SEQUIM – It’s a silly question in the Pacific Northwest. Farmer Barbara Hanna of Lost Mountain Lavender answers patiently anyway.
What if it rains on the Lavender Festival?
“It’s rained before, and people said, ‘We’re glad it’s cooler,'” said Hanna, who’s on her fourth festival this year.
“We’ll still make it fun,” she said, adding that the vendors and musicians at her place will be under tents.
Lost Mountain Lavender, at 1541 Taylor Cutoff, is one of the eight farms on the festival tour. Last year, more than 30,000 people visited Sequim on Lavender Festival weekend.
So does Hanna think showers could dilute the throng?
“I don’t think crowds are an issue. Everyone talks about that, and there are a lot more people than usual here,” she replied.
“But it’s not like the Bite of Seattle, where 100,000 people are in one place, Seattle Center, at the same time. [The festival] is three days, spread out over nine locations,” including the farms and the Fir Street fair.
In fact some 30 fragrant fields will be open this weekend. Just across the road from Lost Mountain, for example, is Nelson’s Duck Pond, a 5-acre farm that’s not on the official tour.
It is on the Sequim Lavender Farms driving guide – available at the Sequim Visitor Center, 1192 E. Washington St., – and at the street fair and farms.
What will owner Gail Nelson do if it rains?
“Same thing we do when it’s sunshiney,” she said. “We give out umbrellas,” which shelter people from drops or rays.
Festival goers have more entertainment choices than ever.
Friday night, four “jazz in the alley” concerts will take place in downtown Sequim.
On Saturday, the Sky Ridge Golf Course will start a tournament at 10 a.m., and on Saturday night, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center will be the setting for “Salmon and Stories,” a dinner with tale-teller Elaine Grinnell.
Friday through Sunday, the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club’s Lavender Blue show will fill Sequim Middle School’s gym, 301 W. Hendrickson Road, with 200 quilts plus demonstrations.
Shuttle buses will ferry people among the lavender farms, quilt show and street fair.
The latter event will feature live music and more than 150 vendors – and it’s not even the only street fair going on this weekend.
The Sequim Open Aire Market, which has some 50 food, produce and art vendors each Saturday, will expand its hours to be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on West Cedar Street.
