It is the second year of the Chilliwack Sunflower Festival and people from all over the Lower Mainland, and even the U.S., are coming to see the 20 acres of beautiful flowers. The owner of the festival, Kate Onos-Gilbert, is excited to share her fields of flowers with the community.
Along with the 35 different types of sunflowers, there are three acres with over 54 different varieties of dahlias. Adding these dahlias to the festival gives it that splash of colour that we are all used to seeing at the tulip festival.
“We are a tulip grower, so we have had tulip festivals for 13 years and last year we decided to try at sunflowers. We have been here three years in Chilliwack and before that we were in Agassiz,” Onos-Gilbert said.
Onos-Gilbert is the owner of the Chilliwack Tulip Festival, which is unaffiliated with the Abbotsford Tulip Festival; they are a different grower and a newer festival. This was Onos-Gilbert’s second year of running the Sunflower festival.
“The dahlias are brand new this year. They are a really fun flower that just add a lot more colour for your bang,” Onos-Gilbert said.
There are several different photo opportunities throughout the fields with props that people can use to get that Instagram photo everyone craves. There are even high bridges built so people can take photos over the tops of the tall sunflowers.
The festival was made up of mostly couples and families coming to get flowers and photos together. When you enter the gates, you get a stamp which allows you to come and go throughout the day.
“Our numbers are good and steady. It’s been nice, people love it, and they are coming from all over. Lots from the States the past few days, so that’s been interesting,” Onos-Gilbert said.
There are many things to do at the festival including a u-pick field, a variety of food trucks, lawn games, the Chilliwack Rotary Train, and a covered picnic area for some shade to enjoy food and drinks.
“We added a few more games because we have a lot of lawn. The kids at heart love the games… We have u-pick available throughout the whole festival, and new this coming two weeks will be our giant pumpkins, which we are going to celebrate. You can see a couple of them on your walk, but we’re gonna look for them amongst the weeds this coming week so that people
can explore them in the next two weeks. We are hoping for at least over a thousand [pumpkins], but we are not sure what’s in there yet,” Onos-Gilbert said.
The Chilliwack Sunflower Festival is still going until Sept. 15, so if you haven’t got your sunflower fix yet there’s still some time to go. There is tons of free parking. You can buy tickets in person or online, which is slightly cheaper.
Images: Karen White/The Cascade
