Annual Seafoam Lavender Festival to take place next weekend

The event takes place on July 20 and 21 just outside River John, Nova Scotia.

Owner Dave Belt says he expects it to be “insanely busy.”

Belt and his wife Suzy began the commercial lavender farm in 2009, after moving to Nova Scotia a few years earlier to care for aging relatives.

“Once we got here we needed something to do, so we decided well, let's start a lavender farm,” says Belt.

Since then, the Belts have planted over 3,000 plants on their acreage.

“We've just started plowing up a new field, the fourth and final quadrant,” Belt tells NEWS 95.7's Niki Jabbour. “When we're finished we'll have roughly 4,000 plants.”

On the third weekend of July every year, the Seafoam Lavender farm holds an annual lavender festival.

The public is welcome to come explore the gardens, indulge in lavender treats, and learn about the flower.

“The main focus of the festival is educational,” explains Belt. “We start off in the lower garden talking about the different kinds of lavender.”

In the 'Discovery Garden,' as Belt calls it, there are 25 different varieties of the plant.

“There are some 400 varieties of lavender. Every year we rotate the plants out,” he adds.

Belt says he'll be giving these 'Lavender 101' presentations all day at the festival, answering questions and showing off his plants.

“Then we move up to another section that has some signs with photos on them where we talk about how we process the buds and blossoms into finished products,” Belt says.

Afterwards, guests are invited to enjoy lunch at the farm.

“We'll have all kind of lavender treats for sale,” Belt says. “We're also going to have a barbecue this year, both hamburgers and veggie burgers.”

The goods made at the farm range from lavender-infused scones and cookies to lavender lemonade.

“The most famous part it our lavender ice cream sundaes, which are fabulous,” Belt adds.

The ice cream is first come first serve because of limited freezer space, but he hopes they will be able to sell about 200 before running out.

While the farm is open to all, Belt encourages festival attendees not to bring their pets, as they won't be allowed on the farm grounds.

“We are dog lovers, but they're not allowed in the gardens because of the link to the culinary aspect of our operations,” he explains. “The culinary buds go directly into the food chain, and so we cannot have dogs there.”

But if you can't make it to the festival, the Seafoam Lavender also operates out of the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market on weekends. The market store, The Shelf, also sells products on weekdays.

“They carry all of our culinary products,” explains Belt. “Our lavender sea salt, our lavender sugar, our herbs de Provence, all of our teas, and even just the plain culinary buds.”

For more info on the Seafoam Lavender Festival, visit their website.