The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
WOOLLY WEEKEND AT LAKE FARMPARK
Sheep shearing event offers visitors variety of fiber fun
Hulk Hogan’s got nothing on Ann Petersen.
The Lake Metroparks Farmpark livestock manager had her hands — and legs and arms — full at times during a sheepshearing demonstration May 14.
“This is probably the second time she’s ever been shorn,” said Petersen, after successfully cutting away fleece from a large Polled Dorset sheep before a crowd of spectators. It involved some arduous attempts at calming, repositioning and holding the animal, which came close to kicking her in the forehead at one point. “Everybody’s got a different disposition.”
Such displays are the main attraction of the Farmpark’s Sheep Shearing Weekend, which also includes goat-shearing, sheep herding; fiber processing, spinning and weaving; and other handson activities.
“Most of us think boring, white, fluffy, gentle animals who do not think for themselves,” said Cleveland artist Rachel Gordon, who discussed her sheeprelated artwork at the event. “Nothing could be
“You’ve got to shear your sheep, because of the fact that they get too hot in the summer.” — A Farmpark staff member Donnie Malines
be further from the truth! Like people, sheep come in all different shapes and sizes, colors and personalities.”
Some people feel sorry for the sheep as they are wrangled into unnaturallooking shapes while they are shorn, or they think that the shearing hurts them, said Farmpark staff member Donnie Malines, who was emceeing the demonstration.
“You’ve got to shear your sheep, because of the fact that they get too hot in the summer,” she said. “The sheep weighs twice what Ann does. It’s a lot harder on the shearer than the sheep.”
The crowd applauded the fatigued-looking Petersen as she uprighted the nowsleek creature and led it back to its pen.
Visitors then got to dig their hands into the luxurious wool outstretched on the pavilion floor.
“It’s feels so cool!” exclaimed Rachel Covitch of University Heights. She brought her two young children out for the event.
“It’s just a nice place to introduce your kids to animals,” she said.
Petersen noted that the Farmpark had about 45 sheep to shear this spring. The demonstrations were done throughout the past couple of weeks for hundreds of students in school groups coming from as far as Portage County.
“It’s another opportunity for people to connect with where their food and fiber come from,” she said. “We’re focused on the fiber this weekend.
“By doing the spinning and the weaving here, we can show how you can take it from the sheep and end up with a finished product you can use.”