Founder of the Flag Wool & Fiber Festival, Andrea Green, started the festival in 2015. This year marks his ninth edition of the festival, two of which have been virtual due to the pandemic. In early 2015, before embarking on production for the festival, Mr. Greene received an offer from the Arizona Historical Society to shear sheep, run a garden, and knit and weave it all at once to create something “a shawl from sheep.” He was asked to lead a demonstration of “To”. in front of an audience. The Arizona Historical Society told Mr. Green that it had run a wool and textile festival off and on since 1996 with varying levels of success, and asked Mr. Green if he wanted to carry it on.

Green had previously been interested in the textile arts through knitting, spinning, and dyeing yarn. She opened her Etsy shop selling yarn after the birth of her son, but she fell down the rabbit hole and learned more about her art as the years went by. When she was given the chance to lead the Fiber Festival, she said yes, enlisted her friends and has been working hard to expand the festival ever since.

“So many things have changed,” Green said. “It used to be just me and one of my friends, but now it’s run by a strong team of five people. I’ve been using Sequestfield, and it’s grown a lot.”

Supported by grants from local organizations such as the City of Flagstaff, Creative Flagstaff, the Arizona Community Foundation, and the Arizona Foundation for the Arts, the event expanded into a multi-day celebration of fiber arts. The festival is free and open to the public and features demonstrations, workshops, stalls, livestock displays, live shearing, lectures and food stalls.

“There are vendors everywhere: raw fleece, yarn from small farms, hand-dyed yarn, candles, soaps. There are women from the Prescott Valley making goat milk soap. There will also be finished products,” Green said.

Most of the included events are free and open to the public, but there are also a few workshops available for purchase on a ticketed basis. With the help of a grant, the Flagstaff Wool & Fiber Festival was able to invite two of his featured artists to give free demonstrations. Dine’s Textiles His artist Venancio Aragon demonstrates tapestry twill weaving on an indigenous upright tension loom and Navajo laps how he uses his spindle to spin wool fibers to create yarn. increase.Founder Alyssa Allen MycopigmentLearn about the history of using fungi in dyes, how fungi are tested for dyeability, and how silk scarves are dyed.

“Everyone should come,” Green said. “We really offer something for everyone, from small children to people who already know what they are doing. All the people out there are really positive and willing to share, some of you have heard of them, some of you don’t know, stop by with people doing these crazy things It’s a really fun time to chat.”

The Flagstaff Wool & Fiber Festival team has always wanted to make the festival accessible to everyone by making much of the festival free and open to the public. With the help of the community, they want to open their eyes and hearts to an immersive farm-to-textile experience.

“One of the things that’s really important to us, and to our mission as a nonprofit, is helping connect the community with fiber artists, and making this connection happen for free,” said Green. Told. “We could not have done this without the support from our community, including grants and the women’s team that runs it. We are so grateful to all of you, and with community events, especially free ones, the more the community participates, the more we can grow, support and continue.”

To learn more about events and volunteer opportunities, visit the Flagstaff Wool & Fiber Festival. website.