August 3 & 4, 2024 | Hartl Building, Red River Valley Fairgrounds, West Fargo, ND
About
Providing an event for gathering the fiber community, educating about the fiber arts, and a marketplace for all things fiber related. The Fiber Arts Festival is a relaxed, informal day that everyone in the family can enjoy.
August 3rd and 4th, 2024 Saturday 9 to 5, Sunday 10 to 3
Join us at the Hartl Building, Red River Valley Fairgrounds, West Fargo ND
No admission charge!
Story of the Fiber Arts Festival
It’s our 15th Year
The Fiber Arts Festival was born at Bonanzaville in 2008. The director wanted a special activity for a summer weekend, and Kim Baird and Virginia Dambach immediately started plotting planning a festival to celebrate sewing, knitting, weaving, quilting, and everything else that can be done with fiber, yarn and fabric.
The Festival has always been about bringing together all kinds of fiber people from the region to celebrate our crafts, learn from each other, and enjoy the camaraderie of other fiber people that can be hard to find in our wide open region. Vendors have been an important part of the Festival since the beginning, especially as it was more difficult at that time to find local sources for some of the more specialized tools and materials for fiber arts.
Free demonstrations and hands-on activities have always been a strong focus of the Festival. We want to learn from each other and give artists a space to share our knowledge and recruit new friends to our crafting community. Classes on special topics were offered for a fee.
In 2011, the Festival moved to Rheault Farm in Fargo, under the auspices of the Fargo Park District. Many activities took place outdoors, and amazingly, the weather was good for all 7 years we were there!
2018 brought us back to West Fargo to a new venue, the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. For the first time, everything fit under one roof, including the restrooms. One air-conditioned roof, which is much appreciated.
Because of the pandemic, no Festival was held in 2020. Everyone was so happy to resume in 2021 that even a power outage on Sunday morning couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm. Luckily, crews repaired the lines within an hour.
2024 marks the 15thh Fiber Arts Festival. This year, as always, we operate on volunteer power. Without our volunteers, this would not even be a yarn sale. So many people who are passionate about their craft have been delighted to pass it on. Seeing familiar faces, friends new and old, and those who are just discovering the Festival is the highlight of our summers. Observing young people, especially, discover the joys of making things with their hands shows us that our most important goal, having fun with fiber, is being achieved.
Thanks for attending! the Festival couldn’t happen without you.
WeavingSee a sheep shearing
This year we host featured artist Debbie Johnson. Debbie is an experienced basket weaver who specializes in weaving with natural materials that she enjoys collecting herself.
She shares: “The really motivating factor for me is the process of harvesting natural material, repurposing it, and making things out of seemingly nothing. It’s like bringing nature in and reinventing it. I don’t walk in the woods and just see a tree. Now I go for a walk in the woods and see weaving materials.”
Fiber Arts Festival is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation
About
Providing an event for gathering the fiber community, educating about the fiber arts, and a marketplace for all things fiber related. The Fiber Arts Festival is a relaxed, informal day that everyone in the family can enjoy.
August 3rd and 4th, 2024 Saturday 9 to 5, Sunday 10 to 3
Join us at the Hartl Building, Red River Valley Fairgrounds, West Fargo ND
No admission charge!
Story of the Fiber Arts Festival
It’s our 15th Year
The Fiber Arts Festival was born at Bonanzaville in 2008. The director wanted a special activity for a summer weekend, and Kim Baird and Virginia Dambach immediately started
plottingplanning a festival to celebrate sewing, knitting, weaving, quilting, and everything else that can be done with fiber, yarn and fabric.The Festival has always been about bringing together all kinds of fiber people from the region to celebrate our crafts, learn from each other, and enjoy the camaraderie of other fiber people that can be hard to find in our wide open region. Vendors have been an important part of the Festival since the beginning, especially as it was more difficult at that time to find local sources for some of the more specialized tools and materials for fiber arts.
Free demonstrations and hands-on activities have always been a strong focus of the Festival. We want to learn from each other and give artists a space to share our knowledge and recruit new friends to our crafting community. Classes on special topics were offered for a fee.
In 2011, the Festival moved to Rheault Farm in Fargo, under the auspices of the Fargo Park District. Many activities took place outdoors, and amazingly, the weather was good for all 7 years we were there!
2018 brought us back to West Fargo to a new venue, the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. For the first time, everything fit under one roof, including the restrooms. One air-conditioned roof, which is much appreciated.
Because of the pandemic, no Festival was held in 2020. Everyone was so happy to resume in 2021 that even a power outage on Sunday morning couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm. Luckily, crews repaired the lines within an hour.
2024 marks the 15thh Fiber Arts Festival. This year, as always, we operate on volunteer power. Without our volunteers, this would not even be a yarn sale. So many people who are passionate about their craft have been delighted to pass it on. Seeing familiar faces, friends new and old, and those who are just discovering the Festival is the highlight of our summers. Observing young people, especially, discover the joys of making things with their hands shows us that our most important goal, having fun with fiber, is being achieved.
Thanks for attending! the Festival couldn’t happen without you.
This year we host featured artist Debbie Johnson. Debbie is an experienced basket weaver who specializes in weaving with natural materials that she enjoys collecting herself.
She shares: “The really motivating factor for me is the process of harvesting natural material, repurposing it, and making things out of seemingly nothing. It’s like bringing nature in and reinventing it. I don’t walk in the woods and just see a tree. Now I go for a walk in the woods and see weaving materials.”
Fiber Arts Festival is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation