Annual Sunflower Festival Blooms Aug. 22 In Wellsburg
Joselyn King Trending
WHEELING - Fields of yellow will color the landscape when the annual Sunflower Festival and tea party happens later this month at Eric Freeland's Farm in Wellsburg.
The event will take place just one weekend this year on Aug. 22. The tea party begins the day and is set for 10 a.m. to noon at the farm, located at 2470 Windy Hill Road in Wellsburg, The tea party costs $30 to attend and is limited to just 25 participants.
Pre-registration and pre-payment are necessary. Those interested in attending should contact Renel Hemmerling at 219-229-3743.
Those attending will receive scones, muffins and cookies, a festive hat, and a vase in which to place any flowers they cut and want to arrange. Freeland said those attending typically come a little more dressed up for the occasion, perhaps wearing sun dresses or other dressy summer attire.
The Sunflower Festival, meanwhile, will be open to the public from 1-4 p.m. on Aug. 22. No pre-registration is required. Visitors also will receive a vase and the opportunity to cut and arrange flowers with help from experts.
There are actually far more sunflowers at the farm this year than in past years. Freeland - who is looking to leave the farming business - had back surgery this year and did not plant his usual staples of tomatoes, corn and green beans.
"We've just managed our existing strawberries and raspberries," he added.
Instead, he only planted "mega fields of sunflowers." Freeland terms himself "semi-retired."
"Technically, the farm is still up for sale," he explained. "We're trying to find a buyer that wants to take care of the farming operation.
"We're almost out of the farming business. This is probably the one and only event we're going to do here at the farm this year."
Another change this year is that the festival is only happening on one day rather than on multiple weekends.
"We found that you still get the same number of people rather you cram them in to one day (or have multiple days)," Freeland explained. "What people say is ‘we won't go this weekend, we'll go the next.’
"If we do it in one day, we'll get them all in one day. If we get 200 people we will get 100 one weekend, and 100 the next. We've learned that over the decades," he said.