The Pindrop Fiber Arts Festival moves to Tappan Lake
The Pindrop Fiber Arts Festival will feature information on how fiber is harvested and used.
The Pindrop Fiber Arts Festival will move to Tappan Lake Park this year. The festival will be held Sept. 28 from noon to 7 p.m. at 84000 Mallarnee Road in Deersville.
“We wanted to move the festival to a more scenic, relaxing environment. We’ve always wanted our festival to be different in some way and be an experience people really enjoy,” Jessika Zontini of the Pindrop Shop said. “We thought, ‘Let’s bring people here; it’ll be right on the beach.’”
The location also is next to the campgrounds. Vendors and visitors will have the option to stay for the weekend and participate in all the family activities the area provides.
“They have cabins that you can stay in there. There’s hiking and biking trails, fishing, and swimming,” Zontini said.
For an extra charge, pontoon boat rides will be available during the festival.
This is the third year for the festival, which was previously held in downtown Uhrichsville.
Zontini sees the opportunity the new space will afford them.
“We can really grow in the future. We’ll have just so much more room,” Zontini said.
About 20 vendors are scheduled for this year’s festival.
“The vendors are pretty much all fiber arts related. Some of them will have hand-dyed yarn or hand-spun yarn, or they will have fleece from their animals that you would take and make into your own yarn or do whatever you wanted,” Zontini said. “Then there will be a few vendors that have finished items. We have someone who knits hats, another person who weaves and has dish towels and rugs and things, so you’ll be able to come buy finished items too.”
Some of the vendors include Hiddenview Farm, Hall Family Alpaca, Ten Cat Farm, Gwen Erin Natural Fibers, Ashley A Crochet, Dopeface Knitwear, Knitty Knotty Hand Dyed Yarn, Charmed Fibers and Land of Legends Alpacas/Lola’s Alpaca Shop.
The food trucks that will be available include Yummy Pita, Retro Express, Big Papi’s Potatoes, and lemonade vendor Sweet and Sour Co. Music will be provided by Kodachrome Babies, George Tsantis and musician Mike Putnam.
There will be a sheep shearing demonstration at 1 p.m.
“We have a shearer coming, and we’ll have another person narrating what’s happening over the microphone so you can see how that’s done,” Zontini said. “We want to show how the fiber comes from the animals, and we’ll have sheep, alpacas, mohair goats and angora rabbits this year for people to see. You can talk to the farmers, talk about the process, and then you’ll be able to see the fleece that comes from the animal and the various processes to make that into yarn.”
Zontini’s Pindrop Shop will have a vendor booth at the event as well.
“I’ll just have a selection of my products. It’ll be yarns, fabrics, kits, and different tools and accessories used for crafting,” Zontini said. “I have crochet kits, knitting kits, macrame kits, cross stitch kits, embroidery kits and sewing kits. It makes it fun, and it takes the decision-making out of the process at the beginning. They can just jump right in.”
Children will be able to make a craft when they visit the festival.
“We’re going to have a kids area, and we’ll have different crafts available for the different age groups. Some will be fiber-related stuff and some macrame projects. That will be free,” Zontini said.
The festival will have a lot of demonstrations throughout the day at the vendor booths. There also will be some more structured demonstrations.
“We’re going to have a dying demonstration. One of our hand-dye vendors is going to give the dying demonstration for about 30-45 minutes,” Zontini said.
Workshops are free for adults, but they need to preregister. Workshops include weaving on a frame loom, a color work knitting class and a felting class. Call the Pindrop Shop at 740-224-0700 to sign up.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all the different fiber arts enthusiasts coming from different areas to meet up and have fun together. That’s what I always love about the festivals,” Zontini said. “I’m just hoping to create that. I want to create something that people look forward to coming to every year, to meet up with their friends from all over the area. I’m just excited to see it grow, see how this first year (at Tappan) turns out.”
The Pindrop Fiber Arts Festival is brought by the Pindrop Shop and the following sponsors: the Tuscarawas Arts Partnership, the Village Network, ProVia, Superior Clay, the Commercial and Savings Bank, Morrow Tax, First Federal Community Bank, and the Law Offices of Connolly, Hillyer and Ong.
Visit the Pindrop Fiber Arts Festival page on Facebook.