A festival heading into its sixth year is aiming to shed light on the province’s agricultural industry. Specifically, wool.
Anna Hunter takes part in the festival and feels Manitoba’s wool is something to bring more attention to.
“It’s regenerative, recyclable, it’s insulating, and it’s renewable. Sheep grow new fleece every single year. It truly is a natural product,” Hunter said.
There’s one aspect of the industry she likes to focus on.
“Canada produces over three million pounds of wool every year and only 10 per cent of it stays in the country. The rest is shipped elsewhere, processed and then shipped back. If you think about our environmental footprint, that’s huge,” Hunter said.
“Focusing on small batch processing and getting it locally is really changing the environmental impact and producing more local products,” she added.
The festival takes place Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Red River Exhibition grounds.
“There’s live sheep, educational workshops, and demonstrations such as sheep shearing. It really highlights one of the many parts of Manitoba’s agricultural industry,” said Red River Exhibition Association’s Jodi Johnson.
Admission and parking information can be found on Manitoba Fibre Festival’s website.
WATCH: Manitoba Fibre Festival organizers chat all things wool.
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