photography
Martina Newport
How to Make Sunflower Season a Family Tradition in Central Illinois
There are some things every child should experience at least once every summer.
Bare feet in the grass.
Popsicles that melt faster than they can eat them.
Fireflies blinking just after sunset.
The hum of bees drifting through warm August air.
And at least once, standing in the middle of a field of sunflowers so tall they almost disappear between them.
There is a particular kind of gold that only exists in August. Not the gold of autumn, which carries that familiar feeling of endings and cooler mornings. This is summer gold—warm and generous and almost overwhelming in its abundance. The kind that makes you squint and smile at the same time. The kind that belongs entirely to sunflowers.
Every August I have the privilege of watching families step into these fields together. Within a few minutes, something shifts.
Parents stop worrying about whether their children are smiling at the camera. They often arrive worried about keeping everyone clean and leave talking about which sunflower was the tallest.
Children stop noticing the camera altogether.
They become explorers.
They compare sunflower heights.
They search for butterflies.
They whisper to bees as if they’re old friends.
My job becomes wonderfully simple.
I just document what was already there.
The connection.
The laughter.
The season your family is living right now.
Those are the photographs that mean more every year that passes.
That’s the magic of sunflower season. It invites us to slow down. To notice. To be together. And perhaps most importantly, to come back next year and watch how beautifully everything has changed.
Why Every Family Needs an August Tradition
The summers families remember most aren’t usually the ones with the biggest plans.
They’re the summers with familiar rhythms.
The ice cream stand you always visit.
The first campfire of August.
Picking apples every fall.
Watching fireworks from the same blanket every July.
The Saturday morning when everyone piles into the car because someone heard the sunflowers are finally blooming.
None of these moments seem particularly extraordinary while you’re living them.
That’s exactly what makes them so powerful.
These aren’t grand adventures. They’re the small traditions that quietly become part of your family’s story. A few things that happened consistently, year after year, until they became part of what summer meant for your family specifically. The thing your kids grew up expecting. The thing that someday — when they’re grown and building their own summers — they’ll reach for without even knowing why.
Sunflower season can be that thing.
It asks almost nothing of you. No reservation required, no elaborate planning, no budget to stress over. Just the willingness to show up when the fields are golden — which is briefly, which is exactly what makes it matter — and let your family walk through something beautiful together.
That’s the whole tradition. Walk through something beautiful. Come back next year. Watch what changes.
Here’s the beautiful thing about family traditions.They don’t have to be elaborate. They don’t have to be expensive. They don’t even have to go exactly as planned. Someone will probably forget the water bottle. Someone will complain that it’s hot. Someone may get dirt on their shorts before you’ve even reached the first row of flowers. None of that matters. Because years from now, your children won’t remember whether everything went perfectly. They’ll remember that every August your family went looking for fields of gold.
Where to Find Sunflowers Near Bloomington-Normal
Clearview Farm, Champaign
One of the most extraordinary sunflower experiences in central Illinois — and it’s completely free and open to the public. Clearview Farm is a regenerative agriculture operation with a stunning sunflower field that’s available for families to walk through during bloom season. They also have an Illinois-shaped pollinator garden with nearly 1,000 native plants — one of those places that reminds you how much care and intention can go into a piece of land. Bloom timing varies by year and planting schedule, so follow Clearview Farm on social media for updates on when the field is at its peak. When it is — go immediately. Sunflower windows are short, and this one is worth every bit of the drive from Bloomington-Normal.
The fields along the back roads
Part of the magic of sunflower season in central Illinois is that it’s not always where you expect it. Farmers plant sunflowers as cover crops, for oil, for seed — and sometimes those fields appear along routes you drive regularly, golden and surprising, with no fanfare at all. Keep your eyes open. Follow local farm social media accounts as summer progresses. Ask around. Some of the best sunflower moments happen in unmarked fields that exist for one season and are gone the next.
Moraine View State Park
While Moraine View State Park isn’t known for dedicated sunflower fields, it’s one of my favorite places to slow down as a family during late summer. Wildflowers, prairie landscapes, wooded trails, and wide-open skies make it a beautiful place to spend an August afternoon together. Pack a picnic. Let the kids skip rocks. Walk one of the trails before stopping for ice cream on the drive home. Not every family tradition has to revolve around a destination. Sometimes it’s simply about returning to a place that feels like summer.
Dove Fields at the Mackinaw River
One of my favorite late-summer discoveries in Central Illinois isn’t a destination you’ll find on many travel guides.
Near the Mackinaw River DNR Canoe Landing, you’ll often find beautiful dove fields planted with sunflowers as part of the habitat management at the Mackinaw River State Fish and Wildlife Area. During bloom season, they create a stunning sea of gold against the prairie landscape. The area is also home to the Gold Mine Trail, where visitors can enjoy a peaceful walk through woods, prairie, and along the river, making it easy to turn a quick sunflower stop into an afternoon adventure.
What I love most about this spot is that it feels wonderfully unhurried. Pack a picnic, watch for butterflies and songbirds, take a stroll along the trail, or simply sit for a while and let the kids explore. It’s the kind of place that reminds you not every memorable family outing needs a ticket booth or a schedule.
As always, please be respectful of the land, stay in publicly accessible areas, and remember that these sunflower fields are planted primarily for wildlife habitat and seasonal management. Their appearance and bloom timing can vary from year to year, which somehow makes discovering them feel even more special.
Your own backyard
Sunflowers are one of the easiest things to grow, and one of the most rewarding. Plant them in late May or early June in a sunny spot and they’ll be blooming by August. Let your kids measure themselves against them as they grow. Let them water them. Let them watch something go from seed to sky in a single summer.
That’s not just gardening — that’s a lesson about patience, and growth, and what happens when you tend to something consistently. It’s also, it turns out, one of those small things that becomes a memory.
How to make the most of your sunflower visit
After photographing families in sunflower fields over the years, I’ve learned that the best experiences rarely come from having the perfect plan. They come from allowing enough time to wander, explore, and simply enjoy being together. A few simple ideas can help you make the most of your visit.
Go early or go golden.
Morning light (first hour after sunrise) and evening light (last hour before sunset) are when sunflower fields are at their most magical. The light is softer, the colors warmer, the experience quieter. Midday sun is harsh and hot — not impossible, but not the same.
Let the kids lead.
Resist the urge to direct them toward the best photo spot or the tallest sunflower. Follow them instead. Watch what they’re drawn to. Let them pick the path, point out the bee, stop for as long as they need to stop. Children in sunflower fields, left to their own devices, will show you things you would have walked right past.
Dress for the field.
Light, comfortable, and in colors that won’t compete with all that gold. Creams, whites, soft blues, sage greens, warm terracottas — these all photograph beautifully and feel natural in a summer field. Leave the coordinated outfits at home. Wear what you’d actually wear on a warm August morning.
Bring water. More than you think.
It’s central Illinois in August. Hydrate accordingly.
Leave the agenda behind.
No timeline. No list of shots to get. No pressure to cover the whole field. Just — be there. Walk. Look. Let it be enough.
How to remember it
The photos on your phone are a good start. Take them — the candid ones, the spontaneous ones, the one where your kid is examining a bee with the focused intensity of a scientist. But consider going further.
Press a sunflower.
A single flower, pressed between the pages of a heavy book, becomes a keepsake that lasts years. Let each child pick one. Write the year on the back. Keep them somewhere you’ll find them later.
Start a sunflower journal.
One page, one summer, one entry about what sunflower season looked like this year. How old the kids were. What they said. What you noticed. In ten years, that journal will be one of your most treasured things.
Make it annual.
Go back. Same field, different year. Watch what changes — in the field, in your kids, in yourself. The comparison across years is one of the most powerful things a tradition can give you.
Consider a session.
If you’ve ever thought about scheduling family photos, sunflower season is one of my favorite times of year.
There’s something about these fields that encourages everyone to relax. Children are naturally curious. Parents stop worrying about getting the “perfect” smile. Instead, they spend the evening walking together, laughing, pointing out butterflies, and soaking in one of Central Illinois’ most beautiful seasons.
Those are the moments I love to photograph because they aren’t manufactured—they’re real. Years later, those images become more than beautiful portraits. They become reminders of exactly what this season of family life felt like.
There’s a reason we’re drawn to sunflowers. Not simply because they’re beautiful—though they certainly are. It’s because they remind us to turn toward the light. Children do the same thing. They grow toward whatever receives their attention. Your laughter. Your presence. Your willingness to slow down for one ordinary August afternoon.
The best family traditions begin with one beautiful summer evening and a decision to come back next year.
The flowers will bloom for only a week or two before summer quietly begins giving way to autumn. That’s part of their gift.
They remind us that beautiful seasons aren’t meant to last forever. They’re meant to be noticed while they’re here. So go. Take the back roads. Pack a picnic. Hold little hands between rows taller than they are. Laugh when someone discovers a grasshopper. Stay longer than you planned. And if you find yourselves returning every August, don’t be surprised. The best family traditions rarely begin with the intention of becoming traditions.
Martina Newport is a family and childhood photographer based in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. She photographs families across central Illinois — in sunflower fields, backyards, parks, and all the ordinary places where real life happens. You can find her at martinanewportphotography.com.
July 5, 2026
Be the first to comment