Oregon Lavender Festival 2010

My yearly trips to Oregon for the Lavender Festival are about more than lavender. They are a chance for me to go to a pretty part of the world, relax and recharge with a friend I’ve known and loved since I was six. That is more years than I care to own. I love my big household and doing homey things, but it is divine to come to a place where you can set a thing down with a reasonable expectation of it being in that spot minutes or hours later. A household of six and a small dog cannot be as peaceful as a household of one and a cat. It is nice to occasionally visit a different world.

This year arriving in Mt. Angel, OR was an even larger blessing because of the traffic on freeways between there and my home in Gig Harbor, WA. I have long had anxiety regarding freeways which HBP medication has helped to a certain extent, but does not entirely ameliorate. Although I left Gig Harbor at 11:30 AM, a reasonable time, a trip which I have made in 3.5 hours in the past took five in 90 plus degree heat and with an air conditioner that, like a couple of things on my car, decided to take a little break! So I was grateful when the air conditioning kicked back on and I was able to get off of I-5 and onto the back roads of Oregon. I am seriously considering taking the train next year!

A salmon dinner and a shower soon made me feel better although Oregon’s heat wave prevented me from sleeping as well as I might. Undaunted, Gail and I set out Saturday morning on our quest of all things lavender. Our journey began with a short ride on the Wheatland Ferry across the Willamette River. The ferry is quaint and adds to the ambiance of a beautiful rural area.

It would be impossible to say which our favorite lavender farm is although we have hit some duds in three years of perusing. Our first stop this year was Red Ridge which quite possibly has the most beautiful prospect. As its name implies it sits on a hill top with fields of lavender sloping away from the house and gift shop. From there you can see the surrounding bucolic countryside and our visit there is always pleasant.

Willakenzie is another favorite. It, too, has a beautiful setting, an extensive gift shop that includes hand-knit items from the wool of the alpacas the farm raises along with lavender. We always find treasurers there and this year was no exception. After we’d done some retail therapy we enjoyed lavender sorbet on the porch of the shop and took away lavender lemonade and lavender ice tea for the road to Yam Hill.

After a brief stop at the Carlton General Store where I purchased sunscreen (having left my own bottle in my car in Mt. Angel) we got to Yamhill and the festival in the park there. Booths with crafts and art line the edges of the park under ancient trees while a band played on the bandstand in the center. We particularly enjoyed an extensive display of local paintings of the many lavender fields that surround the countryside of Yamhill. At a picnic table we unpacked our picnic lunch which we might have enjoyed were it not for a couple of people who seemed to think that the area we were in was the smoking area. Although our chicken salad sandwiches were good (if I do say so myself) they might have been better appreciated somewhere else. Before we left the festival grounds we purchased two lavender snickerdoodles to enjoy on the road.


Helvetia Lavender Farm was eagerly anticipated by me. It is always the busiest stop on our lavender journey with lots of booths, music and food, but this year it held the special attraction of another childhood friend, Marlys Violet Spencer, seamstress extraordinaire who lives and creates “wearable art” in Hillsboro, OR. Marlys a year ahead of me at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, WA and unquestionably the most entertaining of my acquaintances. She has done work for large and small theater groups as a costumer around the Pacific Northwest and in Hawaii. She returned to her childhood home of Hillsboro to care for a dying father and create yet a new chapter in a very interesting life. She sews wedding dresses, kitschy shirts that truly are art, and beautiful scarves all made from repurposed fabric she finds at garage sales and Goodwill. When we first stopped at the booth where I quickly spotted her wares, Marlys was nowhere to be seen, but the farm and festival is extensive so we wandered the many booths and before we left found her returned. Big hugs and introductions ensued along with a lengthy chat to catch up. When a customer needed Marlys’ attention we moved toward the car and I was dismayed to realize that I’d not gotten her picture. Before we left she told me to choose a scarf since she reckoned she owed me 40 years worth of birthday presents. I was already determined to buy a scarf for myself and one for my daughter-in-law who loves pretty things so I eagerly chose a purple and gold one for myself and one featuring shades of orange for Ana.

We ended our lavendering at Mountainside Farm where we had a barbecue chicken dinner that featured lavender potato salad. It was quite possibly the best potato salad I ever ate and since I have culinary lavender at home I am determined to add it to the next potato salad I serve. Please note that I did not say “make.” Costco sells a very good potato salad which I doctor up to suit myself saving time and effort. Potato salad is not important enough to me to labor over.

Our day was not done. We stopped at a large berry stand that included an ice cream parlor where we ordered lavender milkshakes which we enjoyed in their outdoor eating area. A cool breeze had come up and it was the perfect end to a lovely day. Gail said that the milkshakes were even better than the lavender sorbet we had at Willakenzie. That’s a tough call and I’m glad we had a day that included both.

Day Two of the Oregon Lavender Festival

The weather took a decided turn for our second day of tooling the highways and byways of Oregon, enjoying farm after farm of lavender. It was hard to believe that last year we were sweltering in triple digit heat and have agreed that overcast is much preferable to blazing sun. By the end of day we had rain, but by that time the festival was over for another year and we were tooling the aisles of Goodwill in McMinnville!
My friend Violet was obligated to sing at church before we could go out and play so we got off to a bit of a late start. We began day two of our lavender journey at Lavender Thyme Herb Farm in Canby on Needy Road (a most inauspicious name) where we’d been greeted by the growling dog the evening before because they’d closed early. This time the place was bustling with people. We purchased some lavender things and then sat at one of their umbrella shaded tables—although there was no need for shade—and ate our picnic lunch.
After we’d fueled ourselves we headed to Independence, Oregon, stopping along the way at Fred Meyer to fuel the car and the bank to fuel our pocketbooks. At Independence we went to Lavender Lake Farms which is located right along South Pacific Highway. Although the location was not as picturesque as other farms we’ve been to, the lavender was beautiful and the gift shop lovely. It was there that I purchased some lavender chocolates which we enjoyed at day’s close.
Not only is Oregon littered with lavender farms, but vineyards abound as well. Our next stop, Daffodil Hill Vineyard, was both—or attempting to be. Nominally located in Rickreall, Oregon, it is actually a good ways up more than one gravel road, but the drive was beautiful taking us past fields of mown hay and grapevines. It is truly beautiful country. When we had wended our way halfway up the drive we were met by a woman collecting an admission fee. We were flabbergasted as no farm has ever charged an admission fee to see the farm and for the opportunity to buy their wares and nowhere in the Oregon Lavender Festival brochure was a fee mentioned.

We were told that the money was going to go to “Women Ending Hunger.” We’d driven a long ways to see this farm and turning around wasn’t going to be easy so we each grudgingly passed the woman five dollars. I am sure that “Women Ending Hunger” is a laudable charity and we were given a little handout about the organization, but no receipt for tax purposes. Presumably the farm will be getting the income tax deduction for the money collect. We were flagged into a field where we parked and briefly waited for a small tractor and wagon to take us the rest of the way up the drive. Since there was a large party ahead of us we decided to walk.

Daffodil Hill Vineyard has a lovely situation and it was lively with booths and music and people (they were making a big dent in hunger). Unfortunately for us most of the booths held no enticement to spend money as it was geared for the wine/western crowd, not lavender. Their lavender products shop had many expensive items which we did not purchase. We might have been more inclined to had we not felt as though we’d just been held up at the pass so to speak. After seeing all that there was to be seen and using their port-a-potty we hopped on the next tractor wagon back down the hill, disappointed with the whole thing. It is not that I have anything against "Women Ending Hunger" or giving to charity, it is just that I like for it to be my idea and a freewill offering. While the woman in the road was wearing a smile instead of a bandana and was not packing a six-shooter, I felt as though we'd been held up.
We could not help but feel that we had to a great extent wasted our time with Daffodil Hill Vineyard. Yes, the drive, while on a less than desirable road, had been beautiful, our Lavender Festival time was running out. Violet turned her now very dusty car toward Dayton, Oregon and Red Ridge Farms. Red Ridge was a known quantity as we had been there last year and despite the soaring temperatures had enjoyed the gorgeous views from that ridge. It was just before 4 PM when we arrived and the place was nearly deserted, a much different atmosphere than last year. One of the beauties of Red Ridge Farms is that they not only have fields of lavender, they have some beautiful garden accessories. I have been looking for a pot for my fichus which my grandson knocked over, breaking the pot. Flower pots, even plastic ones, can be expensive and so far I had been disappointed. As if to sooth us for wasted journey to the previous farm, providence had placed a very reasonably priced and beautiful purple pot in my path.

We had hoped to view one more farm before Oregon Lavender Festival 2009 came to a close, but traffic convinced us otherwise. We drove back to McMinnville to their Goodwill (it is always nice to visit other Goodwills) and then to Silverton for dinner at Thai Dish before heading back to Mt. Angel. Our lavender journey was at an end, to be stored away amongst the memories we have acquired together these past 52 years.

Advice I would give about festival going in general is to pack a picnic and take plenty of cash. Many of the little booths you come upon do not have the ability to accept plastic although most vendors are gracious about checks. If you can ask of someone about places ahead of time, do so. You will save yourself time and money.

This day we ended not with a growling dog, but with Sophie the Cat who was very happy for company.