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Largest Lavender Event in North America!

Visit Sequim, Washington, the Lavender Capital of North America® to celebrate the 13th annual Sequim Lavender Festival, Friday, July 17 – Sunday, July 19, 2009, sponsored by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association.  With Seven Farms on Tour and one fantastic Street Fair, it is like Eight Festivals in One. Community Events, a Culinary Program, and Fun on the Field offer activities to fill the entire weekend for everyone in the family. Set in the breathtaking Sequim-Dungeness Valley when the purple blossoms are bursting, this three-day festival is the Largest Lavender Event in North America and voted one of the Top 100 Events by the American Bus Association.

The Seven Farms on Tour open their fields and their hearts to visitors, offering a variety of atmosphere, many lavender activities and acres of lavender fields with more than 150,000 plants. Attend workshops, demonstration, and horticultural programs. Learn about lavender, how it is grown, harvested, and turned into dozens of different products using dried blossoms or steam-distilled lavender oil.  Each farm offers a unique experience as visitors spend time in the fields, pick lavender, and enjoy food, beverages, entertainment, and local crafts. Discover what makes each farm distinct, have your questions answered at the Meet-the-Farmers sessions, or take in the culinary program on Sunday. The Participating farms are Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm, Jardin du Soleil Lavender, Lost Mountain Lavender, Olympic Lavender Farm, Port Williams Lavender, Purple Haze Lavender Farm, and Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm. Each farm has plenty of free parking or you can take the free shuttle busses from the Street Fair Lavender Central.

Tickets to the Farm Tour are $15 and provide admission to all of the Farms on Tour, with children 12 and under admitted free. We are also proud to offer a $5 discount to active military and their dependents. The Farms on Tour are open 10a.m. to 6p.m.

The Street Fair in downtown Sequim is “Lavender Central,” a festival in itself, with more than 150 juried vendors from throughout the Northwest. Premier lavender and lavender products are proudly offered exclusively by the members of the Sequim Lavender Growers Association. Master Gardener and media celebrity Ciscoe Morris will again open this year’s celebration on Friday and follow it with one of his entertaining workshops. Visitors enjoy entertainment at the stage with local music, the food court offers great Northwest foods, and the wine and beer garden offers a shady spot to relax and sample wines of the Olympic Peninsula or a northwest brew. The Street Fair is open Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m and admission is free.  Shuttle bus service, providing transportation between the Street Fair and each of the Farms on Tour, is free with your Farm Tour ticket.

Fun on the Field is a new area at the Street Fair that brings together local nonprofit organizations to enjoy a hometown celebration.  The grassy area of the field just north of the Street Fair will be home to this old-fashioned small town fair experience, with a variety of booths that will offer activities and information.  Sit back and relax while taking in street performers and demonstrations from the comfort of shaded tables.  Engage in some old-fashioned fun with the young members of your group, and the young at heart, while learning more about the organizations that support the community.

Lavender is such an amazing plant that it is also a fantastic culinary herb.  The lavender Culinary Program features scheduled cooking demonstrations by local chefs at each of the Farms on Tour on Sunday. Each demonstration will include information on the uses of culinary lavender in the home. Many of the farms produce a variety of culinary products. The Festival closes with the second annual Lavender Celebration Dinner on Sunday night at the John Wayne Marina.  Enjoy a six-course menu prepared by Chef Tom Heintz. (Advance reservations are required).

The entire valley celebrates with a variety of Community Events to entertain the whole family.  The annual Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Show will be held in conjunction with the festival again this year, as well as a Puffin Sunset Dinner Cruise, Lavender Festival Golf Tournament, and Jazz in the Alley.  Visit the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center for Salmon and Stories by the Bay, the Strait Wheelers Square Dance Club’s Lavender Dance Weekend, or attend Greater Tuna, a theatrical production of the Olympic Theater Arts.  There is a Sequim Arts Studio Tour, a North Olympic Peninsula Wine Tour, and a Bird Walk at Railroad Bridge.  Some of the new events include the Unwind by the River dinner in the park, and a Dinner and Concert by Harpist Bronn Journey.  Many of these events are free or offer a discount to Farm Tour Ticket holders.

Sequim is located on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula cradled in the “Rain Shadow” of the Olympic Mountains and the world-famous Olympic National Park.  The Sequim-Dungeness Valley has an ideal microclimate for growing lavender.  With less than 20 inches of rain per year, the area is similar to the Provence region of France.  Sequim lavender has received national recognition and the farmers have over 200 years of combined experience cultivating lavender.

For more information including transportation, accomodations, and directions please contact us by e-mail at info@lavenderfestival.com , website at www.lavenderfestival.com , or by telephone at (877) 681-3035 (toll free).

The Festival is proudly sponsored by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association (SLGA), a nonprofit community of farmers, committed to knowledge of how to grow better lavender in an environmentally sustainable way.