There were camel rides, sneak peeks inside a hot air balloon, a bounty of festive outfits, and plenty of the famous plant for the masses on Sequim Lavender Weekend.
See more photos from Sequim’s 2017 Lavender Weekend here.
This year 17 farms and one commercial nursery, Peninsula Nursery, hosted thousands of people over July 21-23 for individual and organized events including the Sequim Lavender Festival’s Street Fair.
The festival’s Executive Director Colleen Robinson said their events went “fabulous.”
She said four street fair vendors sold out on Saturday and many others said this was “their best year ever.”
Robinson said the weather was perfect and one of the highlights was partnering with Sequim Boy Scout Troop 90 who helped with the festival’s production and garbage pick-up.
“Those young men and their parents and leader did a great job,” Robinson said.
Robinson said many nonprofits who received free booth space, contributed to production and setup and received donations for their contributions.
Next year, the Street Fair will see a new venue as Fir Street will be under construction next July.
No decision on where the Street Fair will go has been made, city staff said, but they remain in talks with representatives with the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, who operates the Lavender Festival.
This year continued the efforts of the City of Sequim, Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce, and other groups to promote Sequim Lavender Weekend as an umbrella for the many events.
Barbara Hanna, City of Sequim communications and marketing director, said from her perspective everything went smoothly and appeared fairly status quo.
She and Shelli Robb-Kahler, the chamber’s executive director, saw a large number of new people attend a volunteer training session for the weekend who were new to the community and wanted to get involved.
Jordan Schiefen, co-owner of Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm, said it was an “awesome” year for them.
“We had a great time and lots of happy people,” Schiefen said.
The Schiefens partnered with Olympic Lavender Company again this year to offer joint ticket sales, and Schiefen said it went well.
She said for next year they hope to add more demonstrations from vendors. They also continue to offer the Jungible Summer Music Series on Friday nights with Bootleg Sunshine on July 28 and The True Loves on Aug. 4.
Multiple farms with the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association are partnering for the fifth Tour de Lavender on Aug. 5 as well.
It includes two events: the Metric Century, the classic long distance ride on the back roads of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley and Olympic Discovery Trail on Saturday, Aug. 5, and the Fun Ride, a family-friendly cycling tour designed for people of all ages and abilities. The entry fee for the Metric Century ride is $55 per person and for the Fun Ride $45 per person or $15 for riders under 12.
First responders respond
While the operations at events sound to be running smoothly, first responders report the weekend was fairly low key for incidents as well.
Sgt. Mike Hill with Sequim Police Department said there were no reported crimes at the Street Fair and a small collision in front of the Civic Center over the weekend but “it actually went really smooth for us.”
Assistant Chief Dan Orr with Clallam County Fire District 3 said there were no emergency calls related to lavender events on Friday and two wrecks on Saturday, one in Diamond Point and the other that Hill mentioned.
One vehicle rolled over on Woodcock Road around 4 p.m. Sunday, Orr said, but no serious injuries were reported.
Claudia Bingham Baker spokesman for the Washington State Department of Transportation said repairs to Hood Canal Bridge and openings for boats did occur at certain points.
On July 21, there was an opening at 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 pm. on July 22 but no day openings on Sunday.
There were night openings all three days for construction crews, she said
Repairs continued on Monday and Tuesday and depending on work progress, night openings may continue through the week, Bingham Baker said.
Back-up
Two lavender farms’ staff report they expected more visits to their farms but congestion into the area and the McDonald Creek Bridge closure likely played a factor.
Scott Nagel, marketing and event manager for Victor’s Lavender, said while they did see growth from last year they weren’t where they expected to be as far as sales and visitors despite the bridge closure.
“We do think there is an impact from the traffic not getting to the western farms,” he said.
Nagel said Victor Gonzalez, owner of Victor’s, felt good about Clallam County’s signage plan but “whenever you have a detour situation, people are going to be confused, and you can only do so much.”
As a solution for U.S. Highway 101, Nagel suggests the lavender farms, municipalities and other stakeholders to meet about accessibility.
“This is presents real challenges, not just on Lavender Weekend, but throughout the summer and so there is going to need to be some comprehensive planning to try and mitigate the problem,” he said.
Bingham Baker said congestion coming into Sequim has been a problem for a long time particularly when people slow traffic to turn left at Sunshine Herb & Lavender Farm.
“We have tried how to regulate traffic flows into there with some limited success,” she said. “In general, we don’t control that movement. it is a legal movement.”
Extended event
Dan Abbott, co-owner of Washington Lavender, said he saw a decrease in visits to his farm this year but he’s looking to extend his Washington Lavender Festival next year to 10 days, July 13-22.
Abbott and his wife Janet operate the George Washington Inn along with the lavender farm and want to spread out the traffic in a “more tourist-friendly way that will allow visitors to choose more than just one weekend of festivities.”
Abbott said Lavender Weekend has grown beyond capacity for a three-day event and he’s looking to cooperate with other lavender farmers to expand out of a single weekend.
“We need to think outside the box,” he said. “The (Sequim) Irrigation Festival has that same idea running over two weekends and the Tulip Festival is a month long. This gives us the opportunity to go after the very best and have more vendors.”
For more information on Abbott’s efforts, visit www.GeorgeWashingtonInn.com or https://www.facebook.com/walavenderfestival.
For more on Sequim Lavender Weekend, visit www.visitsunnysequim.com.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com and Erin Hawkins at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.