The Lavender Festival has grown larger and more popular each year. Thousands of people visit the festival in Historic Jackson Square in Oak Ridge each year to see a variety of regional vendors whose goal is to celebrate health, herbs, and the environment. The Lavender Festival  is scheduled yearly for the third weekend in June, at the peak season for the herb it celebrates.

From homemade jams to fine art, you can enjoy the sounds of music floating through the square from the large Festival Tent, as well as the Nine Lakes Wine Tasting, Featured Speakers and Demonstrations, Herb Lunch and a Tour of Gardens.

Cultivate more fun at Lavender Festival with ticketed events benefitting local nonprofits!

June 17, 2023

12:00pm - 3:00pm  : Nine Lakes Wine Tasting - $20

Includes tasting glass, 6-compartment wine tote, and samples from four Tennessee wineries.

Location : 301 Broadway Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

8:00am - 4:00pm : Nine Lakes Wine Tasting, day of festival - $25

Taste Tennessee Wines and ciders from Nine Lakes Wine County, benefitting United Way of Anderson County.

Includes tasting glass, 6-compartment wine tote, and samples from four Tennessee wineries.

Location : 235 Jackson Square, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States

Enjoy 150 artisan vendors, live music and more June 17. Open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Discover our NEW expanded area, in front of the United Way Building on Broadway Avenue.

Music Schedule

Join us under the big tent in Jackson Square for free live music all day long.

8:00  Andrew Pazant  - Piper

8:30  Alan McBride - Hammered Dulcimer

9:30 The Missing Goats - Irish and Americana

11:00 Early Bird Special - Folk and oldies

12:30 Wild Blue Yonder - Bluegrass

2:00 AM Station Band - Classic Rock of the 50's, 60's, 70's

FOOD TRUCK PARK

In the Broadway Parking lot, choose from a variety of local and gourmet food trucks. Open June 17, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

Free water bottle refilling stations are located at the three Welcome Tents at each entry to the Square and in the middle next to the big tent.

HERB LUNCH

The Ferrell Shop, 235 Jackson Square, Oak Ridge.

INFORMATIVE PRESENTATIONS

Lavender Festival always features informative presentations about gardening, herbs, cooking and good health. Located in the lobby of Pinnacle Financial Partners in Jackson Square, next to the Oak Ridge Playhouse.

FREE CHILDREN’S EVENTS

Art Spot, Nourish Kids Club… there’s a lot of free fun for kids at Lavender Festival!

FARMERS’ MARKET

Visit the Oak Ridge Farmers’ Market in the parking lot of Blankenship Field. Open 8 to noon, June 17. Order ahead for curbside pickup or home delivery in the Market-To-Go program.

TOUR OF GARDENS

Visit three local gardens staffed by Master Gardeners during Lavender Festival weekend, benefitting Nourish Kids Clubb

DISCOVER THE BEAUTY OF OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE

Four private gardens will be open during selected hours of Lavender Festival weekend, staffed by Anderson County Master Gardeners and volunteers.
Pets are not allowed, except for service animals.

Adults must show their tickets at the entrance to each garden. Children 18 and under are free with paying adult.

PETERSON GARDEN - 1072 WEST OUTER DRIVE, OAK RIDGE TN

Over 48 years, Carl and Hella Peterson have carved paths and terraced gardens out of their hillside lot in West Oak Ridge. Native plants abound in the garden, which was designed by Hella, a Master Gardener.  She is fond of recycling things for the garden. Tree stumps become support for vines. Their old front door became garden art. Egg shells, hot sauce, garlic juice and dishwashing liquid deter the deer.

She uses cedar chips for mulching paths and pine bark for beds. Please stay on the paths and be mindful of small plants on either side. A large yellowwood tree (designated as the Tennessee bicentennial tree of 1991 and endangered in some regions) takes a prominent spot in the garden, and an intriguing paper bark maple Acer griseum is interesting to observe. A waterfall is to the side of the back garden. Looking from the deck you’ll see a stunning view of the Cumberland Mountains in the distance.

THOMPSON GARDEN - 1667 OLIVER SPRINGS HIGHWAY, CLINTON TN

On four acres on the edge of the Marlow Community, the grounds of Mike and Darlene Thompson have undergone continuous evolution over the past 25 years. The main garden was originally coaxed out of a heavy-clay fallow meadow, initially just a few garlic bulbs planted in a 4X4 ft space, created with just a digging fork. Today, the main garden, fenced against deer and other critters, sports perennials, low evergreens, flowering shrubs and trees, dozens of unique daylilies, with gravel paths and both greenery and hardscapes guaranteeing four-season interest. Other garden beds, including a small potager/kitchen vegetable garden, are unique and well-maintained. A small pond, a gazebo, and outbuildings are additional points of interest, and landscape lights keep the grounds alive at night. The property backs up to a creek, beyond which is a a beautiful ridge that catches the extraordinary light of both sunrise and sunset. Mike and Darlene Thompson are in the medical field, and many of their plants were gifts from patients and evoke fond memories of them.

KLEIN GARDEN - 36 ROCKINGHAM LANE, OAK RIDGE, TN

Janice and Jerry Klein’s garden is 1.59 acres, and began in 2006 when they purchased the home and the backyard was “nothing but dirt” to the woodland tree line. The property abuts the UT Forestry Station via Melton Lake.

The lot is steep, so they created a wet weather water channel to the left side of the home to steer water down to Melton Lake and control erosion. Stairs to the back are to the right of the driveway and access the back garden, which is filled with native plants of all varieties and some traditional additions. The property is a designated Tennessee Smart Yard and Tennessee Wildlife Habitat.  Janice is a Master Gardener and has chosen native plants like red trillium and Jack-in-the-pulpit. The Kleins have purchased most of the garden sculptures and created some of their own. Native hollies have crossed with culativated varities to create unique varities, Jerry said.

This garden is not handicapped accessible, although the front can be viewed from the street.

BUNICK GARDEN - 177 CLAYMORE LANE, OAK RIDGE, TN

Featured in 2022, this Tennessee Smart Yard is the garden of Elaine Bunick. It features a series of wet-weather run off pathways that welcome pedestrians in the dry weather. Several trees and bushes were lost to storms and ice this year, so extensive work had to be done on the deck in the spring. Notice the new bridge across the creek… it is one of the fallen trees just weeks ago. The garden is filled with a variety of native plants and backs up to the UT Arboretum, with abundant wildlife coming to visit. Elaine intersperses hostas, which the deer love to eat, with prickly and stinky flowers, hoping to deter them. Unusual plant species such as Amorphophallus, commonly called Dog’s *****, are interesting to see as well. Elaine will have a display of the Tennessee Smart Yard program in her garage.

The garden is sloped, but if you go through the garage, you can see most of it from the back deck.

Buy Tickets

Date: June 16, 2023 - June 18, 2023

Location:

Historic Jackson Square,

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

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