All you can pick sunflowers for $10 on August 25, 3-8pm
By Sonya Ellison, drone photos by Joshua Rampulla
Nestled in the hills of Howard on County Road 56 is the Hilltop Sunflower Maze
It started three summers ago it started when Karen Smith and her family successfully grew 2 acres of sunflowers.
“So we decided to make a maze and it brought a lot of people in. It was a big draw. People were really excited so we did it two more years.”
Smith explains about the recent local tradition.
“This year we moved it to the other side of the house and it’s even bigger and more beautiful over here!” she said.
Now the maze is in a neighboring field and at least 3 acres.
“I think there’s three on this side of the house. There’s two on the other side but I think there’s 3 or 3 and a half on this side.” Smith says.
Despite their shorter height this year due to the low precipitation at the end of summer, the sunflowers still blossomed into abundant clusters.
When asked if she had a count of how many sunflowers, Smith laughed: “No idea!”
The natural beauty of a seemingly endless field of sunflowers against the Howard hills inspires many to come each year for the photo opportunity.
“We had one family that had an infant the first year and the path wasn’t big enough for a stroller and so, next year we made the path bigger and this year I said we made the path bigger for your wagon!” Smith shared.
The maze closed Sunday but you can pick all you want for $10 ,today, Monday August 25th from 3 to 8PM.
“We’re going to have people come for $10 and you can fill any vessel. You can fill boots or pitchers or vases, buckets…to fill with as many sunflowers as you want for ten dollars!” says Smith.
“We’re going to wrap it up that way. We haven’t done that before but there are so many flowers and they’re so beautiful. I didn’t want them to go to waste!”
Helianthus annuus or sunflowers bloom at a time of year where fall, back to school and Halloween are all around the corner and we are all hanging on to the last of the summer sun’s rays.
“And they’re happy! The yellow! It just makes everybody happy. It’s so nice to see people that are just like ‘I’m so glad you did this!’ It makes it worth every effort.”
