by Noella Noelophile®
“I’m going to step out of the crowd here…”
“Good luck with that.”
That conversation, in the middle of Saturday’s Twelfth Annual Ojai Valley Lavender Festival, pointed up the event’s well-deserved number of attendees.
Art, crafts, speakers, music and, of course, all kinds of lavender-inspired treats, drew thousands to this early-summer celebration of lavender and community.
This was the first time we’ve had the opportunity to see the Festival, which was an all-day event in Libbey Park. Particular favorites from the day, besides the artists we saw, included community organizations such as this one.
This American Kestrel, named “Bob”, proved to be a real ham when he saw our camera!
We also had the opportunity to meet Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue President Karyn King. The beautiful boy she’s hugging is Foxen, whom she’s had since he was nine months old.
“His previous owners didn’t realize he needed to be indoors, and he was constantly crying,” Karyn explained. So, she fostered Foxen, and another family adopted him, but…
“The kids were allergic to him,” Karyn says. “I couldn’t let him be rejected a second time.”
Karen says Foxen surfs for charity, every September at Surf Dogs, in Huntington Beach.
In the petting zoo, we loved these lavender chickens!
And this band, Steel Cut, was excellent, and having a great time. (Live entertainment continued all day. In a separate area, speakers discussed topics including sustainable farming, beekeeping and cooking with lavender.)
Favorites, among the artists with whom we spoke (though it’s hard to choose favorites!) included “puzzling” artisan Jeannette Aragon, of The Puzzled One. She handcrafts wooden puzzles and toys, and can custom-design just about anything as a puzzle!
Another artist whose work we really liked is Rodi Shemeta Ludlum. We’ve never seen fabric pottery before–but that’s exactly what she creates, for her Rolling Blackout line! Rodi’s colorful and beautiful fabric bowls and vase designs include sun colors, sea greens and blues, and striking black and white. A personal favorite? Her blue ginger jar!
A number of attendees came with their four-legged friends. Couldn’t resist snapping a photo of this beautiful girl. Her name? “Ice”!
We loved the Lavender Festival itself; the only caveat, if you go next year: watch out for that traffic. Arriving about 9 am, we were able to get free all-day parking (!). However, in two more hours, not only were there no spaces to be had, but crossing the street became treacherous. We jumped out of the path of a car that was going to turn the corner, despite the pedestrians in the crosswalk, only to have another vehicle that had just passed inexplicably start backing in our direction (!). So please be careful when you leave Libbey Park and explore the rest of this otherwise-great community event.
An alternative? The Ojai Trolley, which we rode, runs every hour and takes visitors to various locations throughout the area. It’s a good time and a beautiful ride through Ojai.