With plenty of photo-ops, treats, music and countless bundles of the popular plant available, Sequim Lavender Weekend continues to offer something for everyone.
This Friday-Sunday, July 18-20, thousands of people are expected to descend across the Sequim area to celebrate Sequim’s 29th year of the Lavender Festival and ongoing individual and community events connected to the weekend.
For husband and wife Joe Regalia and Susie Park, this will be their first summer as owners of a lavender farm.
They purchased one of Sequim’s original lavender farms, Olympic Lavender, formerly In Bloom, and renamed the space at 1526 Marine Drive in Sequim as “Lit Lavender.”
The name has two meanings – the first for the slang term “lit,” as in “cool” or “awesome,” Regalia said, and it’s also a nod to the thousands of lights they’ve placed along the fields.
Regalia, a law professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas during the school year, said they purchased the farm around Christmas, while In Bloom’s owners continue to operate an online store for their lavender products from a separate farm.
The couple said they started another successful business, Round Mountain Retreat, a 60-acre site in Idaho, about four years ago and wanted to build on that success.
Regalia said he first learned of Sequim while on a local backpacking trip and recalls telling himself, “Someday, I’m going to move here.”
Years later, they found the lavender farm and fell in love, he said.
“It’s a dream I didn’t know I had, but I can see myself doing this until I’m much older,” Park, a former government employee, said.
The couple said they wanted to have a family-friendly approach to their farm with standards such as U-cut lavender along with a new outdoor nine-hole mini-golf course, claw machines with plush animals and mystery boxes of lavender products, a scavenger hunt, and outdoor games.
Following new Clallam County regulations for farm stores and farms, Regalia said they met with county planners for hours and were able to receive the okay to move forward.
For the weekend, Regalia’s family will be bringing barbecue and the farm will host live music.
Jennifer Scott of the Hudson Valley region in New York with her niece Calliope Scott of Denver walk the lavender fields of Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm last week. Scott said she loves lavender and it was their first time visiting a lavender farm.
Farms, events
Lit Lavender is one of about 20 lavender farms open this weekend and summer, with some open year-round.
For Sequim Lavender Weekend, Purple Haze Lavender Farm, 180 Bell Bottom Lane, charges $5 admission per day, and Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm, 3832 Sequim-Dungeness Way, $10 for all three days, with children 12 and younger free.
Other farms are free to visit and Purple Haze and Jardin du Soleil are free to visit the remainder of their regular hours.
This year, a few farms are no longer open to the public, including Fleurish Lavender of Lost Mountain, Gnomelicious, and In Bloom, as noted. However, both Fleurish and In Bloom continue to operate an online shop as of the Gazette’s press deadline. Some farms could not be reached to update hours or contact information for this article.
Another staple of Lavender Weekend, the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club Show, seems to be on hold this year. The group’s website states: “Our club has historically presented a spectacular quilt show each year in July during the Sequim Lavender Festival Weekend. We are in the process of looking at how, where and when we hold our Quilt Shows, resulting in no show for 2025. We will post information as soon as our next show is planned.”
A few other events are continuing though, including the free Victor’s Barn Dance at Victor’s Lavender Farm, 3743 Old Olympic Highway, at 7 p.m. Friday, July 18, with The Backwood Hucksters and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 19 with Sound Advice.
Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., hosts “Lavender Legacies,” a lavender melodrama at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, with tickets available at olympictheatrearts.org and at the door.
Ghostlight Productions offers “The Lion King Jr.” at Sequim High School Auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave., starting at 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Tickets are available at ghostlightwa.org and at the door.
The Sequim Farmers & Artisans Market is open at the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St., from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
The First Friday Art Walk also shifts to include another day this month on July 18 from 5-8 p.m. with self-guided tours of art galleries and venues in Sequim.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Eve Jara of Kitsap County takes a photo of Veronica and Gabby Gonzalez at Graysmarsh Farm last week. Jara said it was their first time at a lavender farm and they were told they had to come. Graysmarsh is one of nearly 20 farms to participate in Sequim Lavender Weekend July 18-20.
For the 29th year, the Sequim Lavender Festival celebrates lavender at many local farms and in Carrie Blake Community Park, 202 N. Blake Ave., for Lavender Festival in the Park.
With more than 100 vendors of lavender and handcrafted items along with food and music, they’ll be open from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
The event is put on for free by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association (SLGA), which includes Lavenderstock’s live music all three days and Black Diamond Junction headlining at 7 p.m. Saturday on the James Center for Performing Arts’ bandshell stage.
Lavender in the Park music schedule:
Friday, July 18
11 a.m. opening ceremony
11:45 a.m. Queens and Aces
1 p.m. Bram Brata Steel Drums
2:15 p.m. Deadwood Revival
3:45 p.m. Desert Moondogs
5:30 p.m. Bread and Gravy
Saturday, July 19
11 a.m. Ghostlight Productions’ preview of “The Lion King Jr.”
Noon Chica Marimba
1:45 p.m. Deseo Carmin
3:15 p.m. Free Rangers
5 p.m. Reckless Dove
7 p.m. Black Diamond Junction
Sunday, July 20
10:30 a.m. Nightingale
11:45 a.m. WhatEverly Bros
1 p.m. Sarah Shea
2:30 p.m. Farmstrong
3:45 p.m. Backwoods Hucksters
Parking for Lavender Festival in the Park is available at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 N. Blake Ave., and Olympic View Church, 503 N. Brown Road, starting at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and after 11 a.m. Sunday. Free parking is also available along city streets.
For more about Sequim lavender farms, visit sequimlavenderweekend.com.
Sequim Lavender Weekend farms
Note: Farms’ hours of operations may vary from Sequim Lavender Weekend July 18-20, and the remainder of the summer/year. Visit their websites/social media pages for more information. Farms are free to visit unless noted.
• B&B Family Farm, 5883 Old Olympic Highway; open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 360-504-2585, bbfamilyfarm.com.
• Cedarbrook Herb & Lavender Farm, 31 Brueckner Road; open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Gift shop, 120 W. Washington St.; open 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. July 19-21; open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-3:30 p.m. Sunday, year-round. (360) 683-7733, cedarbrooklavender.com.
• Fat Cat Garden & Gifts, 21 Fat Cat Lane; open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. 360-808-6013.
• Graysmarsh Farm, 6187 Woodcock Road; Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 360-683-5563, graysmarsh.com.
• Jardin du Soleil Lavender, 3932 Sequim-Dungeness Way; $10 admission for all three days July 18-20 with children 12 and under free; open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Free admission the rest of the year. jardindusoleil.com.
• Kitty B’s Lavender Farm, 82 Cameron Acres Lane; open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. kittyblavenderfarm.com.
• Lavender Connection, 1141 Cays Road; open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. 360-681-6055, lavenderconnection.com.
• Lit Lavender, 1526 Marine Drive, open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. lit-lavender.com
• Meli’s Lavender, 62 W. Diane Drive; open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. 360-461-9958, melislavender.myshopify.com.
• Nelson’s Duckpond & Lavender Farm, 73 Humble Hill Road; open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. 360-681-7727, nelsonsduckpond.com.
• Old Barn Lavender Company, 9785 Old Olympic Hwy.; open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oldbarnlavendercompany.com.
• Olympic Bluffs Cidery and Lavender Farm, 1025 Finn Hall Road, Port Angeles; open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 571-439-1311, olympicbluffscidery.com.
• Purple Haze Lavender Farm, 180 Bell Bottom Lane; $5 admission/ open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free admission the rest of the year. 360-809-9615, purplehazelavender.com.
• Rancho La Morada Lavender & Flower Farm, 1430 Marine Drive; Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 360-461-7679, facebook.com/Lavandamorada.
• River Road Flower Farm, 1364 River Road, 10 a.m.-dusk. riverroadflowerfarm.com.
• Sunshine Herb & Lavender Farm, 274154 U.S. Highway 101; open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 360-683-6453, sunshinelavender.com.
• Victor’s Lavender Farm, 3743 Old Olympic Highway; open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; barn dances 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday. 360-681-7930, victorslavender.com.
More information at sequimlavenderweekend.com.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Lit Lavender’s two claw machines will be available during Sequim Lavender Weekend outside at 1526 Marine Drive, Sequim, with lavender mystery boxes and plush animals found around the farm.
