Annual Sheep to Shawl Saturday at Mission Mill

The fun event celebrates the mill’s buildings’ recognition on the National Historic Register.

Girls learning about the old ways at Mission Mill Photo By: Tim King

(SALEM) - The 22nd Annual Sheep to Shawl at Mission Mill Museum will be held on Saturday, from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM.

The entire site will be open to the public -- free of charge.

New this Year: The Willards will be here with their mini hay baler. They will offer these cute replicas of the original hand-fed and hand-tied bales for sale. Weather permitting they may even bring a hay wagon.

Also during this year`s event they will be celebrating the fiber arts with a `sheep to shawl" demonstration, including sheep shearing, carding, spinning, and weaving. Watch them at work as they create a shawl from raw wool, all in one day.

Additional fiber and textile artists will be demonstrating as well, including the Millstream Knitters, the Wednesday and Saturday spinners, Cherry City Needlepoint Guild, bobbin lace-makers and tatters, rug hookers, Salem Fiberarts Guild weavers, chair-caners, and other talented folks. Inside the Mill Building and the historic houses, see examples of antique and modern textiles, from quilts and overshot bedspreads to clothing and blankets.

On the grounds, there will be farmers with their fiber-bearing animals: llamas, alpacas, many varieties of sheep, goats, and angora rabbits. Sheep will be sheared every hour, and vendors will have goods for sale. All across the site, there will be booths set up for children`s activities, including rope-making. A blacksmith will be at work in the old forge by the Mentzer Machine Shop. Heritage organizations will be present also.

The Dairy Princess will be churning butter. Cloggers and Madrigal Singers will be entertaining visitors.

Costumed guides will be stationed in the historic houses as well as in the newly rehabilitated Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Building. See some of the woolen mill machinery in operation. View some of the actual possessions of the early missionaries who helped bring Oregon to statehood.

For more information, call (503) 585-7012 or visit the website www.missionmill.org