We’ve been to Cross E Ranch before, but we had never taken the opportunity to attend the Sunflower Festival. This event takes place in September, just when the days are starting to cool down. It’s the perfect transition from Summer to Fall because there are Summer Flowers and Fall Festivities. If you like flowers, photos, and making your own bouquet, the Sunflower Festival at Cross E Ranch is just right for you. This festival has a lot of fun stuff going on for everyone to enjoy.
Sunflowers
Cross E Ranch plants thousands of sunflowers for the Sunflower Festival. When you arrive and pay the entrance fee, you’ll receive a wristband that let’s you through the gate to check out the massive fields of sunflowers. Keep the wristband, because it allows you to go to the activities afterward.
As soon as you walk through the gate, you are greeted by millions of sunflowers. What is most surprising is the different varieties of flowers that you’ll see. Of course, there are the standard bright golden flowers, but some range into red and violet hues, and the darkest even appear to be almost entirely black. Not only that, their eyes are quite different. Some have a massive black center with a few yellow petals, and others looking like a big colorful eye with a smaller dot. The centers even range into other colors, including yellow and brown. We really liked searching out and noting the differences between all the types of sunflowers.
Of course, you can take as many pictures as you like at the Cross E Ranch Sunflower Festival, but you can also cut sunflowers and make your own bouquet. As you know, we always warn against picking wildflowers, or the poppies in Mantua or Alpine, but these are farm flowers, and your admission allows each person to cut and take one flower of their choice. In addition, you can buy a bottle and fill it with water and cut as many sunflowers as you can fit. There are workers at the ranch to help you cut correctly, and they even provide a pair of shears so you can cut the thick stems cleanly. Our boys really liked being allowed to take some of nature home for a change!
Activities
All the fun things at Cross E Ranch are still going on for the Sunflower Festival. You can still pet all the bunnies, donkeys, cows, horses, goats, chickens, and sheep that you desire. The cool activities are going on, too, and they’ve added to the fun things to do including ziplines, a ropes course, and more.
The sunflower field is across the street from the rest of the ranch, so you can take “the shuttle” over to the animals and activities. The shuttle consists of a tractor pulling a wagon, or small wagons, which are fun to ride in. The shuttle will bring you back across the road safely after you are done playing.
The rides and activities at Cross E Ranch are pretty spectacular for a fall farm adventure. There are huge slides, cornhole games, rubber duck races, archery, and even a rock wall to climb, just to name a few. Our boys also enjoyed ziplines, obstacle courses, and barrel races.
Food
Cross E Ranch is known for lots of fun food choices, but our favorite are the apple cider donuts. You will need to grab one of those for sure. They have a grill with lots of choices, as well as a stand with popcorn and other carnival treats. There is also a candy shop where you can get caramel apples and other treats. So come hungry!
Cross E Ranch is a local cattle farm, so everyone working here is kind and helpful. We enjoy coming to the events at this amazing farm. For current hours and pricing, visit their website here. You can also check out a whole bunch of fun fall activities in Utah on our Fall Activities Post.
