Vashon’s annual sheepdog trials return under a national spotlight

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, September 9, 2015

When the sun rises over the rolling green pastures of Misty Isle Farms on Thursday, 250 Willamette Valley ewes will be grazing, while about 50 young border collies eagerly await their turns to get to work. The sixth annual Vashon Sheepdog Classic (VSDC) will kick off its four-day run with novice handlers and dogs competing on day one, and high-level and experienced competitors and dogs on days two through four.

“This year we have over 150 competitors coming from all over the country, as well as Canada,” said Maggi McClure, VSDC’s executive director. “It’s really grown.”

Since its rebirth in 2010, it has, in fact, grown to become the third largest sheepdog trial in the country as far as spectatorship goes, and is the largest on the West Coast. More than 5,000 people attended last year, and McClure said that it’s possible that number could be as high as 7,000 this year.

And with a reputation as big as its audience draw, word has spread through the trials community, bringing some notable competitors to the island, one of whom might be more familiar to readers of Civil War fiction or fans of non-fiction books about sheepdogs than to fans of the VSDC.

Author and sheep farmer Donald McCaig, perhaps best known for his civil war novels “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Rhett Butler’s People,” is also a sheepdog trialist and will compete at the VSDC on Friday and Saturday.

McCaig, who competed at the World Sheepdog Trials in Wales in 2008, is looking forward to his Vashon event.

“They have a very good reputation” he said. “The judge from last year’s trials is a friend of mine, so I asked her about it.”

McCaig, 75, left a job on Wall Street as a young man in the late 1960s, and moved to West Virginia with his wife to become a farmer.

“We were part of that whole ‘back to the land’ movement,” he explained, “but unlike a lot of folks, we actually stayed.”

And that’s how his adventures as a sheepdog handler began.

“My first dog Pip was a spectacularly good dog,” he said. “Of course, he had to be to overcome his spectacularly inept owner. I’d do something stupid, and he would come around and nip the back of my leg. He trained me more than I trained him.”

For this event, McCaig will be working with one of his two current farm dogs — a young border collie named Jake.

“He’s not so sure he wants to do this,” McCaig chuckled. “But he’s very physical. …He wants to run. When we first got him he ran around the house so much he created a trench. It’s like a young athlete who is amazed at what their own body can do.”

Of the Vashon trials, McCaig said that many people have told him to come.

“I hear it’s an interesting course, a little bit tricky and big,” he noted. “And big courses are attractive.”

Joining McCaig in the high-level competition this year are two U.S. champion sheepdog trial teams, one of whom is also a world champion.

Not to be outdone by the influx of national-level competitors, the sheep, or rather, those who make use of their perpetual commodity, have also upped the ante for this year’s event.

Fiber artists have been part of Vashon’s dog trials since the first year, and this year their presence will be the largest yet.

The Fiber Arts Village will include hands-on activities, such as spinning, felting and a public rug hooking project, as well as a variety of demonstrations, ranging from weaving to sheep shearing. A children’s tent will offer activities throughout the day giving kids a chance to try finger knitting, needle felting and weaving at a table loom.

Additionally, Vashon Fibershed is offering the exhibit The Story of Wool, which will enable visitors to see the journey of fiber from unprocessed wool to finished products. Vendors will be on hand as well.

In all, more than 50 fiber artists, from Vashon and around the Northwest, are participating, according to Fiber Arts Village manager Myra Willingham.

The VSDC is also a fundraising powerhouse, donating net proceeds to support many of Vashon’s youth programs, primarily Partners in Education. Last year, VSDC gave over $10,000, bringing its total contributions to $80,000 over the years, to more than 20 island-based youth programs.

Thursday’s program will be pay-what-you can, as the inexperienced teams compete. Tickets cost $8 per person for the remaining days, or $20 for an all-event pass (children under 6 are free). Spectators are welcome any time between 7 a.m. and closing each day and may come and go with a hand-stamp. Food and refreshments will be available for purchase, and there will be live music from the Bog Hoppers and a beer garden on Saturday night.

Parking will be available for spectators on Old Mill Road, but due to the anticipated attendance as well as the Passport to Pain bike event on Saturday, attendees are encouraged to park their cars in town or at the ferry and take advantage of the VSDC shuttle that will run continuously from 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The cost is $2 cash each direction, with stops near Ober Park and the walk-on parking lot for the north end ferry.

Fiber arts village hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday. For more information about the fiber arts village or the VSDC, see vashonsheepdogclassic.com.

— Susan Riemer also contributed to this story.