National Fiber to Fashion SpinOff Competition, Las Vegas, NV - January 25-27, 2008. Magnus placed first out of 12 fawn juvenile entries in this prestigious National competition, and Iris placed 2nd out of all the male and female entries in her brown class!

14th Annual Virginia Classic, Lexington, VA - March 15-16, 2008.  Cameron placed second out of all the greys in the Walking Fleece Fiber Futurity. This class focuses specifically on fiber genetics and is intended to predict the potential impact of alpacas on the next generation. Agnes placed third in her halter class, and our eldest daughter, who shows alpacas for our farm and others, placed second in intermediate showmanship and public relations. Cameron placed first in his SpinOff class, with a score of 93/100, and Magnus also won another blue ribbon in the SpinOff. We introduced our new line of alpaca coats, for crias and adults, made of all natural materials. 

April Shearing Tour: April 1 - April 22, 2008. This year we organised shearing for over 1400 alpacas at 36 farms in Virginia. This is the seventh year we have scheduled the shearing route  in this area. If you need help with shearing in 2009, please email us before Thanksgiving 2008. Thanks!

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, West Friendship, MD - May 3-4, 2008. For more information about the largest fiber festival in the U.S., please visit www.sheepandwool.org 

PAOBA Breeder's Showcase, York, PA - May 9-11, 2008. Our juvenile grey junior herdsire, Cameron, won a blue ribbon in the fleece show, and Magnus, our medium fawn junior herdsire, placed first in an extremely competitive fawn SpinOff class. We attended PAOBA as a vendor this year, and if you were there, you may have met our eldest daughter showing alpacas and helping out with the shearing! For more information, visit www.paoba.org.

AOBA National SpinOff Competition, Sandy, UT - May 22-25, 2008. Magnus won first place out of 9 fawn entries at National level for his beautiful, soft-handled fiber!

National Alpaca Farm Day, Manakin VA : September 27-28, 2008. 

We were open the following hours to celebrate this National event:

Saturday 27 September, 2008 - 12.00 p.m. until 5.00 p.m.

Sunday 28 September, 2008    - 12.00 p.m. until 5.00 p.m.

NO DOGS PLEASE. They scare the alpacas, plus we have working Great Pyrenees livestock guard dogs, who live with and protect our alpacas 24X7 and do NOT welcome other dogs! 

Thank you to everyone who visited over the weekend - we thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all, and introducing you to our alpacas!

Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia, Montpelier, VA - October 4-5, 2008. For more information, please visit www.fallfiberfestival.org

Centerville Pumpkin Festival, Centerville, VA - Saturday 11 October, 2008, 10.00 a.m. - 4.00 p.m. To learn more about this wonderful family-oriented arts and crafts festival, now in it's third year, visit http://centervillepumpkinfestival.blogspot.com

VAOBA Expo, Lexington, VA - October 17-19, 2008. Thistledown Alpacas is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of this show for the second year. Magnus won first out of 13 entries in the fawn class, earning the second highest score in the entire SpinOff competition, and Cameron won a second place in the grey class. Our eldest daughter showed numerous alpacas, winning many halter ribbons for our farm and others, including a second place for Cedrych. She also ribboned in each of her performance classes with McGregor, while her younger sister placed second in showmanship and first in the costume class with Octavius. For more information about the largest alpaca show in Virginia, please visit www.vaobaexpo.com. We look forward to seeing you there!

Thistledown Alpacas 2nd Annual Champion Production Sale  began October 1, 2008 and ended November 15, 2008. Visit our "Sold" page now, if you can bear to see what you missed! This sale was so successful, we took Holly off our sales list to keep her Spring 2009 Nikos cria. Thanks so much to all our customers - we truly appreciate your confidence in our breeding program over the past 8 years and remain committed to breeding quality, colored alpacas for the future. Check back soon for updates to our sales list!

OABA AlpacaFest Spin-Off, Columbus, OH - November 8-9, 2008. Magnus won another blue ribbon for his fiber in this extremely competitive SpinOff, with Lady and Cameron each placing second in their respective classes.

LA Deep South Alpaca Show, November 15-16, 2008. Three firsts and a second place out of four SpinOff entries, for Cameron, Brigit, Iris and Lady!

Visit our News page to read about events in 2007 and previous years!