Nationally acclaimed Stevi T, owner of Alpaca Encounters, will be demonstrating art of Needle Felting at Founders' Day on June 27. Ms. T, who first discovered her talent in 1980 when she made a rag doll for her daughter, launched her own line of soft sculpture dolls including gnomes and elves as well as a collection called "APacaMice" with woodland animals such as squirrels, chipmunks, racoons in addition to the mice. She now offers classes in her art as well as operates Alpaca Encounters with an entire line of alpaca wool creations.

Needle Felting is the art of using specialized barbed needles to interlock alpaca fiber, forming a condensed, three-dimensional fiber sculpture without the use of water.

Ms. T raises her own alpacas which provide a soft, fine, luxurious fiber with natural highlights. Alpaca wool also has the added benefit of being hypoallergenic.

Ms. T's dolls and her art of needle felting have been featured on "Regis and Kathie Lee" and ABC's "Morning News" as well as in several magazines including Dolls Magazine, Contemporary Doll, Teddy Bear Review and others. She has exhibited in the Windham Museum in Massachusetts, the NIADA Galley at Universal Studios in Orlando, and she has taken several First Place awards and Best of Show awards in national competitions. Alpaca Encounters participates in shows throughout New York, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. Ms. T offers exhibits and needle felting

classes at the Pennsylvania Endless Mountains Fiber Festival held each autumn.

Originally from New Jersey, Stevi moved her studios to New Milford, PA, in 2007. Ms. T will be demonstrating her art and displaying many of her creations in front of Bridge Street Marketplace on Founders' Day.

Downtown Tunkhannock will be closed to traffic on Founders' Day from 10 am to 4 pm; however, Bartrons Supply, in collaboration with the high school FFA and the Kiwanis Wyoming County Fair, will provide a continuous tractor-driven shuttle from the school's parking lot to the downtown area..

Tunkhannock Founders' Day is sponsored by Peoples National Bank and produced by the Tunkhannock Business and Professional Association.

More information and a brochure about area accommodations are
available by calling 570.836.0765 or by visiting www.tunkhannockbusiness.com