Greetings Members!
It has been a busy spring season and summer will be upon us soon. Many of the SN board have been able to
attend the spring shows and reconnect with friends and meet new alpaca breeders. It was exciting to see so much
positive energy from the attendees and great competition in the number of Suris who attended Nationals and
Futurity. Let’s keep the momentum going.
Here are some accomplishments that Suri Network has done since our last newsletter.
March to Marketing Webinar Series
SN would like to thank you for participating in the March to Marketing Webinar Series in February and making it
such a success. We had over 50 attendees at each session (and over 80 at one session) and received great
feedback. If you weren’t able to attend the webinar series remember that SN members still have access to the
zoom presentation.
Thank you once again to our sponsors: Hasselbring Harmony Ranch, 2 Point Farm, Memory M-Acres, Big Timber
Alpacas, Raynay Alpaca Farm, The Alpacas of Spring Acres, New Era Fiber/Long Hollow Suri Alpacas and Heritage
Farm.
Purely Suri Magazine
The Purely Suri Magazine was published and should have arrived in the mail. Thanks once again to the advertisers,
article contributors and Dale Davis (layout contributor) who helped SN provide a great educational tool and leads
to improve your breeding programs. If you have not received your copy, please contact the SN office.
Volunteers
We want to thank so many of you who have volunteered to be on committees. Please be patient as we are still
working on getting the Show Advocacy and Marketing Committees rolled out.
SHIP, Suri Simply Stunning Brand and Product Development Committee (PDC)
SHIP is currently in the process of training additional classifiers so we can be ready for the next season. This
program has added value to many breeding programs – Have you scheduled your SHIP classification yet? If you are
looking for something specific on the website and cannot find it, please contact Cindy at the Suri Network office.
The Branding Committee is almost finished obtaining the trademark on the Suri Simply Stunning mark. As such, the
committee will soon begin outreach to existing and prospective SSS users to refresh on what the mark is about and
how they can best use the mark in their breeding and/or product programs.
The PDC is focused on two initiatives currently - 1) developing a set of social media promotions to bring awareness
of Suri to consumers and textile workers, and 2) creating educational materials for members regarding
sustainability as it relates to textiles.
SN Website
Have you looked at the SN website lately? If not, please go visit the site as it has had a major remodel. The
infrastructure has been changed making it easier to access information from your mobile phone or tablet. The
organization of the site has been changed to make finding information easier and a new theme has brightened
things up too. Much of the material for our members is behind the “membership wall” and will only be accessible if you have
logged on. After logging on, you will have complete access to all the website which holds-over 100 plus pages of
information!
We have also added a Resource Page. Its purpose is to serve as a library to provide educational material to benefit
our members as well as to draw others to the website giving them a glimpse of Suris, Suri fiber, and alpacas in
general. As time progresses more and more will be added there, so keep checking back. If you are looking for
something specific on the website and cannot find it, please contact Cindy at the Suri Network office.
What’s coming up
Shearing season is here and it’s time to show off what your animals have accomplished for you (besides producing
fertilizer for the garden). Before putting that beautiful fleece into product, show it off at the largest Suri Fleece
Show in the world.
Suri Network All Suri Fleece Show
Sharon Loner and Dianna Timmerman are judging fleece while Karen Champion will be judging Spin-Off, Skeins,
and Fiber Arts. There will not be a cottage fleece competition as the numbers over the last few years have not
been high enough. We are coordinating with AOA's National Fleece Show making it VERY EASY to have your entries
in all categories forwarded to the Suri Network show that immediately follows. The Suri Network is also
coordinating with the Pennsylvania Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association to forward fleeces on to their show at
no charge!
New this year, we will be taking photos of the Champion and special award ribbon winners. These will be provided
to the entrants for free. Some, if not all, of those photos will be used in Purely Suri Magazine and on our website.
Lastly AOA Judges Sharon and Dianna will review and announce the awards on video. That video will be available
on the Suri Network website. Because of internet challenges, we will not be doing a "live" presentation, for there
were issues with that last year. But we will announce by email and Facebook when the video is posted for all to
view.
Suri Network Fleece Show Sponsorship
Alpaca competitions are expensive affairs for both the exhibitors and the affiliates that host them. Without the
generosity of sponsors, many shows would not break even, and the Suri Network Fleece show is no exception. Last
year the show finished in the black because of the generosity of several of our member sponsors. There are many
different levels of sponsorship available with different benefits dependent on the level chosen. We hope that you
will consider helping us make this show a success once again. For additional information as well as informational
links and videos, you can visit the Suri Network website at www.surinetwork.org and click on the "Events" tab to
view all the pages relevant to the show and sponsorships.
We are always looking for ways to show off our beautiful Suris animals, their fiber and products made from that
fiber. Many skilled fiber artists are doing beautiful things with Suri fiber and it is good for our segment of the
industry to show off those accomplishments- inspiring each other as well as other Fiber Artists. Do you know a
skilled fiber artist that you might sponsor in the Fiber Art competition of our fleece show? They do not have to be
an AOA or SN member and if they are under 18, they don’t even have to pay an entry fee. Please consider
encouraging an artist to compete by providing them with materials to create an entry, and/or pay for their entry.
And if you are a Fiber Artist, please submit your work and show it off too! It will help promote our brand - Suri
Simply Stunning.
We look forward to seeing all the luxurious fleeces and products created from your fleeces this summer.
Have a great shearing and show season. Don’t forget to renew your membership by June 1 st . Join us as we
continue to promote the Suri breed, fiber and products and educational opportunities including the Suri
Symposium in February 2022. It will be an exciting year so come and join us in the adventure.
Warmest Regards,
The Suri Network Board of Trustees:
Laurie Findlay alpacasofeldorado@hughes.net
Karl Heinrich karlh@longhollowalpacas.com
Sue King sue@bigtimberalpacas.com
Michelle Pressler michellepressler@hotmail.com
Beth Sheets beth@ourheritagefarm.com
Laurel Shouvlin laurelshouvlin@gmail.com
Liz Vahlkamp saltriveralpacas@yahoo.com