Maryland Sheep and Wool, Saturday

Yesterday was the first day of the full Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

Here’s what the parking lot looked like at 8:15 in the morning, about forty-five minutes before the festival officially began:

As I thought, the rabbit building’s overflow area was put to good use for the Ravelry gathering:

It was packed inside. I didn’t even get in there.

Here’s the aisle where I took the photo of the truck parked in the main building on Friday:

And here’s the area outside that building:

Those are food lines, early in the day, at a twenty- to thirty-minute wait length. Later they got longer. In the way background is the area with the sheepdog demos.

At mid-afternoon, there’s a sheep-and-wool tradition:

It’s made with real lemons, right there. There’s also a booth that has real, old-fashioned carbonated beverages, like birch beer and cream sodas. (You can also get the standard stuff.)

Toward the end of the day, I was able to catch up with one of Bryan Bowers‘ performances. He’s one of my favorite musicians, and was cultivating a few new fans at the festival:

I’d hoped to be able to ask him if he’d consider playing "The View from Home," which is one of my all-time favorite songs, but it was a short concert and I was feeling lazy enough just to listen to whatever he felt like playing.

There’s really good music at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Maggie Sansone is a regular. She often plays at the end of the main building, so while I’d spin in the Interweave Press booth she’d be providing music to the whole place. It was lovely. Over the years I’ve brought home a number of CDs, as well as fiber and tools.

And here’s the end of the day:

I’ve got two ounces of fleece (two different kinds) and three skeins of a yarn that I’d been looking for since last October. The two ounces doesn’t seem like much, but it’s special stuff that you can’t get just anywhere and it’s got immediate uses in my life.

I didn’t get to the big Ravelry party at the Sheraton in Columbia, although I’d intended to. I went to supper with a small group of friends. By the time we actually ate and then I drove one of them back to the farm where she’s staying, the Ravelry party was almost over (it was nearly 11), and I went back to the hotel to gather my forces for the next day.

My way of navigating the festival is to avoid crowds, so there’s a lot I didn’t see yesterday. Also, I was showing a friend around, which affected where I went and what I saw.

Sunday is traditionally quieter. I’ve got several things in mind to accomplish today, and I’ll have time for some browsing.