The Shadow
Close your eyes and imagine walking through a field of 600,000 sunflowers, a slight warm breeze blowing through the air and a sea of yellow as far as you can see. That’s what visitors can experience at The Beaver Dam Farm Sunflower Festival, September 9th through the 18th, in Botetourt County. Visit the festival and see over 20 plus acres of sunflowers, over 100 hand-made crafters, children’s activities, food vendors, live music and more.
Beaver Dam Farm Sunflowers, LLC offers a unique experience to visit the working farm and enjoy access to the first and largest sunflower festival and artisan show on the East Coast. During the two week sunflower festival, visitors can experience handmade crafts, children’s activities, food vendors, live music and more. At the end of the year the sunflowers are harvested, and seeds are bagged for black oil sunflower birdseed and sold locally.
Beaver Dam Farm Sunflowers invests thousands of dollars back into the community each year and continues to be an economic driver in Botetourt County, attracting tens of thousands of people to the area. Founder and owner Candance Monaghan is proud to promote agritourism to the area and help support more than 100 small artisan vendors at the festival. In 2021, vendors reported sales income over $350,000 from the Beaver Dam Farm Sunflower festival.
“The economic impact the festival has on the community is tremendous,” said Monaghan. “I had a new vendor from 2020 share they did approximately $5,600 in sales at the Sunflower Festival and $25,000 overall for the year. They also said the majority of their sales after the Sunflower Festival weekends were driven by their presence there.”
Serving its neighbors, Beaver Dam Farm Sunflowers is proud to practice corporate responsibility by giving back to its community and environment in a variety of ways. Each year it provides two $500 scholarships to area high schools and two $250 scholarships to the community. In addition, Monaghan spoke to 32 classes and over 470 kids this past year educating them on farming, sunflowers and agritourism. The farm waives vendor fees for local non-profits, church groups and school groups at the sunflower festival.
September Event Dates
Friday, 9/9 –
VIP Night – 4pm-7pm
Saturday & Sunday, 9/10-9/11 –
Opening Weekend – 10am-5pm
Botetourt K9 Demo – 1:30pm
Saturday – Live music
Sunday – Local Child Musicians
Sunday – Local Cloggers – 2pm
Monday, 9/12 –
Open to the public – 5pm-7:30pm
Sunset Yoga – 6:30pm
Petal and Pail Bouquet Bar – 5pm-7:30pm
Tuesday, 9/13 –
Preschool Field Trips – 10am-2pm
Sunset Dinner – 5:30pm
CLOSED to the public (no vendors)
Wednesday, 9/14 –
Senior Citizen Day – 10am-2pm
Open to the public – 5pm-7:30pm Goat Yoga – 6pm
Petal and Pail Bouquet Bar – 5pm-7:30pm
Thursday, 9/15 –
Special Needs Day – 10am-2pm Open to the public – 5pm-7:30pm Goat Yoga – 6pm
Friday, 9/16 –
Sunset Dinner – 5:30pm
CLOSED to the public (no vendors)
Saturday & Sunday, 9/17-9/18 – Closing Weekend – 10am-5pm
Botetourt K9 Demo – 1:30pm
Saturday – Live music
Sunday – Local Child Musicians
Sunday – Local Cloggers – 2pm
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| Founder and owner Candance Monaghan |
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