SEQUIM — The stage is set for the three-day Celebrate Lavender Festival, which promises to draw several thousand people to the area known for its colorful farms.
Now in its seventh year, the North Olympic Peninsula’s most-attended festival is by all accounts a boon to Sequim’s economy, filling up motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, restaurants and shops.
“Anytime you have 20,000 to 30,000 people coming to town — no matter where they’re from — there is always an enormous amount of traffic coming through your doors,” said Melinda McMahan, owner of The Crystal Pedlar, a gift shop on Washington Street.
But there’s a new element to this year’s festival: The street fair, which for six years was held on West Cedar Street, has been shifted north to West Fir Street to take advantage of spacious public school properties.
The new location also eases parking problems experienced in past festivals.
But it comes with a price, McMahan said. Moving street fair traffic away from downtown takes away the automatic stream of customers once poised next to Washington Street’s numerous shops.
“We have a little bit more of a challenge this year as retailers,” McMahan said.
“And challenges are a good thing: They make us look at ourselves a bit; force us to create our own draw while at the same time working hand-in-hand with festival organizers.”
————
