In October, I traveled to the East Coast for a little vacation. While I was there I hung out with friends, took in the sights, and most importantly, went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival.
The New York Sheep and Wool Festival is held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. Rhinebeck is about an hour and a half north of Manhattan, in the Hudson Valley. The sheep and wool festival, more commonly known as just Rhinebeck, has been happening since 1980. It attracts yarn enthusiasts, vendors, and livestock handlers from all over the world. I had heard about this event for a while now and had been wanting to attend. So, I called up my friend who lives in New Jersey, asked if she wanted to go, and I planned my trip around attending the festival.
The festival was held over two days, Saturday and Sunday. We originally were going to go on Saturday but it was raining so we decided to wait and drive up on Sunday. The drive was beautiful going through all the pretty trees and we made it to the fairgrounds shortly after the festival opened on Sunday morning.
It was so much fun!
There is so much to see and do. There were animals, yarn, and lots of food.
My friend and I ventured over to the animal section first. There was an area where you could watch a sheep be sheared but it was only happening once an hour and we didn’t feel like waiting around. Then we walked over to the sheep enclosures. There were so many sheep, of all kinds of breeds, just hanging out in their pens. Some of the sheep had jacket-like coverings on, which I think meant they had been sheared recently so the coverings were to help them keep warm. We then watched a sheep judging competition. It was just like a dog show but it was a show of sheep. All the sheep lined up with their handlers and then they walked around in a circle and then the judge came around, feeling their fleece and body shape. I don’t know what the judge was looking for but he finally picked a winner and everyone was super excited.
There were other animals at the festival like alpacas, goats, and even a long-haired angora rabbit. These rabbits were so fluffy.
There was a parade of animals later that went all around the fairgrounds.
My friend and I then walked through a bunch of barns that had all the wool and yarn. Basically, any type of yarn you wanted to buy, it was there. Sometimes it was challenging to get into a booth to see what they were selling but I found that if you just waited around, space would eventually open up. I’m glad we went on Sunday because I did hear from others that it was not as crowded on Sunday (I completely thought Sunday would have been more crowded just because people wouldn’t want to attend in the rain on Saturday but that wasn’t the case). I saw vendors selling yarn, stickers, yarn swifts, kits, practically anything you would need to knit or crochet. You could also buy unspun wool.
There was also so much food, and it was all fairground-type food. I really wanted to get an apple cider doughnut because I heard they are really good but the line was super long so I didn’t. There were other foods such as roasted brussel sprouts and french fries and burgers and stuff.
I saw everyone walking around with tote bags that had the Rhinebeck logo on them and I really wanted one but didn’t know where they were being sold. We finally found the souvenir tent but by then it was early afternoon and all the tote bags had been sold out. I later found that you could do a pre-order on festival items which I must have missed when I looked at the website. I know now to pre-order if I go back next year.
In all, I had a lot of fun and I’m glad I went. Now that I know what to expect I would probably go back. Also when my friend and I walking around getting ready to leave we found a whole other section that we hadn’t been to that had more vendors and lots more places to eat. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t look at the festival map!
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