Mountain Musings: From Wool to Soap and the Joy of Faire Season

Mountain Musings – A guest column by Dottie Simmons who lives in eastern Humboldt County describes life at her rural homestead:

Ahhh, the second weekend of July is here and my thoughts drift to the many places we traveled doing the crafts fair circuit.

Back in 1979 I decided I needed a vacation from farm and family. So I became a vendor at a small crafts fair at the Redway Elementary School. Completely random, I had hand knit items and embroideries and heaven only knows what else… and made enough to cover the booth fee and traded off most everything else. It was glorious! Getting out in public and meeting other crafty people and making some money at the same time was positively exhilarating. I saw the possibilities immediately as I was spinning and designing and knitting with the fleece from our small flock of wool sheep.

Me spinning a yarn at Benbow Summer Arts back in the early ‘80s
Photo by Kim Sallaway

Thus inspired, we started our first business – “Sheep Thrills”. At that time there was quite a lively group of fiber artists in Humboldt, with stores like ‘The Woolmark’ and ‘The Camel’ in Eureka and Arcata. Inspiration was everywhere. I soon discovered the various Craft Fairs in California and, spinning wheel in tow, began selling handspun yarns and knitwear from Berkeley to Benbow. And became part of the Craft Fair family.

While the wool business was great, our real success came after we took some of the hypoallergenic soap we had been making for ourselves along to a holiday season fair at the old Eureka Mall. People would buy it and come back the next day and buy more! I did the math and realized that if you figured in raising and shearing the sheep, washing and prepping and spinning and dying the wool and knitting it into a $250 sweater, I was probably only making 75¢ an hour. Suddenly soap was looking pretty good and Simmons Soap was born!

Our booth at the Oregon Country Fair ~ 2010

For a while our booth was 50/50 wool and soap, but soap soon took over. At our peak we were doing 22 fairs a year, starting at the Whole Earth Festival in Davis for Mother’s Day and ending with HumArts and the Mateel Christmas Fairs here in Humboldt. But why the second weekend in July brings me back to those days is because this is the weekend of the Oregon Country Fair(OCF).

OCF entrance 2013

We did our first OCF in 1983 and, sadly, our last in 2014 before we sold our business. That first year was wool and soap and then soap only for the next 29 years… We tapered off fairs as our business expanded to mail order, wholesale, and ultimately an online store until the only one we did was OCF. It is not just a fair, but a whole other level of experience and Fair Family. For 3 days it is the biggest city I have lived in during my adult life. It is the most work, and the most joyous work, of any fair there is. It is an extravaganza of incredible art, music, creativity and magic, and hope for joyful humanity encompassed in that Fair Family. The wonderful North Country Fair in Arcata is a tiny taste of what the spirit of OCF is like.

Musical entertainment in the kids area at OCF one year

So happy July and happy Faire season and support your local craftspeople. There is much to be said for filling your home and pantry with things that have been lovingly created or raised by your fellow humans.

Note: This article was updated after it was originally published to include the YouTube video of OCF.