Knitters, spinners, crocheters and sewists are invited to the second edition of the Vankleek Hill Fibre Frolic at the Creating Centre in Vankleek Hill on October 2 and 3.

“Fibre festivals are a big event with people who really like knitting, crocheting and sewing,” said Indigo Hill Dye Studio owner Andrea Belcham, one of the organizers of Fibre Frolic. “It’s been really hard for people to miss the social occasion of getting together and talking to people who make the products and their friends.”

Belcham and other area businesses held the first festival in Vankleek Hill in 2020, after many of the annual fibre festivals that she and other producers would normally attend were either canceled or moved online. With no place to display their products, she and other fibre businesses in the area opted to organize a local festival.

“We wanted to create something in Vankleek Hill using local textile artists and fibre farmers,” Belcham explained, adding the event is also being marketed using Vankleek Hill as a destination. “We’re marketing it as an event for people from more widely spread places – Ottawa, Gatineau, Montreal – to attend, spending the day visiting the festival but also local points of interest.”

“It’s also great for locals who maybe don’t know too much about the textile artists in their area.”

Many types of yarn will be on sale, as well as roving used by hand spinners. Vendors will have displays located on the first floor of the Creating Centre and two are planned to be outdoors. There will also be door prizes available at the Fibre Frolic which have been donated by the vendors and local businesses.

For people who don’t do crafts themselves there are lots of finished products and gifts for sale as well. Eight vendors from throughout the region will be on hand, including Indigo Hill Dye Studio, Karberry Farm, Roots & Rain Yarn, Holmebody Knits, A Cup of Kindness Tea, Les Belles Bouclettes (Oct. 2), Wild Woolly Handmade (Oct. 3) and GROAdesign (Oct. 3).

The Vankleek Hill Creating Centre is located at the intersection of Main Street and Highway 34.