Courtesy Photo A knit hat with an outline of the state of Michigan, made by a Northern Michigan Fiber Festival member, is seen here.

ALPENA — The fourth annual Northern Michigan Fiber Festival returns to the APlex on Saturday and Sunday, with a host of vendors and a wide variety of classes in various topics and price ranges.

Festival President Mary Centala encourages everyone to come check out the festival, even if they’ve never been there before. There will be demonstrations, crafting classes, a question and answer session with veterinarians, Thunder Bay Spinners and Weavers’ demonstrating use of historical spinning wheels, lunch available from local farmers, and something everyone will find interesting, including new classes and vendors.

The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Some classes start earlier than the festival, at 8 a.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. Sunday.

Centala said many classes “relate mostly to fiber,” including supplies for dyeing wool, and all the yarn you could imagine. “New this year is an herbal salve, taking herbs and making medicinal items with them.”

Classes include jewelry-making, bookbinding, basket weaving, felted ornaments and trees, whisk broom making, polymer clay projects, crocheting, and much more.

“We have pine tree luminaries, market basket with wheels, dyeing, and gradient yarn,” Centala added.

She said a wide variety of handcrafted items will be for sale as well.

“You don’t need to do needle work to enjoy the festival,” Centala said, adding that they even have soap for cashmere sweaters, and other things you might not expect to find. “Anything that you would need basically pertaining to fiber.”

She said she enjoys peoples’ reactions when they attend the event for the first time.

“I love seeing people who come in for the first time,” she said. “Their eyes are like, ‘Oh, wow!’ It’s like a kid walking in a toy store because there’s all the color, all the things that are taking place in a festival-type atmosphere.”

She said the spinning wheels will range from antique ones that are over 100 years old all the way up to the most modern ones.

There are over 50 vendors, but some vendors are using more than one space.

“The vendors come from all over Michigan,” Centala said. “It’s not just northern Michigan. They come from even just beyond the border, as we get people from Ohio and Indiana.”

She said many knitting and crocheting and crafting groups are involved in making the festival successful each year, as well as generous community sponsors and volunteers.

“Every year we get more and more community involvement,” Centala said. “It’s exciting when you’re standing in the grocery line and you hear somebody talking about it and you don’t even know them. It’s like oh, you know. They’re getting it now that it’s part of the community.”

She added that a “spinning wheel doctor” will also be on hand for those who may want to consult with him or bring their spinning wheels in.

“He’ll be there, and he’s reasonable,” Centala said. “He answers your questions, and if he can fix it there on the spot, he does.”

She added that more vendors are reaching out to her each year.

“Word is getting out and people want to be a part of it,” she said.

She added that the Alpena FFA is also involved with the festival this year, and items from the Alpena County Fair will be on display as well.

There will also be door prizes and a quilt raffle, with proceeds toward expanding community education, Centala said.

Local lamb and turkey will be available to purchase for lunch.

“You try your hand at spinning,” she added. “We will have an area … I have extra spinning wheels and so if you’ve always wanted to try spinning, this is your chance.”

A demonstration area will feature historical spinning wheels and demonstrations.

“They’re a big help,” Centala said of the Thunder Bay Spinners and Weavers. “They just take that demonstration area and keep it interesting. They don’t do the same thing every year. They’re invaluable.”

Darcy Christianson, festival class coordinator, said there are 26 classes and 12 instructors.

“There is a variety,” Christianson said. “They’re not all fiber-related, but they’re connected to fiber or the idea of fiber in some way … This is more of bringing people into it into the idea of taking a class and then getting involved in fiber arts in general.”

She said the herbal salve and syrup class is new, and it does pertain to fiber, because the fiber is cooked to make the end product.

“When I was creating the list I was looking for a variety of classes for all budgets as well as interests,” she added.

She added that when she told her dad she was running the classes for the Fiber Festival, he asked if her diet was OK.

Christianson’s response was, “‘Not that kind of fiber, Dad.'”

She said the event will appeal to people with many different interests.

“Some of the crafts that people make, the crafts that you can make if you take a class, are phenomenal,” Christianson said. “I took a class last year in wet felting. It was my first time and, excuse the pun, but once you understand what felting is, I was hooked … I found it absolutely fascinating.”

She encourages people to stop in and check the festival out.

“It’s inspirational and it’s informative and it’s educational all in one, and it’s supporting the northern community,” she said. “These are a lot of local farmers, a lot of local shepherd farmers, llamas and alpaca, that come to this, so you’re supporting the community economically as well.”

She said it’s also all natural.

“The coolest thing about the Fiber Festival is it’s natural stuff,” she said. “Natural ideas and concepts of sustainability living … There’s a process behind it and the more people understand it, the more interested they might be in participating in themselves and participating in the more sustainable way of life as well.”

For more information, visit www.fiberfestival.net.

Reach News Community Editor Darby Hinkley at 989-358-5691 or dhinkley@TheAlpenaNews.com.