Wednesday, September 21, the Commuter Affairs department hosted Alpaca Yoga on the quad. The session started out with feeding and petting the alpacas. Afterwards, there was a one hour yoga class with an instructor. During the class, the alpacas roamed freely amongst the participants in the class. Students and staff were allowed to interact with the alpacas as the event continued.

The event was provided by In the Meadow which is a local alpaca farm located in Lunenburg, Mass. It is owned by Gerard and Jackie Chabot who decided to open a farm after retirement. It all started seven years ago when they had agreed to buy an alpaca, or two… and ended up with eleven. The alpacas make appearances at many events such as weddings, birthday parties, and festivals. They also host their own events on the farm as well such as more sessions of alpaca yoga, and arts and crafts sessions. In the past, they have made things such as little mushrooms, witches and pumpkins for Halloween, cacti and more using alpaca fur. They also have a gift shop with a variety of alpaca merchandise for visitors to buy. 

In an interview with Jackie Chabot, one of the owners of the farm, she expressed that her

and her husband’s intent with the farm was to truly benefit others. They want the farm to help spread some joy and connect with their community. 

Through this event, commuter affairs and In the Meadow definitely helped to connect the community in a light hearted way. A lot of people were laughing and smiling throughout the entire event. Even some people who walked by the event could not resist coming over and petting the alpacas. The Dean of Fitchburg State, Hank Parkinson himself even stopped by to interact with the alpacas. 

This is the first time In the Meadow has collaborated with Fitchburg State and hopefully there will be more alpaca related events in the future.