{"id":15000,"date":"2025-09-24T14:01:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T21:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/?p=15000"},"modified":"2025-09-25T02:20:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T09:20:51","slug":"common-ground-fair-fiber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/2025\/09\/common-ground-fair-fiber\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Ground Fair – fiber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The last batch of photos: Fiber! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt so proud of the Wednesday Spinners group for maintaining such a strong presence at the fair year after year. Here’s an article about the group from the Ellsworth American<\/a>. The article was written in 2016 and states they’d been meeting for 41 years, so I guess this is their 50th anniversary? No sign of a party, just a long row of spinning wheels, with constant demos, plus informational tables and items for sale behind them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wednesday Spinners tent in the morning light<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Some of the Wednesday Spinners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Youngsters seemed fascinated – maybe they’ve never seen spinning? <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A prize-winning black alpaca fleece. It was so soft. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Little looms by Stephen Willette. Lots of fiber-arts-related wooden tools for sale. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Willette’s website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Fancy hats made of wool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Natural dyeing in progress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Cordage making. Enthusiastic young adults surrounded this table, all intent on making cord.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Basket making by native Wabanaki makers. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Susan Barrett Merrill’s woven Zati masks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Susan Barrett Merrill’s website, Weaving a Life<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Learning about wet felting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
An assortment of footwear decorated by wet felters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A loom in action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
This was a new booth. I found it enchanting. Felted hats and brooms for sale in a very witchy atmosphere. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A woman (Proprietor?) at Cackle and Stir booth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As might be expected, the fair weekend ushered in the season of autumn. We had our first frost on Saturday night. A harvest festival is so poignant – a last big get-together in the still summery days, even as the dark times get longer and chillier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By accident, I sat on a bench next to a man who turned out to be Tim Nason<\/a>, who’s been involved with the fair since the early 1970s. He was mostly responsible for the monthly newspaper put out by MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners, the organization behind all this). This encounter made the fair even more meaningful for me. Watching the old-timers pass the torch – actually passing very real skills and knowledge – to an enthusiastic younger generation is probably one of the main reasons I love the fair so much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farewell for another year! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last batch of photos: Fiber! I felt so proud of the Wednesday Spinners group for maintaining such a strong presence at the fair year after year. Here’s an article about the group from...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[431],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15000"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15024,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15000\/revisions\/15024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}