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Jennifer Griffin photo
Vendors at Buchanan Farm.
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I adore sunflowers.
Look at the background in the photo of me on this page: That’s an oil painting of an explosion of sunflowers that was a gift from a Waynesville neighbor.
The spring after I moved back to be editor of this magazine, I planted sunflowers at the office on Montgomery Street in Waynesville. One of those grew to be at least 13 feet tall. Passersby frequently stopped to take a selfie with it. I loved that!
When I heard that a farm in Buchanan, Virginia, holds an annual festival for my favorite flower every September, I just had to share details with you.
As many as 21,000 people from across the nation visit the Beaver Dam Farm Sunflower Festival each season.
It all started in 2015 when Candace Monaghan and her family planted 20 acres of black oil sunflowers on the family farm. With just two weeks of planning, the first festival welcomed 1,600 visitors—far exceeding her goal of 300.
“After that day we knew it would, from then on, be a yearly event,” she said.
Her family had purchased the farmland in 1900, and added a tomato cannery in 1916. It was a dairy farm for more than 90 years until 2019, when the family shifted to beef cattle along with a hay and straw operation.
In 2016, she founded the Beaver Dam Farm Sunflower Festival to diversify the farm during financially challenging times.
“There is Beaver Dam Farm, which my brother and father run. They manage the beef herd and produce hay, straw and corn for cattle feed. I own and operate Beaver Dam Farm Sunflowers. I contract my dad and brother to help maintain the land, which includes plowing, planting, harvesting the seeds and then cutting and bailing each year. I manage all of the festival happenings, which is a 10-month operation,” she said.
The festival has widely expanded, and weekend activities include hay wagon rides, an animal petting area, over 115 craft and food vendors, photo booths and live music.
“We plant 21 acres each year, which is approximately 700,000 sunflowers. This year, to help in our 10-year celebration, we are planting 30,000 mixed variety sunflowers. These will range in color from yellow, white, red, multiple variegated, purple, green, and orange,” she said.
The festival is Sept. 5-14 this year, with different attractions each day. It’s now described as the largest sunflower festival and vendor show on the East Coast.
Visitors are invited to wander along paths cut through a 15-acre sunflower forest, she added.
“During the weekdays we offer three field trip opportunities for preschoolers, senior citizens and special needs kids and adults,” Monaghan said. “We also have our ever-popular catered sunset dinners in the sunflowers, and goat yoga. There is something to do for every age,” she said.“The festival has become more than just an event. It’s a way to share our family’s farming legacy and inspire future generations. I truly love what I do with our sunflower farming operation, and couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” she said. “I’m excited to share our journey and continue educating others along the way.”
Once the festival is over, the crowds have diminished and the sunflowers have all dropped their heads, the farm will harvest the seeds to be bagged as black oil sunflower bird seed.
For complete details about the festival, visit beaverdamsunflowers.com.
—Jonathan Austin