The Chilliwack Sunflower Festival has a new name and location in 2023. It’s now the Harrison Sunflower Festival and it takes place near Harrison Hot Springs.
Formerly located on a farm in Chilliwack, the new home for one of the region’s biggest sunflower festivals is in Agassiz. The festival’s first day at its new location was August 22nd. It’s last day of the season in 2023 was September 17th.
NOTE: Although the sunflower festival has ended for this season, there is still lots to see in October. That’s because the Harrison Pumpkin Festival is happening. The pumpkin festival runs from September 29th until October 29th.
Click harrisonsunflowerfest.com for the attraction’s official website.
The Harrison Sunflower Festival
2023 is the first year of the new Harrison Sunflower Festival. From 2018 to 2022, the attraction was in Chilliwack. It’s now in Agassiz which is about 25 km away from the previous site.
The Harrison Sunflower Festival is very similar to the Chilliwack version, just at a new location. There are still over a dozen acres of sunflowers, dahlias and other types of flowers in bloom. Guests can also check out some non-flower displays and play some games as well.
The 2023 Harrison Sunflower Festival’s opening date is August 22nd. After it opens, the festival plans to run until September 17th.
Where is the Festival?
The Harrison Sunflower Festival is at 5039 Lougheed Highway in Agassiz. The festival fields are next to Cameron Road close to the turn-off for Harrison Hot Springs.
There is free parking on site which is great since there’s no other way to get there besides driving (or maybe cycling). It’s about a 90-minute journey from Vancouver to the festival. Both the festival and Harrison area are beautiful, so it’s definitely worth the trip!
Hours and Rates
The festival is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm. The latest that people can arrive at the fields, however, is 6:30 pm. The 2023 dates are August 22nd to September 17th (although exact details may vary subject to the weather and growing conditions).
Below are the prices for 2023. The prices listed are the ticket cost at the gate. Tickets purchased online 24 hours or more in advance cost $5 less.
- Adults (ages 13 to 64): $15 on weekdays, $20 on weekends
- Seniors (ages 65+): $12 on weekdays, $17 on weekends
- Children (ages 3 to 12): $10 on weekdays, $15 on weekends
Children under the age of 3 enter for free. Season passes are available for purchase as well, but prices as of mid-August are to be determined. At the Chilliwack Festival in previous years season passes were around $70.
There is also a special deal for nearby residents on Thursdays. Known as Local Days, those who live in the Fraser Valley can visit the festival for just $5. “Locals” includes people who are permanent residents of Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission, Agassiz/Kent, Harrison Hot Springs, Hope and the Fraser Canyon region.
Visit the Harrison Sunflower Festival website for tickets and full details.
What to Expect
The Harrison Sunflower Festival is home to nearly 15 acres of flowers with 3 km of pathways winding through them. The flowers aren’t all in bloom at the same time. They’re set up in a way that the blooming is staggered throughout the run of the festival. This means that the site looks fairly different in August compared to September.
The 2023 festival has around 45 different kinds of sunflowers. On top of that there are dozens of varieties of dahlias, zinnias and cosmos. Some of the sunflowers are nearly ten feet tall!
Along with the flowers there are some other sights to check out. There’s a windmill, horse carriage, vintage car, swing sets and more. There is food truck food for sale and free lawn games as well.
Buying Flowers at the Festival
The Harrison Sunflower Festival has a farm store next to the fields where guests can purchase freshly cut flowers as well as bulbs and seeds.
There is also the U-Pick field which is specifically for guests to cut their own flowers for purchase. There are five varieties of sunflowers in this field and they’ll likely cost just a couple dollars or so per stem.
Click harrisonsunflowerfest.com for the attraction’s official website.
Tulip Festival and Pumpkin Patch
The moving of the sunflower festival to Harrison also includes the return of the Harrison Tulip Festival. Harrison was home to the first tulip festival in BC in 2006, and it stayed there for a decade before moving to Chilliwack (where it was known first as Tulips of the Valley and then the Chilliwack Tulip Festival).
There aren’t yet any details on what the new Harrison Tulip Festival will be like as of September 2023, but the event should take place sometime in the spring of 2024.
Also new in 2023 is the Harrison Pumpkin Festival at the same venue as the sunflower festival. It runs from September 29th to October 29th this year, so until a couple days before Halloween.
Other Information
For more information about the event from late summer to early fall in Agassiz, visit the Harrison Sunflower Festival website.
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