A new sunflower field and corn maze has opened up near Hardisty in order to raise money for the Childrens Stollery. Bobbi Jo and David Hays have decided to host this through their farm, Hays Land & Cattle in thanks to everything the Stollery has done for their family over the past 26 years. They are officially calling the event “Sunflower Selfies and Corn Maze.”
The Hays family says, “Each and every visit, we received excellent care from amazing doctors and nurses.”
The Hays have put a board out at the start of both fields where they host stories about not only their experience with the Stollery, but also stories from other families who’ve shared their experiences with at the Stollery, and why it means so much to support them.
This year, their donation goal is ti raise $5,000 with all proceeds going to the Stollery Hospital Foundation.
The Hays say that the Stollery has worked with them all through the planning stages to now, setting up a special fundraising page on their website where people make donations directly.
So far the family has raised over $1,800; anyone who wants to donate can simply scan the QR code to go to https://stolleryci.crowdchange.ca/112696 or make a cheque payable to: Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Another aspect of their fundraising efforts has come from daughter Kenzie, who runs Crocus Hill Photography. She is booking family portrait sessions out at the sunflowers, and donating 75 per cent of the cost back to the Stollery Foundation.
The Hays family say, “This week is the perfect week” to head down to see the sunflowers, as they will likely be out of bloom by September.
The corn maze path, through corn plants that are around 7’ tall, is over one kilometre all the way through 11 acres of corn. Then there are three acres of sunflowers, also with the path through them, about half a kilometre long, including picnic tables and scenic vantage points for photos.
David plans to combine both the sunflowers and corn for feed once they are out of season, he says.
The farm is located about nine kilometres south down off Highway 13 on the Hardisty Airport road (RR 103) on the left. The Hays planted their crops around mid May, and the sunflowers just started blooming at the end of July.
Anyone is welcome to attend, but the event is not guided or manned.
Once there, there are boards explaining how to contribute to the Stollery Foundation, including the original QR code.
They also have a social media page for the ‘Sunflower Selfies and Corn Maze’ event.
If you plan on attending, they do not accept in-person donations. Although the corn will last until October, the sunflowers will be gone soon, going out of season come September.
The family is confident they will host a similar event in the future, and hopefully many years to come and possibly even donating to a different life-saving organization, such as STARS.
Ethan Neufeld
Staff Reporter
