Visiting Illinois' Sunflower Festival In Hebron Is A Great Summer Activity
By Linze Rice|Published July 26, 2023
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Linze Rice
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Ope! From the rural cornfields of DeKalb County, Linze is an Illinois native and true Midwestern gal who can make a mean bonfire and whip up a perfect marshmallow salad. Since 2014, her bylines and photography have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago/DNAinfo Chicago, Only in Your State, and more. She has interviewed Dolly Parton, written about beloved diners along historic Route 66, visited the last Rainforest Cafe in the Illinois, and reviewed luxurious English manor-inspired hotels. Whether it's writing about a local gem or world-renowned establishment, Linze brings a heartwarming and historical perspective to each story, using facts, wit, and personal experience to impress upon readers the importance of culture, food, travel, and all things local. Her favorite destinations in Illinois include Starved Rock State Park, Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood, the charming small town of Sycamore, and historic Rosehill Cemetery. When she's not writing or photographing, Linze enjoys gardening, spending time with her husband and pets, cooking, baking, and grilling, and relaxing with trashy TV.
While many summer festivals in Illinois showcase the corndog-and-Ferris wheel nostalgia we know and love, some of the best festivals are rather a feast for the eyes and a carnival for the senses. This breathtaking sunflower festival in Hebron, Illinois — which sees visitors get lost in groves of sunshine-y stalks — proves exactly that. Spend any time of the day here and you’ll quickly start to wonder if you’re actually in a painting or a wonderful dream.
For the fourth year now, Von Bergen's Country Market, 9805 IL Rt. 173, has put on its stunning Sunflower Festival in the tiny McHenry County village of Hebron.
The farm can be accessed just 2 miles east of Rt. 47, or 6 miles west of Rt. 12.
The festival runs from early July when the first blooms arrive and typically runs through September, when the farm then switches over to its Pumpkin Festival. Flower admirers can explore over 30 acres of fields filled with towering sunflowers, including strolling through two sunflower mazes.
Admission is $12 per person and kiddos under 3 are free. The festival is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, though there are sometimes extended night hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Not only is the farm buzzing with visiting people, but the flowers attract a number of native pollinators like bees and butterflies.
A huge benefit of the festival is its variety of photo opportunities, with a number of backdrops, props, and settings staged throughout the fields specifically for fabulous snaps. As you can imagine, the festival is a popular spot for proposals, engagement photos, and family portraits.
Visitors can also enjoy a field filled with colorful zinnias — a favorite of mine. Guests can also opt to peruse through the U-Pick sunflower and bouquet fields to take home their very own fresh-cut collection.
And while you're there, don't forget to check out the farm's other offerings — like its produce market, animal farm and play area, and the Farm Kitchen eating area, where you can grab a meal or snack from locally sourced foods.
