Sheep shearing festival at Kelsey Creek Farm | Meanderings by Mindy Stern

Published 12:54 pm Thursday, April 16, 2026

Once upon a time, Bellevue, Washington, was heavily wooded, and timber logging was one of its earliest industries. Logging continued until the 1920s, when farming began. In 1921, 190 stump-covered acres in the Wilburton area were purchased by the Duey family. They hired stump-clearers, and brought in dairy cows. Mrs. Duey delivered fresh milk, cream, and home-churned butter to local residents in the Twin Valley Dairy truck.

When their barn burned in 1933, the Dueys built a small white barn and a larger red one, which still stand on Kelsey Creek Farm. A third barn was added in 1943 to accommodate a growing dairy herd. After WWII, the farm was sold. New owners, the Fishers, moved from their home on Mercer Island to live on the property. They built a farm house in 1954, and raised Hereford beef cattle as a hobby, phasing out the dairy.

Bellevue was booming in the 1960s, and land near their farm was selling to developers for single family housing. Soon, taxes became unsustainable. What to do? Accept tempting offers from developers, or sell for way less to the City of Bellevue? Neighbors were petitioning the city to create a large, public park. Motivated to preserve the beauty of their property and its agricultural legacy, the Fishers sold their land, farm house, barns and outbuildings to the city. The historic buildings and pastures were preserved, and today, Kelsey Creek Farm’s 150 acres include educational programs, day camps, art classes, fish-spawning habitat, an 1888 log cabin, relocated from its original Northup Way location, and hiking trails just minutes from downtown. Open every day of the year, and free to the public, it attracts over 200,000 visitors each year.

Two cows, five sheep, three ponies, four goats, five rabbits, four ducks, ten chickens, and a 550-pound pig named Cora live on the farm and participate in its educational programs.

One of the year’s highlights at Kelsey Creek is the annual sheep shearing festival. To relieve them of their warm winter coats and stay cool in summer, sheep are shorn in springtime. As crowds of neighbors observing this traditional farm practice grew bigger, the event was turned into a festival. And on Saturday, April 25, you can watch professional shearers do their thing with the farm’s five sheep plus “extras” brought in from The Pines, a Maple Valley farm.

Each shearing removes six to 10 pounds of fiber, which is put on a “skirting table,” an open-mesh work station for cleaning, sorting, and inspection. Straw, seeds, dirt, and debris fall away and the good wool is sorted for processing. There will be spinning wheel demonstrations, and fiber artists will display their wares. Free children’s activities, tractor-pulled wagon rides, pony rides, and animal viewing areas round out the offerings, and you can buy lunch from food trucks.

This is an opportunity to meet the farm’s year-round residents, including Cora the pig with her notched ears, and the two Dexter cows, 5 yo Franny and 17 yo Bella. It was actually thanks to the cows that I learned of the sheep shearing festival. I’d never heard of Kelsey Creek Farm until a friend suggested meeting there for a walk with our dogs.

Meandering through the paths, we saw two extremely squat cows being moved from the pasture to another area by Amy Wolf, the farm’s program coordinator. “Would you mind standing back with the dogs while I move the cows?” she requested. This gave me an opportunity to ask, “These cows have such short legs! What kind are they?” Amy said, “They’re Dexters,” an Irish breed that can produce both milk and beef, and they’re part of Kelsey Creek’s barnyard experience. She also urged us to come back for the April 25 event. Turns out, she has 41-years of shearing experience and is happy to share her knowledge.

The farm’s year-round sheep residents, who all have names, are four black-faced Shropshire ewes, plus Shaun the Sheep, a Cotswold ram with a white face and lustrous, long locks, perfect for making rugs.

Thanks, Bella and Franny, for piquing my interest and turning me on to this awesome event!

Bellevue’s sheep shearing celebration is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25, rain or shine. No on-site parking. Free parking and round trip shuttle service will be at Wilburton Park-and-Ride, 720 114th Ave. SE and Bannerwood Sports Park, 1790 Richards Road.

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Meanderings is an award-winning travel column by Mercer Island resident, Mindy Stern. For more essays, or to comment, visit her website www.mindysternauthor.com