Image: Harrison Sunflower Festival / According to a news release Wednesday (July 3), the Harrison Sunflower Festival says festival founder Kate Onos-Gilbert and her family will be making improvements and infrastructure investments at the Agassiz farm they acquired last year, meaning the festival won't be held this year, often scheduled for late August and September.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Harrison Sunflower Festival

Harrison Sunflower Festival on hiatus this year

Jul 3, 2024 | 2:46 PM

AGASSIZ — British Columbia’s first sunflower festival is taking a break this year, but promises to be back for future agritourism events.

According to a news release Wednesday (July 3), the Harrison Sunflower Festival says festival founder Kate Onos-Gilbert and her family will be making improvements and infrastructure investments at the Agassiz farm they acquired last year, meaning the festival won’t be held this year, often scheduled for late August and September.

The festival says a summer of building and cultivating new attractions will allow for better, more spectacular festivals in the future, including the 2025 Harrison Tulip Festival planned for next spring.

“Enhancements that are in the works include expanding the Secret Garden area adjacent to the Farm Store, creating compelling new visual photo-opportunity stations, and developing additional agritourism farm experiences for visitors,” Harrison Sunflower Festival wrote in a statement.

Image: Harrison Sunflower Festival / The Harrison Sunflower Festival will not be held this year.

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The Onos family is renowned for beloved legacy festivals including the Chilliwack Tulip Festival, Chilliwack Sunflower Festival, and Tulips of the Valley, where countless BC families have created cherished memories.

The inaugural Harrison Tulip Festival this year, even after a rather soggy and slower start to spring, welcomed nearly 40,000 guests during its four-week run in April and May. It was the 18th annual tulip festival organized by the Onos family. Now held at their spectacular new family farm property, the Harrison Tulip Festival is the largest tulip farm-festival experience in British Columbia.

The Onos family emerged as agrictourism pioneers when they debuted Tulips of the Valley in 2006, in what’s been billed as the first flower festival of its kind in B.C. Following a successful run of 10 years there, they pivoted to Chilliwack where the Chilliwack Tulip Festival bloomed in 2017, followed by the Chilliwack Sunflower Festival’s initial foray in 2018. In 2023, the Onos family acquired their own land in Agassiz and moved this bouquet of seasonal farm festivals back to their roots.