Lamb and Wool Fest Friday

LEHI — The lamb and wool growers association of Utah, along with Utah Humanities Council and Meadow Gold again present the annual Lamb and Wool Festival, but this year it includes storytellers and a special traveling photography exhibit.

Hal Cannon, founding director of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nev., and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, will share songs and stories of shepherding between 7 and 8 p.m. Friday, with Tony Norris.

Cannon has published a dozen books and recordings on the folk arts of the West, including his best-selling anthology, "Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering." More recently Cannon has been producing public television and radio features on the culture and folklife of the American West.

Norris is a regular at storytelling festivals, cowboy poetry gatherings, schools, campfires and corporate conferences. With the accompaniment of his big Martin guitar and healthy doses of humor, he invites the adventurous to leave the everyday world behind and journey into the old West.

Also on Friday from 4-5 p.m., Ryan Paul, the director of "Think Sheep!," explores the life of an Iron County sheep ranching family in a film documentary. Ryan is a board member of the Utah Museum Association, the Iron County Historical Society, the Early American Industries Association, the Utah State Historical Society, the Organization of American Historical and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

"Trailing the Year: The Human Landscape of Sheep Ranching in the American West" is a photo exhibit of ranchers and shepherds in the Sanpete Valley produced by Peter Goss. Produced as part of the Western Folklife Center's "Sheep Ranching in the American West" project, the exhibit presents work as experienced in the Intermountain and Great Basin West and is on exhibit through June 1.

On Saturday at 4 p.m., a "waulking activity" is planned. Waulking (also called fulling or tucking) involves a group of people beating newly woven cloth rhythmically against a table or similar surface. In Scottish culture, simple, beat-driven songs accompany the work, which thickens and softens the cloth while cleansing it of impurities.

A waulking session often begins with slow-paced songs, with the tempo increasing as the cloth becomes softer. As the singers work the cloth, they shift it to the left so as to work it thoroughly. A tradition holds that moving the cloth counter-clockwise is unlucky. It's also bad luck to repeat a song during the same session.

Typically one person sings the verse, while the others join in the chorus.

If you go

What: Lamb and Wool Festival

Where: Farm Country, Thanksgiving Point in Lehi

When: 2-8 p.m. May 25, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., May 26

Cost: included with Farm Country admission ($3.50 adults/$2.50 children)

Web: www.thanksgivingpoint.com