It’s that time of year again for celebrating that aromatic, purple flowering herb, Lavender. Each mid-July, visitors from across the country throng to Sequim, Washington, located on the Olympic Peninsula, home of acres of national forest, rain forests, a world-heritage national park, and enchanting coastlines rich in Native cultural history. Oh, and did I mention that Sequim (pronounced Squim) is the “Lavender Capital of North America”?

The lavender festival and faire lasts 3 days this weekend (July 19-21). There are actually two sites: The Lavender Farm Faire and the Sequim Lavender Festival. Both are readily accessible by a shuttle that runs passengers back and forth to both venues. One venue is a street-fair festival and the other “faire” is located in lovely Carrie Blake Park. Along with the myriads of local lavender growers’ products, you can feast your eyes upon acres of the lovely, purple blossoms with your own free lavender farms tour. Free driving maps are provided for your convenience. Or, if you prefer, pay one admission price to take a bus tour of several lavender farms in the area.

I opted this year to tour the farms on my own driving power. I visited a half dozen sites. Some sites are mainly farms in which you cut your own lavender and not much else, and other sites are beautifully manicured farms with attractive gift stores on site, some with outdoor vendors. Honestly, if you love lavender, or just love outdoor festivals, this is one of the Pacific Northwest’s premiere summer celebrations to immerse yourself in. Below are a few photos I took of some of the farms located on the Free Farm Tour.

PS  To Nelson’s Duckpond & Lavender Farm – Thank you for the Lavender Sugar cookies. They were to die for!

All images property of Peggy A Thompson