the musicians set to perform at the festival are Pope Lick Swills, Unleashed, Mountain Harmony, Hwy 62, Dillan Johnson, Daniel Thompson, Taking Root, West of Dublin and Dr. Steve's Good Feeling Experience.
Formal demonstrations will include sock knitting and "Sheep to Shawl," where spinners spin fleece into yarn that another artist weaves into a shawl. In addition, vendors are encouraged to demonstrate craft-making in their booths.
Posted on Apr 4, 2011 by Bobbi Buchanan
