New Hampshire’s sunflowers are in peak bloom – but they will only remain tall and vibrant for less than two weeks. For annual sunflower festivals, that means timing is everything.
“It’s a very short period of time,” said Greg Pollock of Sunfox Farm. “So we fit the nine day festival right in there and make the most of it.”
This is the third year Sunfox hosts its Sunflower Bloom Festival in Concord. It will run from August 9 to 17, joining others around the region in celerbating the bloom with views, food and music.
In neighboring Canterbury, Brookford Farm’s Sunflower Soiree will also offer a chance for guests to bask in the blooms. Led by owner Luke Mahoney, Brookford is a working family farm with produce, livestock and three of its 30 acres set aside for sunflowers.
“It’s a way to celebrate the farm at its most beautiful point in the year,” said Mahoney.
The soiree takes place just before the end-of-summer harvest begins and in the peak of birthing season for the farm’s livestock, so there’s a chance visitors will get to see new piglets, calves and lambs up close.
While both festivals feature fields full of flowers, each has its own programming, views and atmosphere. Just a few miles apart, it’s easy to catch both.
At 20 acres and 500,000 blooms, Sunfox boasts the largest sunflower field in the state. With daily admission, guests are able to wander the fields and visit an elevated viewing platform to catch the golden faces of the flowers from above. The festival includes daily food trucks, craft tents and live music. Each evening, Amber Pollock hosts a multi-course dinner in the field made with food supplied by local farms. Tickets to the dinners have already sold out.
For the first time, parking will take place at the festival site, which is accessible from Gully Hill Road.
The farm is in the heart of the city, with its field just across Interstate 93 from downtown and glimpses of the State House dome visible through the treeline.
“People downtown, in all the apartments, they always tell us how they can see the sunflowers out of their windows,” Greg Pollock said. “People cut their own flowers, and you’ll see them walking around town with them.”
Sunfox’s main year-round product is oil from their seeds but, like most small farms in New Hampshire, they rely on the revenue and exposure that public events, like the festival, bring.
“That wasn’t our goal,” Amber Pollock said. “But it helps.”
Brookford Farm is nestled at a bend in the Merrimack River off Route 3. Its programming will include live music, hayrides, a 40-foot sandbox, regular cow parades, strolls down to the river, meet and greet with the livestock and pick-your-own tomatoes. They’ll also sell farm-to-table meals made from food produced on-site.
Brookford hosts events in the fall and around Christmas, which alongside the soiree, help Mahoney to “welcome people into the heart of the farm.”
The Sunflower Bloom Festival in Concord runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from this weekend through next. August 15 will feature extended hours, 6:30 to 9 p.m., with cocktails and live music.
Brookford Farm’s Sunflower Soiree in Canterbury also runs this weekend through next, and its hours are 10 a.m. to sundown.
