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An adult and two children taking a selfie photo in front of a field of tall sunflowers

Keely Niemann, left, brought her daughter Charlotte (right), to the Grinter Farms Sunflower Field for photos nine years ago, when Charlotte was just a week old. They've returned each year since. Sister Clara joined the annual tradition a few years later. "The sunflowers are just beautiful," Keely says. "We look forward to this every year."

Agriculture, Specialty/Niche March 01, 2025

Sunflower Sojourn

Thousands come to this northeast Kansas farm each year.

by Bill Spiegel

Taking great care of her surroundings, Katherine Love unfolds a blanket, spreading it out in preparation for a picnic she is having with her friends Emily Wilborn and Aranthi Chatrathi.

As the three friends unpack their meal, they talk about their workday in a Kansas City office, about 30 miles away. They are relaxed, enjoying the peace of a sunflower field in full bloom, and a break from hustle and bustle.

Their choice of picnic destinations is unusual: a sunflower field between Lawrence and Tonganoxie, Kansas.

But this is Grinter Farms Sunflower Field. For more than 30 years, this place has hosted hundreds, if not thousands, of annual visitors during the three-week period each fall when sunflowers are in full bloom.

Not far away from where the Kansas City work friends are enjoying their picnic, a portrait photographer is capturing senior pictures; another professional takes engagement photos. Some folks enjoy a peaceful walk among the million or so sunflower plants Ted and Kris Grinter have planted just off Stillwell Road; others enjoy the serenity of a sunflower field in full bloom. Seemingly everyone is taking selfies.

Ted Grinter never set out to build a tourist attraction. His father began planting sunflowers in the 1970s, hoping a group of like-minded producers could band together and begin an oilseeds crush business in eastern Kansas. It never happened. "He planted the seed and there was nothing to do with the seeds except bag them and sell them for bird feed," Ted says. "We've been doing that every year since."

Over the years, people began driving by the sunflower field during full bloom, often helping themselves to the picturesque sunflower heads.

"One year, Ted came home and said, ‘I'm never planting sunflowers again,'" recalls Kris. Passersby had wiped out the first six rows around the field, cutting the blooms and taking them home.

"I told him that they aren't bad people," she explains. "They don't want to steal them. They just can't help it. They were trying to take a little piece of sunshine."

Ted installed a donation box, figuring no one would deposit any money; the first day, he had two one-dollar bills.

A local newspaper learned about "the local sunflower farm that asked for donations" and next thing the Grinters knew, a picture of the donation box and sunflower blooms was in newspapers across the country.

Before long, people from miles around made an annual pilgrimage to the couple's farm. In 2016, traffic to the sunflower field was so steady that Interstate 70 between Topeka and Kansas City was backed up for miles.

Above. A full moon shines over blooming sunflowers at the Grinter Sunflower farm near Lawrence, Kansas. Every year for the last 30 years, Ted and Kris Grinter have planted at least one million seeds of sunflowers on their eastern Kansas farm. Visitors are encouraged to come to the field to enjoy the beautiful blooms.

Social networking. Each year, the phone began ringing in January and February, with people wanting to know: when do the sunflowers bloom? May we get married in the sunflower field? Can we take senior pictures?

"It was non-stop," Kathy says. Their daughter suggested setting up a Facebook page to answer the questions. More than 105,000 people now follow Grinter Farms on Facebook, where the content ranges from weekly field updates each fall to reminders to stay courteous and use the bathroom before arrival. And a few years ago, the Grinters posted a request for visitors to not pose nude in the sunflower fields.

"It can get a little crazy," Kris admits.

A few years ago, she started selling sunflower-related merchandise and apparel, plus homemade cinnamon rolls. For a few weeks each fall, the family is busy dawn to dusk, as they harvest corn and soybeans on their commercial farm in addition to keeping the sunflower farm clean and safe.

They still bag sunflower seeds for birdseed, but they also love how the sunflowers bring joy to so many people.

"I've met people from all over the world; from India to China and Russia to Australia," Ted says.

Other farms in the area have tried to replicate the model, charging per car, or per flower harvested. The Grinters have stayed true to their origins, Kris says. After all, they have a commercial farm to run.

"Maybe it's Pollyanna of me," she says, "but I think the minute you start charging for the experience, you've taken the happy out of it." ‡