2025 Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference & Retreat Weekend!
St. Bonaventure University, Olean, NY
October 10–13, 2025
Experience up close and personal workshops — much better than Zoom!
The opportunity to be inspired and in-person with world class instructors and your fellow students is at the heart of a great fiber conference! Color, texture, and weaving our lives together in actual — not virtual — community. That’s what is at the heart of the Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference!
Our small size and intimate setting provide opportunities to make fiber friends from other guilds, especially around New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ontario, Canada as well as with participants who haven’t yet joined a guild. Instructors and students share lunch and dinner together in dining rooms at the university, with classes a short walk (or drive) away. Our conference lodging is at three near-by hotels where hot breakfasts will be provided each day.
There are seven, 2.5 day workshops to choose from: weaving (both beginner & experienced options), felting, tapestry, spinning and sewing with hand-wovens, from Saturday morning to noon on Monday (Indigenous/Columbus Day). See our exciting lineup of instructors and class descriptions on our Classes page.
The weekend also includes:
- Friday evening Meet & Greet slide presentations by our instructors, once you arrived/had dinner at a local restaurant.
- Saturday afternoon Classroom Walkabout to see what others are doing in their workshops; time to relax with others at your hotel or take a walk around campus.
- Saturday evening Studio Bonanza fundraiser to unload your no-longer-needed equipment, books and stash. The fun is contagious as we drop tickets into baskets next to our hoped-for prize. Will you be a winner?
- Sunday night Banquet and Fashion Show. Don’t be shy! It’s a low-key time for participants of all levels to show off wearables (from scarves to full garments) on our “runway” following dinner.
- All weekend Exhibit Tables feature work from volunteer participants – let’s see what you’ve been working on!
Unlike other fiber conferences, there are NO extra fees for these additional events.
Held on the campus of St. Bonaventure University, nestled in the foothills of the Alleghenies, and one of the most beautiful in the Northeast. The campus of 500 acres serves an undergraduate enrollment of almost 2000. Students will be away, so we’ll have the campus all to ourselves for the Holiday weekend.
Wondering why we won’t be at Chautauqua in 2025? Bellinger Hall is being renovated. We were thrilled to discover St. Bonaventure’s conference facilities, another beautiful place to learn and grow.
It’s all part of a terrific time, and it only happens once every two years! Registration begins April 1st
