Vendor Registration

THE SET UP: The Frederick News-Post is partnering this year with Mother Earth News to offer an amazing opportunity for “off the grid” activities.  There will be thousands of people coming to the Frederick Fair Grounds for the weekend of June 2-3.  The Fleece/Fiber sale brought to you by the Frederick County Sheep Breeders Association will be in the big dairy show ring on the northwest corner of the fairgrounds, which will be set up with 6ft tables where you can display 6-8 fleeces, with an additional 6-8 fleeces in reserve under the table. When a displayed fleece sells, and opens up a space on the table, you may replace it with one of the reserve fleeces (Because we don’t have enough help to do this, it will be the responsibility of each producer to take care of their own fleeces. Check back a few times during the weekend to move your unsold reserve fleeces to the top of the table).

Please bring your fleeces/fibers in clear bags so that potential customers can easily see them. Knot the bags so that a portion of the fleece is open for touch. If you are bringing non-fleece fibers (eg silk, cotton, flax), please bag them in appropriate quantities to be sold whole as we will not be set up to sell portions. You may bring up to 24 fleeces/fiber samples, though we may limit the number to 12 if we run out of tables.

ENTRY: We will accept fleeces Friday afternoon from 3-8pm and Saturday morning from 8-10am. The fair opens at 9am on Saturday, so come early so that you don’t miss the early buyers! The entry fee for each fleece is $2. We accept checks, credit cards and cash. (Sorry, not set up for bitcoin yet). We will send out checks for sold fleeces by June 22nd.

LABELS and PRICES: To make record keeping easy, each bag of fleece/fiber will have two tags: one remaining in the bag and the other going to the check-out table. You will receive the tag form after signing up. Please complete the fleece/fiber tags and print two for each fleece. Number your fleeces from 1-12. Place one tag in the fleece bag, and bring the other to the check-in desk. Feel free to add extra information on the tag (for example, it’s a lamb fleece, or a photo and name of the sheep it came from). For Species/breed, please be specific. For example, if your fiber is from a mixed breed animal, list the breeds and the percentages if you know them. This helps buyers understand where the characteristics of the fleece come from.

If you do not have the facilities to receive and/or print the tags, please contact us. Let us know how many you need and we will mail them out to you.

Please have the tags filled out, and one set in the bags, and the duplicate copies ready to submit when you come to check in. It will make the check-in process much easier and faster.

ADVERTISING your farm: You are welcome to create a poster to place on the table, or to hang from the front edge, to advertise your farm, your breed, your fiber, your awards etc. Or show some samples of your washed or spun fiber. Many buyers enjoy knowing the history of the fiber they work with, and some fiber artists advertise the farms they partner with. You can use tape, putty, clothes pins, removable glue etc. to attach your poster to the table, or just stand the poster on it or behind it.

VOLUNTEERING:  please volunteer to help.  Last year several people stayed to educate customers, help them choose fleeces and handle sales, and it made a HUGE difference!  Come for a couple hours, come for half a day. Every bit helps!

The Frederick County Sheep Breeders Association will take a 5% commission on sold fleeces to cover the cost of checks, stamps etc, but we’ll waive those fees for anyone who volunteers to help for two hours each day.

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