"A" for effort! I hadn't gotten embroiled in the political side of things since I don't live in the area and I flew to Washington primarily based on this festival (I'm from Hawaii). I know there's some kind of feud going on between the flower factions of this-and-that but it didn't stop me from going. There's not a whole amount of information out there about the Lavender Festival so I had to do some digging before I went (mainly via Youtube) but I was pretty amazed at the collaboration and effort that goes into making this festival a reality. This is a large-scale operation that involves not only the main town but the outskirts as well: The main festival is located in downtown in Sequim. Parking is tight as the other reviewers have mentioned but I pulled into the heart of it and paid a $10 fee in a private dirt lot. When you are limited on time, you just gotta pay. It was very hot and I wasn't sure if I'd be buying a lot of things and didn't want to lug them down several blocks, so I paid for the convenience, which I didn't mind. There are a lot of vendors: food, drink, rocks, lavender stuff, flea market junk, hippie new-age stuff, crystals, plants, clothing, etc. It's like your typical farm fair. FOOD: I was really hoping to try a bunch of exotic lavender-flavored items since I've read about their lavender flavored shrimp in year's past but all I encountered were some lavender cocktails (delish) and lavender ice cream from Olympic Mountain (blew my socks off). As far as real food was concerned, it was a wash. I ordered a veggie plate from a local "Thai" vendor and it was terrible. Seating was very limited in the shade around the food stations. There was a lot of seating in and around the booze tent but it was under the hot sun, no thanks. The kid and I ended up sitting on a bunch of hay bales under a tree eating our ice cream. The kid had to wait outside of the tent while I sucked down my French Connection ($8). Toilets were porta potties scattered about the premises. The other half of the festival is on the outskirts of Sequim and some of it overlapping into Port Angeles in the various lavender farms that participate during the festival. I found out which farms were free by snagging a free periodical left in the hotel lobby and decided to visit them during the festival. Due to limited time, I couldn't visit all the festivals I had desired, so I stopped at strategic ones along the way (they deserve their own ratings). No matter if you are visiting the farms or the festival downtown itself, be sure to slather on the sun screen, take a bunch of cash, water, wet wipes and plan on meeting at common spot if anyone gets lost. I'll be coming back that's for sure. Despite whatever is going on between the War of the Lavenders, I'm grateful that this festival lives on and I am hoping it won't go away any time soon. I can imagine this festival means a lot to the economy of Sequim and its surrounding towns and I'd hate to see it dissolve due to disagreements on how it should be run. Long Live Lavender!! read more

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"An alluringly scented festival showcasing everything handmade, unique, and lavender." Sequim home to the annual Lavender Festival and draws hundreds if not thousands of crowds. Lavender farms around the area are open for tours (some require an entrance fee) and sells bundles of freshly cut lavenders and other novelty items. Each farm is different and the uniqueness definitely adds to the character of each location. Make sure to grab a Lavender Festival guide map for a detailed list of farms around the area. The Street Fair is located in downtown Sequim on Fir street. Parking can be tricky and I suggest early attendance to secure a reasonable spot. Admission is free and the fair does allow dogs on the premises. Food options are decent and the live entertainment is a nice touch. Here are the farms we visited in our quest to see the lavenders: Graysmarsh - Cash only. Options of lavender and raspberry picking. Pets not allowed. Abundance in parking however no gift shop. Fat Cat Farm - Diverse gift shop and very friendly service. Only $5.00 for u-pick lavenders and the farm grounds are simply picturesque. Dogs are allowed however mind the free roaming chickens. Cards accepted and minimum of $10 purchase. Lavender connection - Smaller gift shop however they offer a "create your own scent." There are some seating areas for tired travelers. The owners were very ice and personable. Oliver's Lavender Farm- Not as much of a crowd compared to other farms. Small gift shop located in the back of the main house and offers a good selection of various lavender products. Martha's Lane - Ice cream shop features lavender flavors. I tried the white chocolate raspberry lavender ice cream. The texture was simply amazing and the taste was a perfect marriage of raspberries, sweetness, and lavender. They also offer various types of lavenders and each row is labeled for convenience. No pets allowed as this farm is organic certified. They have a fantastic gift shop with an abundance of lavender themed items. Beware as this shop can inspire sudden gift giving. Victor's Farm - Parking was full and the farm is very popular. There were more items in the gift shop and visitors can view the process of drying out the bunches of lavenders. Make sure to walk around to the back of the farm. Live music, lavender lemonade, and seating areas makes this a wonderful pit stop. The lavender festival is a good tourist/weekend activity for all ages. Excellent community and the staff from all of the farms were helpful and pleasant. read more

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My mom is a huge fan of lavender and the color purple. She buys lavender coffee, lotions, salt, pepper, candles, creams, incense, soda - basically anything that is or can be made with lavender. This year, her friend backed out and the last minute, and she asked me to take her to the Sequim Lavender Festival. I declined, then felt guilty, since her arm is broken and she doesn't feel comfortable driving. On the first day of the festival, we made the 2 1/2 hour drive from Bellevue, and met up with some friends from Sequim and their family. Tip: Do not take the ferry and pay $36 - it's the same amount of time driving through Gig Harbor/Tacoma and paying $4 in toll fees, plus there's no waiting for the ferry. Yes, the water and ferry ride is beautiful, but I don't have an extra few hours to wait for the next ferry b/c the lines are too long... In any case: Easy to find, easy to park. The festival had about 10 food vendors, and surprisingly had little lavender offerings in their food. Why? My mom chose to order from Horn of Africa, based out of Oregon. Lavender chicken with rice. It was terrible. Flavorless. And she's not a complainer, so I had to taste it myself. I paid $8 for a few pieces of "lavender flavored" chicken with a scoop of rice and some wilted salad. What really pissed me off were the 3 workers that had SERIOUS attitude. I mean, outright rude. I asked for a fork, and this girl looked at me, squinted her eyes and said: "IT"S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!" -I replied, "They're dirty." Her reply, "Well, that's all we have." This was after the fact that we waited a good solid minute (with no one else in line) so the 3 workers at Horn Of Africa could finish their personal conversation. I said, "Hi! Hello! Um...hi there! Can I order?" With a smile. The cash register girl was outright rude. "Oh - hi." LMFAO! I came close to simply taking my mom and walking away, but I didn't. FAIL. Onto the other vendors selling lotions, clothes, crafts, and other items - there was a large selection of products made with lavender, but I wasn't that impressed. For $15, one can purchase a button, and take a shuttle bus that takes you to various lavender farms, whether you go to one, or all of them. I asked the info booth ladies which was the best farm, and they recommended Purple Haze. In lieu of the shuttle bus (that sounds like misery) we drove 1/2 mile to Purple Haze Lavender Farm. They had parking organized, and more vendors, with lavender ice cream, coffee, and a lavender product store located in a cabin. For $5, you can walk through the "U-Pick" section and cut your own lavender (I never knew there were so many different types of lavender?) You receive a basket, a pair of scissors, and a tie/string- cut as much lavender as you'd like that fits in the string for $5. Overall, my mom and friends had a good time b/c they love lavender but the slow paced life of Sequim and the 20+ person deep line for ice cream resulted from the staff causally chatting with each guest made me what to scream, let alone the terrible food vendor experience. If you ever go, make sure to arrive before noon, pack a lunch, walk the craft booths, then visit as many lavender farms as time allows in your day. I think we were there for about 3 hours. read more

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All things lavender, come here. I enjoy going the the lavender fields that let you cut your own to take home. For one flat fee of $5 you can cut as much as your want as long as it fits into the bag provided. The field owner has scissors you can use. At the festival itself, lots of vendors selling anything lavender plus extras. Lots of food booths and a beer garden. Live entertainment. On a sunny hot day, good luck finding shade, very limited. street parking available at near by streets. Vendors are friendly and helpful read more

I visited the Lavender Festival yesterday and had a good time seeing all things Lavender. They have tours of the Lavender Farms available for 15.00 but I just stuck to the street fair. Many craft booths, but the prices for most things were rather high. I found some Lavender Body Mist to take home. The food court was small and food prices were a bit high, but there was some good food to be had. On the way to Sequim you can see some of the Lavender Farms all in peak bloom. It was a pleasent day trip. read more

Sequim Lavender Festival - Lavender Festival Street Fair - Festivals Near Me

Not a bad festival at all other than traffic on 101 can be truly awful! Once you get into town though it isn't so bad. The surrounding lavender farms are in Sequim and around it so people are spread out pretty far and wide the congestion of traffic in the area is not nearly as bad as you may think compared to Highway 101! There are also so many different things going on at once here too! I noticed a farmers market, a quilting show and several other events all which are timed during the festival so there is plenty to do! There is a more concentrated area for the festival as well near a large school where there are vendors of all different kinds as well as live entertainment. It was much larger than I thought it would be and I spend quite a bit of time looking at all of the shopping options here. I wasn't just a lookeeloo however and bought some very fine smelling artisan soap and will be excited to try it out! I would indeed come back...maybe not right away though. Traffic at the Hood Canal Bridge and after can be exhausting and a real challenge and my bucket list is very long of things yet to see and do. With that being said getting to Sequim once you are actually there it is quite manageable. read more

The Lavender Festival is a yearly festival held in sunny Sequim (pronounced "Skwim", WA. Many tourists erroneously think that the whole state of WA is rainy all the time. This is not true as Sequim only gets about 16 inches of rain, and had beautiful, sunny weather for the July 19-21 23rd 2019 Lavender Festival. Sequim's history is interesting in that Sequim used to be a major dairy region, and in 1996 based on soil testing the region switched to lavender. The new agro-tourism plan took off and now Sequim has a yearly lavender festival held in Carrie Blake Park. It is so popular; I had to book months in advance to get a hotel which was double the price for this weekend. It was well worth the extra money to see the lavender capital of North America and have enough time to spend in the area. Traffic tip: We left Friday morning from Seattle and did not experience any of the traffic jams mentioned in the other reviews. We did not take the ferry and easily made the drive in a little less than 2.5 hours. I anticipated miles of traffic that never happened. Since the hotel workers recommended that we get an early start, they let us do an early check in too. We stayed at the Red Lion Inn and Suites Sequim, 1095 E. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382. I was a little nervous staying here based on some of the reviews, but was pleasantly surprised. The hotel has a great location within walking distance of Carrie Blake Park. The staff was friendly and accommodating, and they included breakfast. We enjoyed the hot tub and pool. Our room was clean and quiet. There are multiple farms throughout the area, but we limited our tour to the following 4 farms. I was a little surprised how early the farms closed. They do not extend their hours for the festival. Most of them close at 5:00 or 5:30. We chose to tour the free farms and they did not disappoint. [I am sure there are many other wonderful farms too.] We easily drove to all the farms and did not use the shuttle. Perhaps because we went on Friday, we did not have any trouble parking at any of the farms. B&B Family Farm: 5883 Old Olympic Hwy., Sequim, WA 98382, Open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The whole B&B family was involved in the festival. This farm is low key in terms of not having music and festivities. My daughter and I loved the serenity and the tour given by one of the daughter-in-laws. We had a picnic lunch at the tables set up near the barn. It was a shady, lovely picnic spot. She paid about $7.00 to pick lavender and I had so much fun basking in the sun watching her carefully select lavender stalks for her bouquet. I liked the peacefulness of this farm. They have a large shop and I bought the oatmeal soap for $7.00. It was more expensive than the other farms, but it came in a burlap bag. It was a softer soap that was covered with oatmeal that gets all over the tub. It didn't last as long as the other farm's harder soap, but had a great scent. This farm has multiple awards for their lavender products. The store was inside and they had multiple shelves with a big selection of lavender products to choose from. Next, we went to the Lavender Connection. 1141 Cays Rd., Sequim, WA 98382, Open 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. My fist impression was the farms were the same. This is not true. I realized that every farm had unique experiences and things to offer. The Lavender Connection was decorated really cute with purple benches and chairs and had great photo opportunities. They offer the you-pick lavender and have a variety of products for sale. Martha Lane Lavender Farm 371 Martha Lane, Sequim, WA 98382, Open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was recommended to me by one of the locals. It is a smaller farm. What I liked was that you could photograph the fields without a huge parking lot in the background. I did the You-pick lavender for only $5.00. We also had lavender ice-cream and sat in the comfortable, peaceful gazebo looking out at the beautiful lavender fields. We were serenaded by a lady playing music with glass bowls. It was a unique musical experience. I did the most shopping here because it was out last farm tour for the day. The shop was set up outside. I loved the lavender Body Mist for about $7.00 for 4 ounces. They split the bottle in two since flights only accept 2oz. containers, so I didn't have any trouble at the airport. I also got a stronger lavender perfume, pure essential oil of lavender. It was fun testing the multiple bottles and scents. The bar of soap I got was reasonably priced. It was hard and one edge looked like it was cut from a tray of soap [which let me know it was homemade]. The scent and soap lasted a long time; it was a harder bar of soap. . We really savored the moment at each farm, so we didn't get in more than 3 farms since we also wanted to go to the festival at Carrie Blake Farm. Carrie Blake Lavender Festival 202 N Blake Ave, Sequim, WA 98382-The park had a ton of venders selling a variety of crafts and other items. I was surprised that there weren't read more

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I came here with two goals: buy a lavender plant and eat lavender flavored ice cream. I had to wait in ridiculous lines for both and pay way too much for the latter, but I did accomplish my goals. The festival itself felt hastily slapped together with not a lot of collaboration between vendors, farmers and the city. With a little bit of work it could be a lot better. read more

The organizers of this annual event have yet to get cooperation from the Washington State Patrol to regulate left turns into the easternmost lavender farms, thus a 6-8 mile long traffic jam forms on Hwy 101. Unless you relish sitting in a 90-120 minute traffic jam to get from east of Discovery bay into Sequim (and again to leave town), I'd stay away from this festival. It's cute, but not worth the gas and frustration to get there. read more

Went to the Festival last year had a great time excellent food and just fun! Had no problem with food or parking and we will go again this year! There were 4 of us that all went and had a great time! We are from Gig Harbor pleasant drive and we all had a great time! Age range was from mid 49 to 70!@ read more

Cute main festival in the town with smaller festivals scattered here and there. Really great Live music on stage. Great barbecue meats food stall and great tamale food stall. I got my small town summer fair fix here on Saturday. Half the festival is free, but the other half costs 15$. From what I've read on the web there seems to be two separate groups and they aren't really getting along, one side wants to be paid the other side wants to keep the festival free. I didn't go to any of the $15 farms or fairs, im on the keep it free side. I steadfastly refuse to pay, I'm paying just for the privilege to buy food and goods? Why should I pay to come to a farm that is free the rest of the year. Really, I was surprised to find the $15 fee there when the festival webpage states that it's all free. There might be two separate groups with two separate webpages and the one Google showed me was free I don't know I don't care I don't have the time to research these things I just want to have a nice day off and not get f'd over. Since the ferry took so long I wasn't able to go to any of the free u pick it Farms to pick lavender but I found some already cut at the fair, 6$ a bundle. The traffic and wait times were outrageous at the Seattle to Bainbridge ferry, we live in the city and we came early for the 12 o'clock but we could not get on until 3 o'clock. the fair shuts down at 7 and the farms close at 5:30 or 6. You might want to drive to Tacoma and then to Bainbridge avoiding the ferry altogether. The ferry worker guesstimate it will take you one hour and 45 minutes from Seattle to Bainbridge by driving. That is far better than a three hour wait for the ferry paying $24 for a car and two people and $16 return. On the trip back home we were unable to get onto the midnight ferry since it was full (we got a little gambling in at seven Cedars and Clearwater) and had to wait till the 130 ferry which didn't arrive until 2 o'clock. So basically expect long wait times and delays on the ferry system. not sure I'd do it again next year. read more

I usually love this event and have gone for at least 8 years. I have gone through the break up of the two groups . Last year I loved the vendors at Carey Blake park. Wide open spaces lots of live music in the amphitheather and lots of room to sit on the grass and relax. No...that was all gone. The vendors were crushed in a really small hot uncomfortable space. NO music in the amphitheater no relaxing on the grass. Hardly anywhere to sit and most of the food I tried was not very good and quite expensive.Mostly I couldn't find any of the lavender food. White chocolate raspberry lavender cheesecake????Not there .I went to the 15$ growers but was really hassled by the attendants parking the cars. At Olypmpic Farms I was asked roughly six times and not in a very nice way if I had a pass?That was before I even got out of the car .Same at Jardin du Soliel . The volunteers checking for badges or bracelets were actually making fun of people when they walked by.Middle aged woman short dark brown hair. A horror. I had paid for my pass on the internet.When I checked in at Carey Blake park it was a gong show.Once again the volunteers were rude and disorganized. I never received the 'Passport" and when I went to the Farms I was chastised for not having the 'Passport. Really They got rid of the dog sitting service that has always been at the at the street fair but was still listed on the website as available. The free farms were not even close to being charming. They need a few more years to ''find themselves;.I wish them luck, I truly miss Cedarbrook Farms because they had the full experience of the farm down to an art..I will go one more time to see if it improves and gets back to it original glory. The farms work really hard at this so it is really hard to pinpoint where it fell off the rails. There needs to be a professional organizer to bring the two groups together and 'Create' the lavender experience once again. Careful with those volunteers.Make sure they are doing you some good. read more

First time to festival. Main objective was photographing farms and to buy planting stock. Went to all 5 heritage farms on paid tour. The best two by far for my two objectives were Purple Haze and Jardin du Soleil in that order. Bought stock at Olympic Farm which turned out to be overpriced at $5.25 per small plant and that was the only size available. Purple Haze offered same size at $4.00 per plant and had available half gallon and gallon plants for less than $10. Both Haze and Jardin seemed most like working farms and great opportunity for pictures. For what it's worth, Lost Mountain was a waste of time. read more