Five years ago, Catherine Creason and Stephen Fisher married during the annual Tour de Lavender. This year they returned for their sixth tour, towing 2-year-old Juniper and their pugs JoJo and Jackie with them.

The couple was among 901 registrants for the tour — the most ever, noted Brian Anderson, corresponding secretary of the Peninsula Trails Coalition, who took over organizing the event last year.

Created in 2013, the Tour de Lavender offers two different rides: the 35-mile loop Fun Ride, and the Metric Century, more than 64 miles long. Cyclists could start at 8 a.m. or after and had to finish by 4 p.m.

Anderson said participants were nearly equally split between the two choices of ride.

“[Registration] was over 100 more than last year,” he said.

Sequim Gazette Photo by Emily Matthiessen / Juniper, 2, pictured with Jackie and JoJo the pugs, takes a break from riding in the Tour De Lavender with her parents, Catherine Creason and Stephen Fisher from the Kenmore area. Creason said that she and Fisher married during the Tour five years ago and this is their 6th ride.

Cyclists were offered drinks, fruit and other snacks at the eight stops: seven lavender farms and the Sequim Bay State Park.

By mid-afternoon, Creason and Fisher made it to Jardin du Soleil, their second stop, having experienced a few setbacks on the road, including a flat tire.

The family was in good spirits, however, and Juniper appeared to completely enjoy the peanut butter sandwiches offered by some of the 100 volunteers that made the event possible.

“The peanut butter and jelly was a big hit,” said Anderson, explaining that the trails association had to send people to the grocery store to buy five more jars of peanut butter.

“A big cheer for Sequim Domino’s,” he added.

Sequim Gazette Photo by Emily Matthiessen / Stephen Fisher, from the Kenmore area, towing two-year-old Juniper and the pugs Jackie and JoJo, with wife Catherine Creason following, participated in the couple’s sixth Tour de Lavender this weekend. Creason said that they were married during the event 5 years ago.

Domino’s donated 100 of the 195 pizzas shared at the Boys & Girls Club finish line.

Anderson said there was also a beer garden there, with “hundreds of people hanging out.”

He said that funds raised from the Tour de Lavender go to the Peninsula Trails Commission (PTC), a nonprofit. PTC’s mission is to “construct, maintain, and advocate for the Olympic Discovery Trail as a nationally significant, non-motorized, multi-use recreational and transportation trail across the North Olympic Peninsula.”

“It was an awesome event — everyone seemed to be incredibly happy,” he said.

Friends Elisse Tolley and Stephanie Bailey were two of those people. The friends came from Seattle “to enjoy the area,” said Tolley, by riding the Metric Century. It was her first ride since giving birth.

Sequim Gazette Photo by Emily Matthiessen / Peninsula Trails Coalition volunteers Deb Turner, Lucia Fletcher and Julia Novak, from left to right, serve finger foods and facilitate hydration for cyclists stopping at Jardin De Soleil on Saturday. They were three of 100 volunteers who made the Tour De Lavender possible.

She said that “one of the best things about a designated ride is” drivers being very aware of cyclists.

“It’s been beautiful, the roads are good,” Bailey said. “the stops haven’t been crowded.”

She added, “The people are so good on this ride, the residents and the volunteers.”

Bailey said everyone seemed calm and relaxed.

“It makes sense since it’s the lavender ride — it’s the herb of relaxation,” she said.

For more about the Peninsula Trails Coalition, visit olympicdiscoverytrail.org. For more about the Tour, visit tourdelavender.com.