While July may be the month of lavender for many, June always has been strawberry month for the Cameron family.

But husband and wife Dave and Sidne Cameron said that this season was their last to grow strawberries on Wheeler Road off Woodcock Road.

“I made the decision about two years ago,” Dave said. “I didn’t replace any strawberry plants. We’re done.”

“It’s a business decision,” Sidne said. “It’s not because we want to be out of strawberries.”

The couple took ownership of Cameron’s Berry Farm in 1997 following the death of Dave’s father, also named Dave Cameron, who managed Blue Ribbon Farms in Dungeness.

With his cousin Stan’s help, Dave Sr. began growing his own strawberries in 1973 on leased properties near the berry farm’s last location, Dave Jr. said.

Shirley Cameron, Dave Sr.’s wife, was an integral part for keeping the farm running too, the Camerons said. Her sisters also often helped out, Sidne said.

The Camerons fondly remember Dave Sr. bringing in school buses filled with children to visit the farm.

“Many of (our regular customers) were parents of kids who road the school bus here,” Sidne said.

“There are a lot of memories for people out here.”

However, the Camerons saw Sequim’s strawberry market fluctuate over the years from being one of five U-pick farms to the only one and through early July of this year one of two U-pick strawberry farms including Graysmarsh Farm.

Dave said the shift away from U-pick strawberries could be that Sequim’s demographics are changing and/or there is growing competition from California and Mexico who produce year-round strawberries for grocers.

“Demand has changed so families have changed,” Sidne said.

Sequim’s strawberry season comes around June 10-July 4, Dave said, with some fluctuations either earlier or later depending on the weather.

When the Camerons took over the family farm in 1997, they primarily were focused on cannery berries, Dave said.

The couple got into a rocky start though after an acquaintance contacted Dave about purchasing all 30 acres of strawberries to sell, he said, but the buyer couldn’t sell them for a year, so the Camerons paid to store the berries in Seattle in cold storage.

Learning his lesson, Dave said he reduced his efforts by growing strawberries on 20 acres instead for a few years.

The Camerons kept U-pick berries on 10 acres of their leased property for years and sold fresh strawberries to local grocers. But this year, the Camerons devoted less acreage to strawberries with only four acres of berries available this year. They only sold about half of the strawberries on the vine, Sidne said.

Over the years they’ve seen their workforce decrease too going from 30 people to only five this year including their cousin Peggy Adams.

The Camerons said Shirley Cameron’s sisters often helped out and school children and their families.

Local Hispanic families helped for more than 30 years, Sidne said, but they’ve moved on to other jobs.

“There is a market but there aren’t enough workers,” Sidne said.

Dave contends Sequim is “one of the best places to grow strawberries in the Northwest.”

“We don’t get the tonnage per acre, but our quality is unbeatable,” he said.

Looking ahead, the strawberry fields will be converted to hay and Sidne said it’ll be hard come next June for strawberry season.

“We won’t know what to do with ourselves,” she said.

“We have friends that we’ve made in the berry fields. They’re very dear to us.”

Peggy Adams, left, and her cousins Sidne and Dave Cameron decided to close down Cameron’s Berry Farm off Woodcock Road this year after 40-plus years in operation. Dave said there are multiple reasons for the closure including a lack of laborers and competition with California/Mexico growers who produce strawberries year-round. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

Wearing her father-in-law Dave Cameron Sr.’s jacket, Sidne Cameron looks out at a strawberry field on Cameron’s Berry Farm. It will become a hay field next year after 20 years growing strawberries. She said next June it’ll be a hard transition. “We won’t know what to do with ourselves,” she said. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash