Yesterday The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and I drove to the town of Sequim, Washington for their annual Lavender Festival and Street Fair. For some odd reason, I’ve always thought Sequim was a small, one stop light kind of town. But apparently not.
Even though there are only around 7,000 residents, the town itself felt huge. Well, at least the main drag did anyway. Sequim was cute, a little touristy and kind of granola all rolled into one.
The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird said Sequim reminded her of Bellingham. Have you been there?
Not only were there fields upon fields of lavender, but there was also live music at every farm we visited. How cool is that?
The Sequim Lavender Festival and Street Fair is an annual event that takes place on the third weekend in July and attracts tend of thousands of people. The festival itself has been around since 1996 when lavender farming became popular in the region.
The streets are blocked off and filled with all sorts of fine art, live music and food booths.
There was even belly dancing for Pete’s sake!
But the booth with the biggest line, was the one selling lavender ice cream. Lavender with vanilla bean, blueberry lavender, lemon lavender, you name it, if they could make it with lavender, they were selling it. And people were buying it!
Now of course a trip to a lavender festival wouldn’t be complete without a few bouquets of fresh lavender now would it.
Treasures from the Sequim Lavender Festival – 2 bouquets of fresh lavender and a lavender {okay, purple} pie plate {my favorite thing to look for at street fairs} and one turquoise ring {The Girl is a turquoise nut}.
We were there about 4 hours, and had a blast.
If you are a local, you should try and go. The lavender festival goes until 5 pm on Sunday, July 21st and most farms do not charge admission {although one we stopped at did}.
How about you, have you been to any uber cool summer festivals this year? Is there one in particular you attend every year?
Mavis wants to know.
Karen Coghlan says
I have been wanting to go for such a long time. Thank you for sharing.
Sakura says
I love lavendar jelly. Just steep it to a tea, then use that in place of juice in a jelly recipe. Tastes similar to honey.
Julie says
We went Friday as well and had as great time. The best price I found for u-pick lavender was at Blackberry Forest. She charged $5 for we whatever you could fit into a plastic bag she provided. I ended with with ten good-sized bundles.
Leanna says
Did you happen upon the Next Door Gastropub booth at Carrie Blake Park? My nephew is the chef.
Mavis Butterfield says
Nope. I would have stopped and said Hi though if I knew. 🙂
suzanne says
We stopped by yesterday. Had to bother our girl who was spinning crepes as a food vendor at the park. No admission fee there. Pilots call Sequim the blue hole as apparently it’s the sunniest spot in WA. That must account for the fact that it’s a very popular retirement area. They have some really fabulous dining spots. Did you drive through Port Gamble on your way?