Press Releases
2006 Festival Announcement
January 11, 2006 - Sequim Lavender Growers Assoc.
This summer visit Sequim, Washington, the Lavender Capital of North America, where modern-day farmers harvest a fragrant herb with the potential to transform the human experience. The 10th Annual Sequim Lavender Festival takes place in the Sequim-Dungeness valley, when the purple blossoms are bursting, on Friday, July 14 - Sunday, July 16, 2006. Sequim (“S’kwim”) means quiet waters in the native language of the S’Klallam Indian Tribe. The valley community is located between the deep waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the breathtaking Olympic Mountains of Washington State and just a few miles from Olympic National Park.
Eight farms throughout the valley open their fields and their hearts to visitors, each offering lavender-centered activities, including, demonstrations, agricultural history, workshops, horticultural programs, and, of course, the opportunity to spend time in the fields. At the farms, lavender can be picked for bouquets to take home. Learn how the herb is organically grown, harvested, and turned into dozens of different products using dried blossoms or steam-distilled lavender oil. The farms are open daily throughout the Festival. Tickets are $10, with children under age 12 admitted free. There is plenty of free parking at each farm, and free Farm Tour Buses provide transportation to the farms from the Street Fair in downtown Sequim.
The Street Fair anchors the festivities in downtown Sequim, where more than 125 craftspeople and vendors of lavender and other Olympic Peninsula specialties offer their wares. The Street Fair includes fine musical entertainment, great local foods and an Olympic Peninsula wine tasting. Admisstion is free and there is free parking throughout downtown Sequim.
There will be special activities in honor of the 10th Anniversay including Meet the Farmers programs at farms, a new collaboration with the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Show, celebrating their 20th anniversary with Celebration in Bloom, historical displays and more to come.
Cultivation of lavender in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley has grown into a strong, environmentally sound, agri-business with over 110,000 plants in the ground in 2004. The Lavender Festival has expanded the lavender industry in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley and increased agri-tourism, cultural tourism, and culinary tourism on the North Olympic Peninsula. Last year, the Festival attracted nearly 30,000 people. Throughout the Festival, the Sequim community offers a variety of supporting activities, which encourage visitors to stay for several days. Sequim is the center of the North Olympic Peninsula, close to the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend, as well as Port Angeles, the gateway to Olympic National Park and Victoria, British Columbia.
For more information including transportation, accomodations, directions and the detailed program, please visit our website at www.lavenderfestival.com, contact us by e-mail at info@lavenderfestival.com or by telephone at (877) 681-3035 (toll free).
The Festival is proudly sponsored by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association (SLGA), a community of farmers, committed to knowledge of how to grow better lavender with less effort in an environmentally sustainable way. The Festival is produced by Olympic Peninsula Community Celebrations, Washington nonprofit corporations.