SEQUIM — Lavender shmavender.
Why do people have such a purple passion for what, in the final analysis, is just a plant?
If you asked any of the estimated 25,000 people who crowded the Sequim Lavender Festival street fair and overran its seven lavender farms, you got fast and emphatic answers.
“It’s pretty to look at. Good-smellin’ too,” said Roger Records of Kent, making his second purple pilgrimage.
“It’s the wonderful fragrance,” said Irma Colvin at the Lavender booth. “It’s soothing.”
Dede Momany of Poulsbo said purple is her favorite color, and she loves lavender’s smell.
“It’s flowers,” said Ernie Bourg of Seattle who with his wife Elizabeth rode on a bus back to the street fair from Angel Farm.
“We love flowers. We come to get some and take it back home and plant it.”
“It’s a romantic idea,” said Sandra Lundgren of Seattle. “It goes back to the Middle Ages. They used it for a lot of things.”
The scene Sunday was one of straw hats and sandals and suntan lotion for a larger-than-expected crowd who almost made up for attendance that was curtailed by Friday’s rainy weather.
“The farms are packed,” said Scott Nagle, festival director. “They’re going to way exceed last year.
“We’ve got fewer people, but they’re more dedicated festival-goers.”
Nagle said total attendance would probably be about 5,000 fewer people than last year but that patrons came from all across the nation and from 51 foreign countries.