My Favorite Local Fiber Festival: Fiber Fusion Northwest
A wide variety of fiber festivals and shows are held each year across the country and I find I’m quite lucky to have a local fiber festival be easily my favorite and the one I make sure I don’t miss; Fiber Fusion Northwest, coming up this weekend June 6th-7th, 2026. It is a family friendly, free entry event, including free parking, suitable for the experienced fiber artist to fiber art curious. Visit the Fiber Fusion Northwest website for even more information on this year and next years events.
Picture of the Fiber Fusion Northwest sign hanging on one of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds buildings in 2024 during the event.
About Fiber Fusion
Fiber Fusion Northwest (FFNW) is held annually over the first full weekend of June at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Washington, less than an hour drive from Seattle. The event is hosted by the North Sound Alpaca Association (NSAA) and majorly executed by a great team of volunteers. Fiber Fusion states their goal is “to support fiber artists, local breeders, and fiber related businesses by increasing public awareness of natural fibers and their many creative uses”. I feel like they absolutely hold to this goal. Fiber Fusion consists of live fiber animals, a vendor marketplace, classes, a fleece show and sale, used equipment sale, food vendors, and free demonstrations.
The first Fiber Fusion Northwest was held in 2011, which means this is the event’s 15th birthday this year. While the bulk of the Fiber Fusion activities occur on Saturday and Sunday, in the last two or three years they have added Friday as an extra day just for classes. No demonstrations or marketplace are available that day, however, it has allowed to them to expand their class offerings even further. There are a large number of full day and half day classes available each year and not just limited to making things with finished yarn.
This year there were 16 categories of classes from Animal Health, Handling, and Management all the way through to Bobbin Lace. Want to learn Rug Hooking, Naalbinding, or spinning? Maybe some beginner or advanced knitting and crochet techniques? Or dyeing? Fiber Fusion has classes available for all of these and more. Check out the Fiber Fusion class page for details on specific classes and signing up.
My Fiber Fusion Experience
I was not actively attending fiber festivals or shows in 2011 when Fiber Fusion began. My first Fiber Fusion was in the summer of 2022. I really enjoyed it and even had my Mom go with me. She isn’t really a fiber artist and she had a wonderful time as well. I almost got her into rug hooking that year. For a couple years I spent my time watching the demonstrations, marveling at the submitted art, lingering around the fleece judging, and saying hello to all of the fiber animals. I quickly started spending a lot of time in the fleece sale area, and learned if I wanted to see the really cool things at the used equipment sale, showing up earlier was definitely better. I also inevitably learned I enjoy supporting my fellow small business owners and artists, and usually spend more than I mean to.
A couple of years ago I was able to take a couple classes. A needle felting class on making 2d artwork like landscape paintings. It unlocked a whole new world in my imagination and I still have a growing list of beautiful images I’d like to paint with wool. That year I also took a class on dyeing yarn with acid dyes. It was a fantastic experience, in part to see all the different ideas that everybody had. The possibilities that are there just playing with a couple colors is so exciting.
Last year I took my teenager along and they took a goat milk soap making class that they really enjoyed, and I we both took a class on making felt flower bouquets. I was extremely tempted to buy multiple of all of the kits by the time we were done.
This year, life was looking pretty unpredictable around the early June timeframe so I opted not to sign up for any classes. Though I was tempted to sign up for several. I have otherwise cleared my calendar and look forward to spending as much time as possible this upcoming weekend at Fiber Fusion Northwest. I hope you’ll say hi if you see me wandering around.
For more information on Fiber Fusion Northwest and how you can support this great event, visit their website.
If you missed Fiber Fusion and are looking for fiber or yarn, check out the Evening Spin Etsy Shop.
