Visit Sequim, Washington, the Lavender Capital of North America to celebrate the 14th annual Sequim Lavender Festival, Friday, July 16 - Sunday, July 18, 2010, sponsored by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association. Discover Sequim’s world-renowned lavender, grown by the thirty members of the Sequim Lavender Growers Association. Set in the breathtaking Sequim-Dungeness Valley when the purple blossoms are bursting, this three-day festival is the Largest Lavender Event in North America and voted one of the Top 100 Events by the American Bus Association.

The Six Farms on Tour open their fields and their hearts to visitors, offering a variety of atmospheres, lavender activities and acres of lavender fields with more than 150,000 plants. Attend workshops, demonstrations, and horticultural programs. Learn about lavender, how it is grown, harvested, and turned into dozens of different products using dried blossoms or steam-distilled lavender oil. Each farm offers a unique experience as visitors spend time in the fields, pick lavender, and enjoy food, beverages, entertainment, and local crafts. Discover what makes each farm distinct, have your questions answered at the Meet-the-Farmers sessions, and take in the culinary program on Sunday

Tickets to the Farm Tour are $15 and provide admission to all of the Farms on Tour, with children 12 and under admitted free. We are also proud to offer a $5 discount to active military and their dependents. The Farms on Tour are open 10a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday-Sunday.

The Street Fair in downtown Sequim is “Lavender Central,” a festival in itself, with premier lavender and lavender products proudly offered exclusively by the members of the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, with more than 150 juried arts and craftspeople from throughout the Northwest. Visitors enjoy entertainment at the stage, the food court offers great Northwest foods, and the wine and beer garden offers a shady spot to relax and sample wines of the Olympic Peninsula or a northwest brew. The family area features children’s activities and local nonprofit organizations. The Street Fair is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Shuttle bus service, providing transportation between the Street Fair and each of the Farms on Tour, is free.

Lavender is such an amazing plant in that it is also a fantastic culinary herb. The lavender Culinary Program features scheduled cooking demonstrations by local chefs at each of the Farms on Tour on Sunday. Each demonstration will include information on the uses of culinary lavender in the home. Many of the farms produce a variety of culinary products. The Festival closes with the annual Lavender Celebration Dinner on Sunday night at the John Wayne Marina.

The entire valley celebrates with a variety of Community Events to entertain the whole family. On Saturday night the outdoor amphitheatre at the James Center will inaugurate our free concert series with the sounds of the Beatles, thanks to Crème Tangerine. The festival shuttle bus system will be running and there will great food with a salmon barbecue. Also enjoy the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Show, Sequim Arts Studio Tour, North Olympic Peninsula Wine Tour, the Puffin Sunset Dinner Cruise, Lavender Festival Golf Tournament and a Bird Walk at Railroad Bridge. Visit the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center for Salmon and Stories by the Bay, or attend a theatrical production at Olympic Theater Arts. There Many of these events are free or offer a discount to Farm Tour Ticket holders.

Sequim is located on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula cradled in the “Rain Shadow” of the Olympic Mountains and the world-famous Olympic National Park. The Sequim-Dungeness Valley has an ideal microclimate for growing lavender. With less than 20 inches of rain per year, the area is similar to the Provence region of France. Sequim lavender has received national recognition for the purity and quality of its lavender, and the farmers have more than 200 years of combined experience cultivating lavender.

For more information including transportation, accomodations, and directions please contact us by e-mail at info@lavenderfestival.com, website at www.lavenderfestival.com, or by telephone at (877) 681-3035 (toll free).

The Festival is proudly sponsored by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association (SLGA), a nonprofit community of farmers, committed to knowledge of how to grow better lavender in an environmentally sustainable way.

Tags: concert, Culinary, demonstration, Family, farms, Festival, food, fun, lavender, music, shop, Street Fair, Tour, upick