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Lavender Fest leaves weary, happy farmers in Sequim 7/20/04 Sequim, WA - There’s still a lot of lavender left, but not nearly as many people, after another successful lavender festival comes to a close. Final totals are still being calculated, but it looks like the 8th annual Sequim Lavender Festival brought an estimated 30,000 people to the street fair and farms of the East End. That’s about the same, or a just a little bit more than last year’s crowd, with festival organizers reporting a steady stream of people throughout all three days of the event. And once more this year, the festival avoided a brush with bad weather. It seems like Mayor Walt Schubert’s bold proclamation that it wouldn’t rain during Friday’s opening ceremony worked, keeping away the clouds and showers than had been in the forecast. The street fair was packed throughout the weekend, with vendors hawking a variety of products; most, but not all connected with the herb. Sequim merchants also seemed to have adjusted to having the street fair moved to Fir Street for the second year, saying their business downtown had rebounded. At the farms, hundreds of people were trying their hand at u-pick, or simply watching the expert workers begin bringing in the lavender bundles for the year. Buildings like the barn at Angel Farm are starting to fill up with lavender ready for drying. As was the case in year’s past, most of the lavender festival visitors came from off the Peninsula, either to specifically visit Sequim, or just happening to be traveling through on vacation. Festival organizers say they would still like to get more participation from local residents in next year’s Lavender Festival. Commissioners voted to postpone sending invitations to bid on a new water treatment plant, because by the time bids came back it would be too late in the year to begin construction.
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