Sunflowers for Wishes is an annual event at a local farm to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“The perfect place to be on a sunny day. I’m actually a cancer survivor a childhood cancer survivor so it’s really close to my heart,” said Julia Bery of Bethany.
Each year over 14 acres of sunflowers are planted at Buttonwood Farms in Griswold.
Usually, the farm harvests 300,000 blooms every summer.
“It’s going good. A beautiful sunny day today. It’s been a challenging year because of all the wet weather we’ve had. But it’s a beautiful day and a lot of people here. This will be our 15th year for sunflowers for wishes and all these people are here to help support Make A Wish Foundation in Connecticut,” said Dwayne Button, of Buttonwood Farms.
He tows children around the flower patch on what’s called the “Cow Train.”
Bouquets of five sunflowers are sold for $10 to go to Make-A-Wish, and some go far as to get purchase the sunflower shirts.
Over the past 13 seasons, Buttonwood Farms has donated over $1 million to Make-A-Wish Foundation, and people come from near and far to admire and enjoy.
“We came down because when he was a baby, sunflowers were his favorite and it was actually the flower of my husband and I had at my wedding,” said Tovah Stephenson, of Providence, RI.
Sunflower tours will end on Sunday, and the following Sunday, the cows will be let in to eat and clean up the mess.