Editor’s note: This is the second in a series about different aspects of Sequim’s arts community. Look next week, April 22, for Part 3.
Let’s recap: there have been a lot of changes with Sequim’s lavender farms in the past few years.
Lavender Weekend, the all-encompassing name for lavender events from July 17-19, is arguably Sequim’s biggest tourist draw and continues to shape the economic climate of the area. Each summer, dozens of farms bring in tens of thousands of people to the area and each year farmers continue to find the right formula to keep lavender a boon for their farms and Sequim.
The latest change sees the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association stopping its three-day Farm Tour as an organized event after 19 years during Lavender Weekend.
Instead, the four farms — Jardin du Soleil, Lost Mountain Lavender, Olympic Lavender Heritage Farm and Washington Lavender — will open as their own festivals during the weekend.
So far, Jardin du Soleil will charge an admission per person, Washington Lavender per carload, Lost Mountain will not charge and Olympic Lavender is yet to be determined.
In December, the SLFA announced it was planning on a fixed rate per carload for all of the farms. They still are dropping their Lavender in the Park event next to Carrie Blake Park on that weekend though.
Jordan Schiefen, owner of Jardin du Soleil and president of the SLFA, said these farms are looking to promote the lavender experience all summer.
“The misconception of the public is that Sequim lavender is only that weekend,” she said. “It’s really about the whole experience all summer.”
In an effort to promote this mentality, the SLFA is putting together a driving guide they opened up to all lavender farmers in the area, which includes some independent farms and farms with the Sequim Lavender Growers Association.
Marco Hermosillo, co-owner of Olympic Lavender, said the SLFA’s focus always has been on promoting lavender all summer.
“The weekend is just part of what we do,” he said. “What I’m doing now is for the whole summer. That weekend is where I do a little bit more.”
Schiefen said much of her efforts were put into Lavender Weekend, too.
To promote the all-summer mindset, the SLFA now requires members must be open at least from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
High stakes
But now Schiefen and a new generation of lavender farmers are finding the stakes are high for Sequim’s lavender industry.
Originators of the Sequim Lavender Festival and Growers Association left the organization over “philosophical and administrative differences” in January 2011 to start the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association.
Three of the four farms’ owners purchased their farms after the split.
“We didn’t realize the focus was on that weekend,” Schiefen said. “I own a business that depends on people coming to this area but it’s all so intertwined. There’s so much importance placed on it. So many people who rely on it (Lavender Weekend) to succeed. Everybody relies on it to keep going.”
Since Schiefen purchased Jardin du Soleil with her husband, Paul, several lavender farms have closed.
“In order for new people like me to succeed, we can’t find where to fit. We can’t find the support,” she said. “We’re being tasked to mend everything that’s happened in the past five years. We had no idea that this was the politics we were getting into it.”
The Schiefens have tried new approaches though.
They started the Jungible Festival, a music festival at their farm, two years ago but decided not to pursue a third year.
“Unfortunately, it did not grow,” Jordan Schiefen said. “We had the same numbers both years. We weren’t looking to make any money but we can’t lose money.”
Schiefen said the entertainment industry here is a tricky market.
“People say they want things and all these activities to make our community great but when it comes down to it, such as with Jungible Festival, there aren’t enough people here.”
Different mindsets
While the SLFA looks to expand through the summer, the Sequim Lavender Growers Association seems set focusing on the weekend of the Sequim Lavender Festival, which centers on its free, smaller farms tour and Street Fair on Fir Street.
Mary Jendrucko, president and executive director of the Sequim Lavender Festival and the SLGA, said the Lavender Festival “is going to be what it’s going to be.”
“That’s what I do. I work hard for that weekend. It’s our money-maker,” Jendrucko said. “Most importantly, it’s here to promote Sequim and what we have here all the time.”
Jendrucko said their issue is that they’ve been told before the Lavender Festival will peak.
“People like the street and hard surface but we can only have so many vendors there,” she said. “It’s a well-respected show but we’ve been told it’s a two-lane highway and there’s only so many people who can come in but the hotels and B&Bs are booked every year and the people are still coming.”
As for the split, Jendrucko said it’s old news.
“The word split, I don’t like to say it anymore. It’s so old,” she said. “We’re running our farms how we want and they are how they want. We want to be copacetic. Everyone has moved on. There’s room enough for everybody. Good grief, look at how many pharmacies are in town.”
Previously, the SLGA reached out to Jardin du Soleil, Lost Mountain and Olympic Lavender a few times to join them, but they declined. In December, the two associations’ leadership met for dinner but no collaborations are reported at this time.
The City of Sequim continues its collaboration of Lavender Weekend promoting lavender events and others to create a cohesive program for visitors.
Jendrucko said visitors and locals know the routine mostly now for Lavender Weekend.
“We’re all here to promote Sequim lavender. That doesn’t mean you have to have an ad together,” she said.
“We want to do whatever is best for the lavender groups and we want people to know who is charging and not so (visitors) aren’t annoyed.”
As of now, the city requires the two associations to share their information for the Lavender Weekend’s website visitsunnysequim.com and pamphlets.
Jendrucko said as an association the SLGA as a whole won’t join SLFA’s driving guide because they have their own but their farms are allowed to participate individually.
“We’re not here to tell our farms how to run their business,” she said.
One big difference between the two associations, Jendrucko said, is that many of the Growers Association are mostly drawing a retirement from a previous career.
Sadly, two of its farms founders died in the past year including Claudine Oliver of Oliver’s Lavender Farm and Harry Nelson of Nelson’s Duckpond & Lavender Farm. Jendrucko said Nelson’s remains open and Oliver’s will be open through the summer. But on the bright side, they’ve added Fat Cat Garden & Gifts, off Cays Road, to its free tour and will host a street dance on July 18 in the evening at the Street Fair.
Haze Daze
The pioneering lavender farm Purple Haze Lavender remains on its own path this year, too.
Co-owner Mike Reichner made the decision in November to depart the SLFA and start its own Purple Haze Daze event during Lavender Weekend.
“It’s not going to be much different than before,” he said. “I like like to think of it as a revisit to the rock festival days without the chaos and drugs. We’ve given the farm a fresh look. It’s going to be a younger, fresher more vibrant look than before.”
It will cost $10 per person for all three days, feature lavender, live music, vendors and food and spirits along with a free shuttle from QFC during the weekend.
“It’s still a business model change more than anything else,” Reichner said about the change. “People this year are going to have to make a choice is it what it boils down to but on that weekend people are coming for that experience and the party and they are only going to find it on a handful of farms.”
Reichner said many of the farms are feeling independent right now because of the high costs that were attributed with running the Lavender Farm Faire and Tour.
“I’m confident we’ll be fine,” he said. “We have a really good following. Everyone is going to have their own little deal and I think it’ll be just fine.”
But Schiefen feels the time for change is sooner rather than later, otherwise lavender festivities could go away.
“As an association we want lavender to succeed,” she said. “We want this to be the world’s destination for lavender. Whatever it takes, we’re willing to do it. We want to make Sequim what it was 15 years ago. That’s why we bought into this idea and farm. We’re hoping to be more
inclusive and if we we’re working all together, that’s what’s going to take to succeed.”
