STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

At 93, retired sheep shearer Edgar Hollinger knows a bit about sheep.

“My father started shearing in 1916 and he used to set up a pop-up shearing camp out in the middle of nowhere between Ontario, Ore., and Burns,” recounted Hollinger, who lives in Gooding. “They’d bring the sheep to him from all over—he could shear 32,000 in one month just sitting in one place.”

Hollinger took up his father’s shearing tools, shearing sheep in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington. His wife Diane recalls taking their three boys to sheep shearing camps and living out of a tent as Dad worked.

“It was hard work,” she said.

The couple celebrated Diane’s 89^th birthday this weekend by attending the Sheep Folklife Fair at the 27^th annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

They marveled at moccasins and sweaters made from wool, and lamented that they hadn’t armed come with the wooden cake stands and bowls Edgar makes, along with the ponchos that Diane knits.

Kathy Oneida, whose uncle Ivan Swaner was an icon at early Festivals with his handlebar mustache, did come loaded with goods—in her case, kitchen towels and aprons inspired by Basque dress.

Trish Denny of Reno, Nev., did a brisk business, taking orders for her Petalots.

Denny builds custom wool pet figurines using pictures of people’s dogs and cats. She makes wire fames, pads them with wool and then uses an array of tiny needles—her tools of the trade—to apply the wool fur.

“It all started with my helping a lady stitch together a felt stocking a couple years ago and progressed to this. I’ve done 189 so far, shipping them all over. The key is getting a nice picture of their face so I can get the eyes right,” she said.

Basque Oinkari dancers performed their high kicking twirling dances, while Peruvians performed a balloon popping dance.

The Sun Valley Culinary Institute and others served up an array of mouth-watering lamb dishes, while a new vendor served up Sicilian Artisan Cannoli topped with pistachio flakes, chocolate chips, cinnamon, candied cherries and candied orange rinds.

Hayley and Justin Baird, who only recently moved from Hailey to Idaho Falls, hawked 3D pictures they design on computer and cut by laser out of birch. The pictures range from mountain bikers to skiers, from sheep herders to wildlife.

“We love the outdoors and want to show it in in art the skies and sunsets we love so much,” said Hayley.