Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is a Warm Experience

By Janet Carey '07

From Sheepdog trials, to best sheep contests, from lambs for sale, to lamb kabobs. Everything you could ever dream of (that has to do with farm work or farm animals) can be found at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. This being my second year attending just made it even more thrilling. Because now I knew where all the fun activities and good shopping could be found.

Our intrepid chaperones, Mrs. Curtis and Ms. Kavanaugh, both of whom raise farm animals themselves, clearly enjoy this festival and have soft spots for sheep and goats. The first thing that was said by Mrs. Kavanaugh on this "sacred" ground was "Alright girls. First rule, no bringing any four legged creatures back on the van at four [pm]." All I heard after that was a resounding groan.

People at the festival seemed happy, if not rather anxious to rid themselves of the animals that seemed a burden to keep. Seeing all those animals that were loved so dearly by their owners was amazing. You could buy rabbits, sheep, kittens, and a few other assorted farm creatures.

Just about the first thing that I did (both last year and this year) when I got to the fair was look at the shopping booths. The goods that are sold there range from vet nary tattoo ink to jewelry (there was also a good lot of wool vendors, hence the Sheep and WOOL Festival.) The prices are fairly reasonable in my opinion but they could have been a bit lower.

Shortly after looking around in the shopping tents, I headed over to the barns where the sheep were located. It was amazing to see all the different assortments of sheep that had been accumulated on one tiny fairground. There were so many that I began needing to compare each sheep with celebrities such as Bob Marley, Alf, Johnny Depp, and Tom Cruise and believe me that is a task.

Inside the various barns there were sheering demonstrations, and grooming demonstrations. The process in which these seemingly cute, harmless, innocent animals are groomed seemed agonizing but in fact it was perfectly harmless. Their faces were tied in to a metal "face-holder" and all the sheep were "baaaa"ing their hearts out.

There was a lot of great food. Ironically, most of the food that I saw was lamb. There was also French fries, Hot dogs, Funnel Cakes, Pit lamb, Lemonade, Ice Cream, Smoothies, Kettle corn and a lot of other food that I didn’t have a chance to scarf down.

A bit past the food there were a few tents and an arena with little bleachers used as spectator stands. This was where the Sheepdog trials were held. The two tents that were there were used for the "Atlantic Region Central Border Collie Rescue." You could donate money to this foundation. Five dollars could feed one dog for one week. The Sheepdog trials were amazing. It was a demonstration of how Sheepdogs control the sheep and make them do obstacles in the arena. The dogs had better concentration than I could ever dream of having.