The Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia will host its 4th Annual Fiber Festival on Saturday, April 4, 2026, inviting visitors to spend the day exploring hands-on demonstrations, educational programming, and family-friendly activities centered on fiber traditions past and present. Standout Arts, LLC spoke with Director of Events Paige Hildebrand and Associate Director of Interpretation Mary Kate Claytor about this year’s event, what visitors can expect, and the enduring importance of fibers such as wool and hemp in both historical and contemporary life.
This year’s festival will feature sheep shearing and sheep herding demonstrations. The sheep herding sessions will be led by a professional shepherd who will bring her own trained dogs and conduct three separate demonstrations throughout the day. Claytor emphasized the continued relevance of this work, noting that sheepdog training remains essential within agricultural communities.
“Seeing the relationship between Julie, who's our shepherd and her dogs, this kind of unspoken sort of communication that happens between them, the very nuanced behaviors to maneuver her sheep in the way that needs to be done, is really cool for me, but also for people that maybe have never seen it before,” Claytor explained. “She always draws a really big crowd when she's doing her demos. And she explains it too!”
In addition to these demonstrations, the festival will include food vendors and fiber arts vendors offering spinning fiber, yarn, and related materials. A fiber arts workshop will also be offered this year, expanding opportunities for hands-on learning.
For the first time, the museum will offer fleeces from its own heritage breed sheep for sale. Hildebrand and Claytor expressed enthusiasm about this addition, recognizing its appeal to visitors who enjoy spinning and crafting with wool sourced directly from historic breeds. Claytor observed that interest in fiber arts has grown significantly in recent years.
“That's something that the fiber arts community has kind of exploded over the last several years. It's become a really popular craft that people have gotten into. And there's lots of reasons for that, but I think a lot of it has to do with people wanting to be more present in the things that they are wearing or that they create for people. It's a more tactile experience, and it's also something that connects people to the past in some way.”
The museum’s sheep include Cotswold and Tunis breeds, both classified as heritage breeds due to their long histories and distinct characteristics. Claytor explained that these breeds possess qualities that were historically valued by farmers.
“There are things about them, whether it's how they behave, how easy or difficult they are to care for, whether or not they're really good mothers, those types of things. Those are features that people in the past really wanted because it made their lives a little bit easier as far as caring for them. But also, those are traits that can continue into the present for people who have small farms, homesteads or people who are into hand spinning fiber arts in general. It's really appealing to those groups of people.”
Beyond the demonstrations and marketplace, the Fiber Festival serves as a point of connection within the fiber arts community. Claytor noted that live demonstrations often inspire participants to continue learning after the event.
“We have people who come and do live demonstrations and help people learn spinning. So then they'll go home and then they'll be able to start spinning. In that regard, the vendors who come to Fiber Fest provide a great way for people to make connections and to start learning about spinning, even if they are not already in that community.”
The event is also designed to demonstrate that fiber arts are accessible to anyone interested in learning. Museum interpreters and vendors will provide guidance on tools and techniques throughout the day.
“With some of the workshops that we will have going on, interpreters are willing to help give insight into how these certain tools work or how this process is done. In addition, some of the vendors will give visitors a crash course in how to use them. I think those elements are really important because it shows that if you want to learn how to do this, you absolutely can.”
Visitors will also have the opportunity to learn about flax, which is grown and processed at the museum. Processing, spinning, and weaving flax dates back to ancient civilizations, and linen produced from flax remains one of the earliest known textile materials. As Claytor explained, “The majority of the material used for our historic clothing that our interpreters wear on the site is generally either wool or linen. So that's kind of your base level there for most of the things that they're wearing.”
Throughout the day, guests can observe the full textile process, beginning with shearing and washing wool, continuing through carding and spinning, and culminating in the formation of finished garments. The festival allows visitors to see each stage within the context of the museum’s historic settings.
In reflecting on what makes the event distinctive, Claytor noted the unique integration of historical interpretation and contemporary fiber arts practice.
“Our venue is very unique because I can't think of any other fiber festivals anywhere where you have the opportunity to go and buy your stuff, buy your goodies, and then go and see somebody doing those types of things in a historical fashion. And also get to see these older breeds of sheep that you don't necessarily get to see and use their fiber in other places. So I think in that way, ours is pretty unique. We're really the only one that's in this little area. So I think we serve an area that for a long time didn't really have this kind of event.”
The Frontier Culture Museum is the largest open-air living history museum in the Shenandoah Valley and one of Virginia’s leading family-friendly destinations. Seasonally, costumed historical interpreters present the lives and customs of Indigenous peoples in Virginia, the experiences of German, English, and Irish settlers along the Great Wagon Road, and the history of enslaved Africans brought to the first permanent British colony in North America. Visitors may also observe and interact with tradespeople such as blacksmiths, woodworkers, tailors, and spinners while learning how early communities worked the land and produced essential goods. The Frontier Culture Museum is open year-round in Staunton, VA.
For more information about the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia, please visit frontiermuseum.org.
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