The 5th Annual Fiber Festival is Fast Approaching

Matt Brooks: [00:00:00] Good morning. I’m Matt Brooks on X101
Always Classic in for another edition of Meet Cortland County, and
joining me, well, it’s Jean Simmons, President of the Freeville Farmers
Market. Now, first off, thank you for joining me this morning, Jean.
Jean Simmons: Thank you, Matt.
Matt Brooks: All right. Well, it’s the 5th Annual Fiber Fest at the
Freeville Farmers Market tomorrow, September 21st from noon to four.
And it’s located right in, in front of the, uh, Freeville Elementary School.
But before we get to the festival, I hear it’s also the 10th year for the
Freeville Farmers Market overall. Congratulations. Can you tell me how
the market came to be?
Jean Simmons: That’s right. It is our 10th year anniversary. Um, we
started in somebody’s driveway and have gravitated to the sidewalk in
front of Freeville Elementary School. We have a large group of eight to
ten vendors that bring produce, bread, syrup, honey, meats. It’s a nice
place to shop.
Matt Brooks: Yeah, and it’s, I mean, you can’t miss it if [00:01:00] you’re
driving by, I mean, Freeville Elementary School is like right on the main
strip of Freeville.
What are the typical days that if you wanted to go to the Freeville
Farmers market, that you could, uh, see the vendors?
Jean Simmons: Thank you. It’s there every Sunday, May through
October from 11:30 until 2:30.
Matt Brooks: And tomorrow is special because it is the Fiber Fest. 5th
Annual Fiber Fest, noon to 4, and what are some of the attractions? I
know that the, uh, the vendors that’s been there through the season will
be there, but what are some of the new additions for the festival?
Jean Simmons: Wow. We do have a long list of vendors coming, and I
think the number is 15, at least 15 additional members to our market.
Matt Brooks: Wow.
Jean Simmons: And they’ll be bringing items like raw fibers, roving,
batting, wool locks, yarn.

There will be Icelandic wool, alpaca fiber, uh, Angora rabbit fiber. Along
[00:02:00] with a lot of crafts, from felted hats and knitted socks, we will
have hot food. There’s a hot dog vendor, uh, perhaps coffee and an ice
cream vendor will be there. So if you get the munchies. You’re all set.
Matt Brooks: It’s, it’s the perfect opportunity as uh, things get colder to
stock up on, uh, some, some fun winter activities.
’cause I know just sitting by the campfire, well, not campfire, but sitting
on indoor fire, I mean, this is the time to stock up on those fibers. And
there’s a lot of great vendors. And everything’s locally sourced as well.
Correct. That’s one of the key components.
Jean Simmons: Yes. So local fibers.
Matt Brooks: Yeah.
Jean Simmons: We’ll also have some demonstrations.
Connected stitches will be there, uh, showing how to prep your fiber for
use. And there will be other live animals perhaps.
Matt Brooks: Yeah.
Jean Simmons: I’m not promising, but. There may be live animals.
Matt Brooks: Yeah. So, so don’t be, uh, [00:03:00] surprised if you see,
uh, if you see some four-legged, uh, creatures roaming around. That’s
right. In addition to fiber, in addition to the vendors, uh, there are going
to be, um, a live music as well.
Can you tell me about, uh, who’s performing and about the live music,
uh, going on tomorrow?
Jean Simmons: That’s correct, Matt. We have, uh, Crown City Brass
playing. Uh, we have Isaac Sharp. He’s classical guitar at 1 o’clock. Um,
we have Any Old Thyme with bluegrass music and we also have Joey
Dugan, I hope with King of Jam.
So I want to thank the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County
for supporting our live music entertainment.

Matt Brooks: Yeah, I mean, that’s a thing, and it’s always great to have
live music at these events. It just kinda makes the atmosphere more
upbeat and lively. Now we are unfortunately running a little bit of
[00:04:00] time Jean and I know, uh.
Uh, I’m really excited for this. We’re gonna be there broadcasting live
tomorrow, giving away prizes to vendors at the, uh, festival, including
Scoop’s Coop, Windsong Stable and Farm, Fossil Creek Farm, Plunkett
Farm, the Grey Moon Homestead, and Patricia’s Felted Hats. But
before, uh, we head out of the studio, Jean, if people wanna learn more
about the Freeville Farmers Market, maybe tomorrow’s festival, the, the
Fiber Fest, uh, where should people go?
Jean Simmons: They can go online, uh, FreevilleFarmersMarket.org.
We’ll have information there. Plus, uh, Facebook, absolutely Facebook,
we’ll have information for you.
Matt Brooks: All right, that, again, tomorrow, September 21st, noon to
four, right in front of the Freeville Elementary School. You cannot miss it
if you enter Freeville.
It’s the 5th Annual Fiber Fest at the Freeville Farmer’s Market. Thank
you Jean for, uh, joining me this morning.
Jean Simmons: Thank you, Matt.
Matt Brooks: And this has been another edition of Meet Corland County
here on X101 [00:05:00] Always Classic. I’m Matt Brooks.