Rader Family Farms in Normal invites the public to its sixth annual Sunflower Days Festival.
Adam Rader, of Rader Family Farms, said this year the farm has about 19 varieties of sunflowers for visitors to walk through, take photos with and pick.
Before the season
Before the festival, Rader used a planter to spread all the sunflower seeds across the fields — using a corn disk to determine the frequency of the seeds being placed.
The timing had to be just right since some of the sunflowers take about 65 days to bloom, and others take around 70-85 days.
Rader planned the sunflower layout in blocks, with bands of yellow moving throughout the field.
“Then I've got three blocks of what I call specialties, which are all the multi-colored, different varieties. I just mix the seeds together and then plant that,” Rader said.
Farming unpredictability
This year’s 2.5-acre sunflower field is especially successful after last year’s crop failure.
“We were fairly disappointed last year when our sunflowers kind of took a hit,” Rader said.
The farm tried a growth regulator to minimize the amount of weeds, but the growth regulator also affected the sunflowers.
“You can do everything right as a farmer, and then weather and other factors come into play, and then it shows you that you're not in charge,” Rader said.
Even this year, extreme weather in Central Illinois has caused the sunflowers to advance quickly and bloom earlier than expected.
Rader said not to worry though, because plenty of flowers still have yet to bloom, and the field will remain full during the Sunflower Days Festival weekends.
Something for everybody
Rader said the Sunflower Days Festival is for the community to gather and enjoy time out in the country.
People visiting the farm have the option to pick up to 10 flower stems for an additional price.
“We encourage everybody to walk in and get into the [field]; you don't have to just pick from the edges. We actually like people to go in and explore a little bit,” said Rader.
Some of the sunflowers are already getting so enormous, Rader said people might have a hard time getting the larger ones cut.
Next to the sunflowers is a colorful butterfly-shaped field of zinnias, which are also available for picking.
“We're always surprised by the amount of people who love to come out and pick and see sunflowers, especially in the heat,” Rader said.
While cutting flowers and exploring the fields, there are many places designed for people to stop and take photos.
The highly-photographed tractor and old truck are placed among the sunflowers, along with a bridge, swing and big chairs.
In addition to the photo op stations and flower picking, the farm will have crafts for kids, homemade pastries and barrel train rides.
Patrons can rest and take their refreshments and freshly cut flowers into the new orchard barn.
“There's something for everybody,” Rader said.
At the end of the festival, Rader said he will save some seeds for next year and work the rest into the ground.
The festival already completed its first weekend. The second weekend for the Sunflower Days Festival is Aug. 23-24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online or at the farm. Ticket prices for admissions and flower picking can be found on Rader Family Farms’ website.
