Audio By Carbonatix
Keep Westword Free
We’re aiming to raise $20,000 by April 26. Your support ensures Westword can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print.
It’s rare to find an animal that can be both a smart, gentle companion and your source of wool for the winter, but that’s the alpaca for you. Already cuter and more intelligent than their friend the llama, alpacas are a hard breed to beat — at least they were until recently, when the folks at Switzer-Land Alpacas started getting creative with their livestock’s DNA. They’ve been breeding paco-vicuñas — a cross between alpacas and their wild South American ancestor, the vicuña. This new breed (new to the United States, anyway) has the latter’s super-fine fiber and the former’s longer and denser fleece. And if the alpacaland.com website is any indication, they’re the cutest camel cousin yet, resembling a long-necked Bambi.
The newcomers will be hanging out, along with animals from twenty farms and more than a dozen vendors selling handmade and homespun clothing, at the Estes Park Alpaca Market, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and tomorrow at the Fairgrounds at Stanley Park, 1209 Manford Avenue in Estes Park. Admission is free. Call 1-970-586-6104 for info.
Aug. 30-Sept. 1, 2008
