Sunflower festival spreads joy for second consecutive year
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Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield
Leslee Schwirian stands in a field of her sunflowers at Schwirian Farms in Forward Township.
Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield
The sunflower fields at Schwirian Farms in Forward Township
Courtesy of Leslee Schwirian
The sheep the Schwirians raise relax under a shady tree
By Katherine Mansfield
One morning in early 2020, with headlines reporting a steady increase in COVID-19 cases and the country on the brink of closure, Leslee Schwirian envisioned a field of sunflowers and thought, “Why not share a little sunshine?”
Schwirian, a nurse at Jefferson Hospital, and her husband Jay, a retired Marine and podiatrist, have spent the past 25 years raising sheep, knitting and selling wool socks, and planting crops like corn and pumpkins on their 80-acre farm in Forward Township, just 18 miles south of Pittsburgh.
But the pride and joy of Schwirian Farm is the sunflower field that blooms brilliant yellow each summer.
“We enjoyed them every year, and we thought, we want to share them,” said Schwirian. “Last year was special with COVID. We were hoping that (the festival) would help with everything going on.”
Schwirian and Farmer Jay, as her husband is affectionately known on social media, grew up in the area and, though they moved like military families do, their roots remained firmly planted in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
They began planning the first sunflower festival in February 2020. Sunflowers are easy to grow – it isn’t much different from growing corn, said Schwirian – but planting a field does require strategy.
Sunflowers deplete the soil of most nutrients, so seeds must be spread on different plots each year. If you plant the seeds incorrectly, the blooms, which follow the sun, won’t face the road or passerby, who slow down to admire the yellow flowers.
Last year, instead of planting one large field, as was tradition, the Schwirians planted seven smaller ones, so visitors could wander the property while maintaining social distancing.
They scheduled the festival for the last two weekends in July and employed their daughter, Jackie Lomenick, to spread the word via Facebook.
“I got suckered into it when they started the festival,” joked Lomenick, who graduated from California University with a degree in public relations and now resides in Oklahoma with her husband and their three children. “I took control of what to post online. My dad knew when to plant the flowers, my mom knew what items to make. I was responsible for getting people there.”
And get people there she did.
The Schwirians and their three children – their other daughter, Dr. Laura Jacob, lives in Washington and assists with the festival while their son, Andrew, lives with his family in Germany – expected neighbors and locals would turn out for the event.
But when the family welcomed guests on opening weekend, Leslee Schwirian was shocked.
“We had thousands of people come,” said Schwirian, who estimates nearly 2,000 visitors dropped by both days that first weekend of the 2020 festival. “We had people from Erie, from Ohio, West Virginia. We didn’t realize people would come that distance to see a sunflower field.”
Within a few hours of opening day, Schwirian sold out of the sunflower-based products (her favorite is the all-natural moisturizer she handmakes, available on Etsy) and t-shirts.
They didn’t have food or drink vendors on-site, so visitors explored nearby downtown Monongahela, stopping into Sweets by Mrs. C for a cone before heading home.
This year, Mrs. C is one of the festival sponsors.
“It doesn’t just affect us,” said Schwirian. “It’s the whole community.”
To bring the community together again, the Schwirians hosted their second-annual Sunflower Farm Festival July 17 through the 25.
Leslee and Jay planted 430,000 sunflower seeds, which take 64 days to bloom, to prepare for the event.
Sunflowers remain gloriously in full bloom for 10 days.
In addition to the fields, visitors enjoy food and drinks on-site. The family sells various sunflower products, and registered photographers offer portrait sessions in a designated area.
New to the festival this year, the farm hosted a Snip + Sip event, with attendees bringing a beverage of choice to sip as they snip fresh sunflowers. A professional floral arranger walked participants through the arrangement process with a jar and assorted cut flowers to take home.
Fur babies frolicked through the fields during Dog Night, with donations benefiting the Western PA Humane Society.
Like last year, admission to the sunflower fields is free during festival hours.
“I can’t say how proud my sister, my brother and I are,” said Lomenick. “My parents are literally doing it all themselves. Our neighbors are all so sweet, they’ve volunteered their time to come help out. The whole community comes together. We’re just all glad it’s taken off.”
Schwirian said that though the day-to-day preparation can be taxing – Schwirian Sunflower Farm really is a two-person show, and her husband often works the land late into the evening – being able to share the farm with others is rewarding beyond words.
“We never thought that doing (the festival) would bring so much joy to people,” said Schwirian. “I was totally shocked last year. Just to see everybody smiling, that’s the best. To see people coming, so excited to walk through the fields, that’s the best part of it, just to see them happy.”