SEQUIM — A group of 11 lavender growers has broken away from the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, citing philosophical and administrative differences.
They are forming a new group, Sequim Lavender Farmers Association, “dedicated to returning to the core values and original purpose of the founders of the lavender movement in Sequim Valley.”
Terry Stolz, Sequim Lavender Growers Association president, said the split will not affect the Sequim Lavender Festival in July, which the growers association operates.
“It’s going to go on,” Stolz said, adding that the farm tour would still take place, though the farms leaving his organization were on the tour.
Scott Nagel, Lavender Festival director, has agreed to accept the challenges that the realignment has created and has pledged to promote and produce the festival July 15-17 in its 15th season on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“We wanted it to go back to what it was originally, with farms marketing and growing lavender in Sequim,” said the new group’s spokeswoman, Vickie Oen, who manages the Purple Haze Lavender store on West Washington Street.
She said the group felt it was important to keep farmland in lavender.
“There was definitely different ideas about administration and who should be in charge of events and future plans,” Oen said. “We could not meet on those” terms.
The farmers association organizers are either founders or former members of the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, the farmers group said in a statement Tuesday.
“This new association is dedicated . . . to promote the growing of lavender, reclaiming former farmlands for lavender production and maintaining Sequim as the lavender center of North America,” the statement said.
Members of the new group are Angel Farm, owned by Cathy and Leeon Angel; Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm, Gary and Marcella Stachurski; Jardin du Soleil Lavender, Pam and Randy Nicholson; Moosedreams Lavender Farms, Beth Norris and Barbara Landbeck; Purple Haze Lavender, Mike and Rosalind Reichner and Oen; Olympic Lavender, Bruce Liebsch and Mary Borland-Liebsch; Port Williams Lavender, Michael and Sue Shirkey; Sunshine Herb & Lavender Farm, Steve and Carmen Ragsdale; Victor’s Lavender, Victor and Mario Gonzalez; Washington Lavender, Dan and Janet Abbott; and Weary Gardener, Lil and Doug Gimmestad.
The new group will focus on organizational structure and developing a long-range business plan to ensure the continued growth and support of Sequim-Dungeness Valley lavender farms.
Program plans will be announced in the near-future, Oen said.
“We’re just getting our act together,” she said. “This is truly a good thing for us. We are really united.”
Still, the group has to decide what it will do next, she said, and how it will proceed without playing a role in the festival.
The festival was a fundraiser for the growers association in the past.
Stolz said the growers association is trying to engage with the community more and get it to pledge support to local charities.
“What better forum is there than a world-class festival where a diversity of people can assemble, enjoy themselves free-of-charge and support their favorite cause?” Stolz said Tuesday.
“We want to go in a different direction and eliminate the perception that events such as ours is all about sales. This is our philosophy and administrative direction.”
The association wanted to raise dollars for scholarships, the arts and theater in Sequim, he said, even create awareness for housing needs in Clallam County.
“We really want to promote charity through commerce,” said Stolz, who has a small value-added lavender operation near Sequim.
“It’s not all about money for us. We wish our lavender partners success in their new endeavors,” Stolz added.
“Several of them were groundbreaking pioneers in the lavender industry, and all of them were an integral part in the success of all of the Sequim lavender festivals.”
