OUR FALL OF 2025 SURI NETWORK NEWSLETTER

Leaves have fallen and temperatures are dropping!  The show season is complete for 2025 and now our sites turn toward the rapidly approaching holiday season. The Suri Network Board of Trustees hopes that each and every one of you have a glorious holiday season where the warmth of friends and family helps you forget the winter chill.

If gift giving is part of your holidays, then we encourage you to check out the Suri Network Online Auction. Actually, check it out even if you aren’t looking for gifts, because there are some great items you might want for yourself! Nikki Griffith, Candy McMahan, Randy Brealey, Barbara Coleman, and Verna Carpenter have done a great job gathering wonderful donations for you to bid on. Last year’s auction included herdsire breedings for the first time and because it was such a success, the committee is excited to offer 5 excellent sires for you to consider for your breeding programs. Please be sure to review upcoming eblasts about the auction for information about these great gifts and herdsires. Visit the auction site.

PurelySuri will be going to print in early 2026. Chris Fredericks and Scott Shelhart have been heading up this project and contacting members for articles and advertising. There is still some time left to place an ad or even offer an article. Feel free to contact either Chris at whistlingpinesranch@yahoo.com or Cindy at office@surinetwork.org. Dale Davis has once again offered to put the magazine together so please thank these 3 when you see them.

The 2025 Suri Network Fleece Show is almost complete. Technical difficulties (a broken spinning wheel) have kept Wini Labrecque from finishing the Spin Off entries as quickly as she would have liked, but repairs have been made, and we should have results for Spin Off and Fiber Arts very soon.

We are especially excited about the success of the “Holiday Magic With Alpacas” webinar that was presented in early November. Julie Roy as moderator and Nikki Griffith, Laurie Findlay and Beth Sheets as presenters did a great job talking about their different business models for bringing their products to consumers. Their presentations were informative and inspiring. All 4 serve on the Education Committee with Karen Ball and Lisa Collura. The committee is planning 3 more of these events in 2026, so be on the lookout for eblasts announcing them.

The Marketing Committee is very pleased with the successful launch of SURISIMPLYSTUNNING.CO. This new site has been designed to introduce the public to the wonders of Suris and the products created from their fleeces. In addition to links to our membership site (surinetwork.org), there are two great “search” opportunities for visitors. One is simply a search for member farms, the second is a search for member vendors. The contact information that populates those search capabilities comes directly from your membership information on surinetwork.org. The committee encourages everyone to visit their membership profile on the site to be certain that your contact information and farm/ranch description are current and accurate so that visitors can easily find you. This is an outstanding new benefit for our members, so please take advantage of it!

The Marketing Committee is also excited about their next effort to create a new set of videos to promote Suris and life with them. Footage has been taken at several different farms and events and the committee is currently putting together the scripts that are to be read. Hopefully you have taken advantage of the first video series produced by the Fiber Committee which focused on utilizing Suri fiber in different fiber arts. They were beautifully done and can easily added to your websites. The videos can be found under the “Programs” tab on the site or by clicking the photo-link on our site’s home page.

The Fiber Committee needs your help! It is busy working on a new competition to be offered in early 2026. The Battle of the Mills is an effort to help identify those mills that excel at spinning our beautiful Suri fleeces. All mills are welcome to compete either by sending samples themselves, or their customers can submit samples. Details are still being spun, so stay tuned for upcoming communications. WE NEED YOUR HELP! There are many mills across the U.S., and we want to be sure to give all of them the opportunity to compete. Could you please send the contact information for mills that you know of to ensure that we contact them about this competition? Email Maureen Macedo at macedosminiacre@gmail.com or Yvonne Jones at jones_yvonne@lilly.com with the contacts.

The Suri Network Board has sadly accepted the resignation of Cheryl Gehly as a S.H.I.P. Committee member and assessor. We will certainly miss Cheryl’s energy and talent as she pursues her passion for service in other areas. Thank-you Cheryl for your many contributions over the years. Assessors Stephanie Glyptis and Arturo Pena are ready and willing to evaluate your alpacas, so think about getting that set up soon. It is best if the alpacas have not been shorn, but if they have been, Stephanie or Arturo can evaluate that fleece as part of the evaluation.

The Membership Committee would like to remind you that if you have sold alpacas to a farm new to Suris, you can contact the office and tell Cindy to sign that farm up for a free membership to the Suri Network. They have also been working at calling those with lapsed memberships to encourage them to once again join the Suri Network. Our affiliate has done amazing work to advance the Suri alpaca and provides education and support to Suri owners worldwide. Webinars, PurelySuri, the only printed alpaca magazine in the world, the largest Suri fleece show in the world, the Suri Simply Stunning Trademark, and 2 outstanding websites are some of the initiatives that reflect our incredible community of Suri owners. Please help us add to our membership rolls so that we can continue to show the world the wonderful attributes of Suri alpacas and the products made from them.

Lastly, your Board would like to wish you a wonderful Holiday Season

Sincerely,

Laurel Shouvlin – President

Sue King – Vice President

Maureen Macedo – Secretary

Karen Ball – Treasurer

Chris Fredericks - Member at Large

Candy McMahan – Member at Large

Leslie Rebtoy – Member at Large