Paso Robles News|Thursday, March 28, 2024
You are here: Home » Top Stories » Eighth annual Lavender Festival was ‘best ever’
  • Follow Us!

Eighth annual Lavender Festival was ‘best ever’ 

Lavender Festival 2016

Saturday’s eighth annual Lavender Festival was well attended.

More than 3,000 attended

–New and returning visitors to Saturday’s Lavender Festival at the Downtown Paso Robles City Park enjoyed a day of browsing and shopping for handcrafted treasures, lavender plants, hot and spicy jerky, lavender oils and lotions, presentations about the benefits and history of lavender and lots of good food. Even the bees dropped in, buzzing around the fragrant lavender bundles that were offered for sale. “This is the best lavender festival we’ve ever had,” said Roxanne Paris, a volunteer with the Paso Robles Main Street Association. “We know at least 3,000 people showed up. We had 3,000 purple Lavender Festival bags made up and they were all gone by noon,” said Paris. The success of this year’s festival was echoed by Shirley Theison from Paso Robles, “I come every year and this is the best one I’ve been to. There is a good variety of vendors and the food is reasonably priced.”

Bee in the lavender 1

Bees were among the many visitors to the Lavender Festival.

There were close to 160 vendors offering everything from face painting and children’s activities to art, handmade crafts, jewelry, clothing, a variety of food products and of course lavender in every imaginable shape and form. Every booth was crowded with shoppers and the vendors who were asked said their sales and interest in their products were very good. Mike Marple, of Mike’s Bird Houses in Atascadero, said he was very pleased with the interest in his birdhouses.

Birdhouses

Mike Marple with some of his hand made birdhouses. Marple’s birdhouses are available at local festivals or by calling 805-736-6747.

Julie Grimes of Julietta’s Natural from Pismo Beach, makes natural olive oil body products including hand molded soap.. Adam Sharp of Munch n Grub out of Fresno makes a variety of spiced jerky and corn nuts. “Our Meltdown Jerky is spiced with the four hottest peppers in the world. People sample it and run for the water! Then they come back and buy some.”

Soap

One of the many handcrafted soaps offered by Julietta’s Naturals.

Lavender use as a medicinal plant goes back 2500 years and is believed to originate in the Mediterranean, Middle East and India. In the mint family, the health benefits of lavender include its ability to eliminate tension and relieve pain, disinfect the skin, enhance blood circulation and treat respiratory problems. The Provence variety is the culinary lavender used for added flavor to food and beverages. Currently there are over 45 different species with over 450 varieties. According to the United States Lavender Grower’s Association more lavender varieties have yet to be classified.

The medicinal benefits of lavender was what brought first time visitors John and Christine Woodruff to the festival. “I have chronic headaches and using a lavender filled eye pillow really relieves them,” said John Woodruff. “This is our first time,” said Christine Woodruff. “We moved here a year ago from Oklahoma for John’s job. We became acquainted with the benefits of lavender from a lavender farmer where we lived in Oklahoma. This has been a lovely day.”

Woodruffs

John and Christine Woodruff are first time visitors to the Lavender Festival.

Another couple, Frank and Niki Cutler, were visiting from Leona Valley in Southern California. The Cutlers want to start their own lavender farm and took advantage of a visit with their daughter in Shell Beach to drive up to the Lavender Festival. “We have learned quite a bit about how we need to prepare.” said Niki Cutler. “We learned about drainage, propagation, pruning, and more than we will remember.” The Cutlers are coming back to the Central Coast to visit lavender farms and learn more about starting their own.

Share To Social Media

Comments

About the author: Reporter Jackie Iddings

Jackie Iddings is a contributing reporter and photographer for the Paso Robles Daily News.