Hamilton Businesses Hide Sheep for Christmas

That mound of mutton (see photo) consists of hand-knitted toy sheep which will be placed in various businesses in Hamilton for the annual Christmas Sheep Trail. The Hamilton Downtown Association contest encourages youngsters to find all of the dozen sheep in order to be entered in a drawing where the first 12 entrants will each win one of the sheep.

The Christmas Sheep Trail is populated with small fabric sheep created by the Knotty Knitters of the Bitterroot. The popular annual contest tells the story of a shepherd who wants to visit the baby Jesus, but has lost his sheep. Each of the participating stores has an entry form where the contestants write down each sheep's name at the location where they find them. The names are creative, such as Ewe Bet, BaaLinda and Ali Baa Baa, for example. The contest runs from Friday, December 14 to Friday, December 21, with the winners drawn by the Grinch at 12 Noon Saturday December 22 at Chapter One Book Store. Have Fun!