It's that time of year again when we shake off the winter dust and open the mill up wide for a summer of tours, community events, and arts celebrations!
To get things kicked off, our summer guided tours have started. The tours are a chance to see our 19th and 20th century machinery and dye-plant gardens up close and personal and have someone talk you through the history and processes of taking wool from raw fibre to finished item here at the mill. They are running every Friday at 2pm and on our Open Saturdays at 2pm through to the end of September. The 2018 Open Saturday dates are May 26th, June 23rd, July 28th, Aug 25th, and September 29th. If you plan to attend a tour we do ask that you RSVP as space is limited. You can RVSP by shooting us an email with the anticipated number in your party - we'll send you a confirmation email back.
Next up, you'll be able to find our yarns and fibre out and about the community at some of the Alberta fibre festivals this spring. While we won't be there in person, the ladies at Alberta Yarn Project - dedicated endorsers of the wide variety of home-grown Alberta yarns - will be at the Calgary Spring Fibre Festival May 12th & 13th, the Fibre Frolic in Edmonton May 26th, and Yarn in the Park in Stoney Plain June 9th. They'll have a selection of our yarns, including some of our Naturally Dyed Mule Spinner Yarn, as well as an assortment of other single source farm and artisan yarns (some of which are processed here at our mill!!). Then, you can find us all at the Olds College Fibre Week Merchant Mall June 15th to 17th, where we'll have an expanded selection of yarn, carded wool, and Seine River Shepherds vests.
Of course summer wouldn't be summer without a few good BBQ's, farm markets, saskatoons, and lazy days spent touring around the country side. Slow Food Calgary will be joining us once again for a celebration of the summer solstice on Saturday June 23rd Then, on Saturday July 28, we'll be hosting "Midway Community Presents" - a showcasing of our local community businesses and saskatoon u-pick. Next, we'll be taking our canoes and rafts drifting down the bow river to collect tansy - an invasive species in the bow river valley that is great for dyeing wool - for our Field & Forage yarn line. After that, on Saturday August 25th there will be a bus tour that visits Dancing Goats Farm near Acme, Alberta and Custom Woolen Mills.
Finally, for the summer season grande finale, we are very excited to be hosting fibre artist Rosemarie Peloquin from Ste. Rose-du-Lac, Manitoba as our 2018 Millstay Artist in Residence. Rosemarie works primarily in the medium of needle felting, through which she creates the most inspired and soul capturing likenesses of the people and world around her. She'll be here at the mill for the month of September when you can visit her in studio, take classes, and join us for the finale exhibit on Saturday September 29th.
As you can tell summer at the mill will be a fun one, full of the best things that summer has to offer. We'll let you know the more formal details of these events as they draw closer, we just wanted to give you a "save the date" option. We hope to see you out and about, taking it all in!
