SEQUIM — This is a weekend to wander through the purple with lavender lovers from all over the globe.
The Sequim Lavender Festival, one of the largest annual events on the North Olympic Peninsula, happens at multiple venues, from the six farms on the festival’s tour to Lavender Central, aka the 140-vendor Fir Street Fair in downtown Sequim.
Tickets to the farm tour, which includes lavender fields from Blyn to Dungeness, are $15 for teens and adults and free for children 12 and younger; they’re available at the Street Fair and at any participating farm.
The Street Fair is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The farms, meanwhile, are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all three days.
To be liberated from your car, catch one of the free shuttle buses running between the Street Fair and the farms.
Parking downtown and at QFC, 990 E. Washington St., is free, and another shuttle bus serves the QFC parking lot.
For complete details, visit www.LavenderFestival.com.
Farms on tour
At the farms all weekend, activities are abundant, and include crafts for children and grown-ups, local food, live music and “meet the farmer” talks. Traveling east to west, the tour stops are:
• Sunshine Herb & Lavender Farm, 274154 U.S. Highway 101, 360-683-6453.
• Purple Haze, 180 Bell Bottom Road, 360-683-1714.
• Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm, 1345 S. Sequim Ave., 360-683-4541.
• Jardin du Soleil Lavender, 3932 Sequim-Dungeness Way, 360-582-1185.
• Olympic Lavender Farm, 1432 Marine Drive, 360-683-4475.
• Lost Mountain Lavender, 1541 Taylor Cutoff Road, 360-681-2782.
When a reporter visited two participating farms on the weekend preceding the festival, she found out the length of lavender’s reach.
At Purple Haze, the 12-acre organic farm on Bell Bottom Road, a family from Romania was enjoying ice cream and sunshine.
Zorica and Sam Szabo, their children and grandchildren had come to see Olympic National Park, and decided to take a side trip to the flowering field.
And at Olympic Lavender, the wide-open space on Marine Drive in Dungeness, Thailand native Chan Chaiyochlarb and his family frolicked among the rows.
Then there was a couple from Sequim, Saren Casad and Mitchell Wilson, strolling down Purple Haze’s path last Sunday.
During the festival, Wilson is displaying his metal art, while Casad, an esthetician, is offering foot treatments and sunscreen tips for festival-goers.
Cooking demonstrations
The events’ orchestrators, meantime, are forever on a quest to enhance the herb’s allure. So on Sunday, top chefs will give cooking demonstrations; the sampling schedule is as follows:
• Broiled salmon filets with lavender beurre blanc at Jardin du Soleil farm, 11 a.m.
• Oven Spoonful chef Dave Long’s wild king salmon flambe at Purple Haze, 11:30 a.m.
• Secrets of cooking with lavender over a four-course lavender-seasoned meal at Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm, noon.
• Chef Kathy Gehrt’s grilled pear crostini at Olympic Lavender, 12:30 p.m.
• Demonstration of Chef Harvey’s signature pulled-pork sandwiches at Sunshine Herb & Lavender Farm, 1 p.m.
• Bella Italia chef Dave Senters’ lavender risotto at Lost Mountain Lavender.
Lavender Festival weekend also brings a selection of other things to do.
Quilts, music
The Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club show of more than 200 quilts takes over Sequim Middle School gym, 301 W. Hendrickson Road, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Sunday.
The theme this year is “Call of the Wild,” since many quilts depict wild creatures; and $5 gets you in for the show plus quilting demonstrations, a vendors mall and a country store.
Sequim Arts’ 2010 Studio Tour also runs all weekend, at 17 art studios across the Dungeness Valley. The self-guided tour is free, and maps are available at the Sequim Visitor Information Center, 1192 E. Washington St., and at www.SequimArts.org.
New this year is a Saturday-night concert featuring the Beatles tribute band Creme Tangerine.
The Seattle group will get started at 7 p.m. at the James Center band shell at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave. Admission is free for all.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
