Jonesborough’s first-ever Love Lavender Fest a success

This weekend marked the inaugural Love Lavender Festival in downtown Jonesborough, and organizer Pat Osborne said the success of the first festival guarantees a “Second Annual” happening next year.
Volunteers at the festival said they handed out over 3,000 brochures during the day on Saturday, and another 400 just halfway through the festival’s run on Sunday.
The hardest part of putting together the two-day event was “getting vendors interested for a first-time festival,” said Osborne, who is also the owner of Scott County Lavender in downtown Jonesborough.
“But the best part has been all of the cooperation and the Town response and all the positive responses we’ve gotten,” Osborne added.
With more than 50 vendors filling up the space in the Eureka Inn’s courtyard and surrounding alley, she said she’ll most likely need to reserve more space next year.
The booths featured everything from lavender chicken salad to oils, soaps, and lavender wine. Most vendors had organically grown or recycled products, as Osborne modeled the festival after Asheville, N.C.-based Organicfest.
People really turned out for the seminars, she said, which included Cooking with Lavender, Medicinal Uses of Lavender, Grow An Herb Garden, and Start Your Own Lavender Farm.
Visitors to the festival were surprised at all the uses of lavender, volunteers said, including how to cook with it.
Osborne’s love ‑ and extensive knowledge ‑ of lavender come from her experience with it. She has planted more than 18,000 lavender plants on 10 acres in Scott County, Va., and grows them organically.