Woolfest 2020 at Cockermouth was cancelled early in lockdown but the past few weeks have seen the organisers, members of The Wool Clip cooperative, working hard to create an online version for later this month.
“We want to support as many of the businesses that would have been at Woolfest as we can,” says Marion Rae, one of the organisers. “We also need to promote our own work as Wool Clip members and we are keen to keep up Woolfest’s reputation as a friendly event and the original British festival of wool.”
Woolfest Online 2020 is now an active Facebook Group with a membership heading towards 2000. The online event will run in six sessions, starting at 2pm on Thursday 25 June when set up at Mitchell’s Lakeland Livestock Centre at Cockermouth would normally begin. It will then run through Friday and Saturday, finishing with a session on Sunday morning from 10am to 12 noon.
“We have over 90 of the businesses that would have been at Woolfest taking part as well as a lot of the other elements that make Woolfest special,” says Debbie Lucas, also involved as an organiser. “There’ll be acoustic music, charity posts from Eden Valley Hospice, RBST and CLIC Sargent, fashion shoots from Grampus, craft demonstrations and even the traditional clog dancing running throughout the four days. The Saturday morning session will be dedicated to fleece and livestock with lots of the sheep breed societies taking part with videos, images and information. All in all, we’re hoping to capture the atmosphere, help small craft businesses to find new customers and, of course, encourage even more people to plan for a visit to Woolfest next year.”
The Woolfest Online 2020 Group and event can be found on Facebook and anyone can join in to find out about the huge range of breeders, wool crafts and creators taking part. The event will take pace in six sessions from Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 June and there is lots more information, including a full schedule of stallholder posts, online at www.woolfest.co.uk.
