Join this gathering of artisans, crafters and appreciators of the fiber arts at this major festival. Sheep shearing, cooking competition, games and great local food. Performances by Atwater-Donnelly and others! For information on becoming a vendor or sponsor, email Cindy Elder. The Festival is included in the regular price of admission and is free to Coggeshall members.
What's Old Is New: Fiber Arts Take Center Stage at Coggeshall Regional fair on Saturday, May 21 features artisans and fiber producers from across New England, heritage music and dancing, against the backdrop of an 18th-century farm.
BRISTOL, RI -- Are the fiber arts cool? Just check out the popular online marketplace, Etsy, and you'll see more than 275,000 fiber and textile art items for sale. But if you'd rather see them in person, come to Coggeshall Farm Museum's 9th Annual Fiber Festival and Craft Fair on Saturday, May 21 from 10 am to 5 pm.
This major regional festival brings together New England's finest fiber producers, artisans and crafters for a day of demonstrations and a chance to shop directly from the artists. Coggeshall is located at 1 Colt Dr., Bristol, off Poppasquash Road.
"This is a rare opportunity to connect directly with the people who are raising fiber animals, creating and working with natural fibers, and producing one-of-a-kind handcrafted items," says Cindy Elder, executive director at Coggeshall Farm Museum. "Interest in traditional arts has taken off like wildfire, and we are celebrating that resurgence at the Fiber Festival and Craft Fair."
The event also features family fun, including old-fashioned games, children's crafts, and performances by the Ladies of the Rolling Pin dancers and Atwater-Donnelly, a traditional American folk music duo.
Watch a professional sheep shearer at work on Coggeshall's flock of Gulf Coast Natives, one of the heritage breeds the farm helps to preserve. "You can buy the freshly shorn fleece right off the sheep's back," says Elder. "Everyone will get a haircut that day, including our six lambs who were born in February and are all mischief!"
The Rhode Island Spinners' Guild will be out in force with rows of spinning wheels converting fresh wool into workable fiber. Coggeshall's historic educators will be mingling with the crowd, dressed in authentic 18th-century clothing. All ages can participate in a "rope walk," where many hands work together to create rope from scratch.
Food will be provided by The Gilded Tomato, which produces wood-fired pizzas and other culinary delights inside copper-domed ovens handcrafted by a Maine artisan.
The RI Fiber Festival and Craft Fair is sponsored by Coleman Realtors, Gil's Appliance, Bristol Marine, John Andrade Insurance Agency, Navigant Credit Union and Starkweather & Shepley.
Tickets and Information
Tickets are available at the gate and all proceeds benefit Coggeshall Farm Museum, a nonprofit living history museum depicting the lives of Rhode Island's tenant farm families in the late 18th century. Admission is $7 for adults; $5 for children under 12, seniors 62+ and active-duty military. Members of Coggeshall Farm Museum are free. Parking is free.
For more information on the Festival, visit www.coggeshallfarm.org/fiberfestival, email c.elder@coggeshallfarm.org or call 401-253-9062.
Compete in the Coggeshall Cook Off
The second annual "Coggeshall Cook Off" wil take place at the RI Fiber Festival and and Craft Fair on Saturday, May 21 at Coggeshall Farm Museum. "We invite the community to show off their culinary talents in an old-fashioned competition," says Elder. This year's theme is Yeasted Breads.
A Cook-Off registration fee of $5 cash must be paid upon arrival (in addition to the Festival ticket fee). All Cook-Off registration fees will go toward cash prizes awarded to the winners. Prizes will be awarded in three categories: Age 12 and Under, Ages 13 to 17, and Ages 18 and up. Contestants must present their Cook Off item at the registration desk by 2 pm on Saturday, May 21. Registration fees in each category will determine the size of the cash prize in each category.
Cook-Off winners will be announced at 4 pm on Saturday, May 21. For more information on the Coggeshall Cook-Off, email Cindy Elder at c.elder@coggeshallfarm.org. Coggeshall Farm Museum is located at 1 Colt Drive in Bristol, off Poppasquash Road.