We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Candace Monaghan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Candace below.
Hi Candace, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Our family farm dates back to 1900. First being in the tomato canning business, then beef farmers who transitioned into a dairy farm for 92 years and currently a beef, straw and hay operation. Having a legacy like that and carrying it on is where “my purpose” began. Supporting and carrying on what my family before me had worked so hard to accomplish meant a lot to me.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Each September we open our family farm to thousands of visitors to walk through over 600,000 black oil sunflowers, shop with over 115 handmade craft and food vendors, listen to live music and more! Over the years, since opening in 2016, we have become the “Largest Sunflower Festival and Vendor Show on the East Coast.” We support agriculture and ag education in many ways. We offer high school scholarships, community scholarships, support FFA, 4-H and more. Each year we try and add to our events throughout the week. We have a kid zone, farm animals, over 13 photo booths, an ag family history booth to walk through and more.
Friday, September 6, 2024 – Evening sneak peek, 4:30pm-7:30pm. This is a limited ticket sales event. The first 100 people in line will receive a Virginia is for Sunflower Lovers hat! This sneak peek night is all about our visitors shopping with our vendors. Each vendor offers a discount to the visitors for this night like BOGO, buy two get one, 20% off your purchase, etc. We will also have our hay rides, photo booths and of course…700,000 sunflowers for your enjoyment!
Saturday and Sunday, September 7th and 8th, 2024 – From 10:00am-5:00pm. On Saturdays, we will have live music performances from musicians from Botetourt, Roanoke and the Richmond area. Visitors can enjoy shopping and eating with our vendors or taking photos at any of our 13 photo stations including two LOVE signs. We offer a kid zone with face painting, an area to play in sunflower seeds, a hay ride, and a cow to learn how to milk. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see the equipment we used and photos from the family. Twice a day visitors can watch a demo from the Friends of Botetourt K9 Group including the K9s apprehending a suspect and training with an officer in a bite suit. This is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Botetourt K9 group that helps take care of the dogs. We also encourage visitors to check out our interactive app to see what insects are helpful and harmful to the plants. And of course, we can’t forget the main visitor experience…700,000 sunflowers to see!
Monday, September 9, 2024 – CLOSED
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 – From 10:00am till 1:00pm we will be open for our preschool field trips. We allow preschoolers to come on this day with their families or school groups to tour the fields. We have our kid zone with an area to play in sunflower seeds, a hay ride, and a cow to learn how to milk. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see equipment we used, and photos from the family. We also partner with the YMCA on this day and set up a station for the kids to touch the sunflower and learn about all of the parts and uses of the plant. Visitors are encouraged to pack a lunch and stay to eat. New this year for preschool day we will have Prestige Gymnastics on site offering tumbling sessions!
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 – Evening from 5:30pm-7:30pm we will host one of two sunflowers at sunset dinners. We partner with a local church that caters meals to raise money for their Dominican Republic outreach mission team. We have the church cater the meal and then the ticket price pays the church fees for fundraising. Visitors are at the fields with only those attending the dinner. They have the fields to themselves without all of the crowd. They are served a four course, sit-down meal, and learn about the history of the farm and the DR mission team as well. Visitors can then catch the sunset over the sunflowers. This is our most sought-after experience, and normally all 60 tickets sell out within several days of going on sale.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 – From 10:00am till 1:00pm we will be open for our senior citizen field trips. We allow seniors to come on this day with their families or retirement homes to tour the fields. We have a hay ride they can take, and our vendors are open for shopping and lunch. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see the equipment we used, and photos from the family. We also partner with the YMCA on this day and set up a station for the seniors to touch the sunflower and learn about all of the parts and uses of the plant.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 – Evening from 5:30-7:30 we are open for our evening hours and sunset yoga. We have a certified yoga instructor that joins us to host an hour-long class from 6:30-7:30. We are also open to the public during his time as well. Just like the weekends visitors can enjoy shopping and eating with our vendors or taking photos at any of our 13 photo stations including two LOVE signs. We offer a kid zone with an area to play in sunflower seeds, a hay ride, and a cow to learn how to milk. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see the equipment we used and photos from the family. We also encourage visitors to check out our interactive app to see what insects are helpful and harmful to the plants. Of course, we can’t forget the main visitor experience…700,000 sunflowers to see!
Thursday, September 12, 2024 – From 10:00am till 1:00pm we will be open for our special needs children and adult field trips. We allow these visitors to come on this day with their families, school, or residential groups to tour the fields. We offer a kid zone with an area to play in sunflower seeds, a hay ride, and a cow to learn how to milk. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see the equipment we used and photos from the family. We also partner with the YMCA on this day and set up a station to touch the sunflower and learn about all of the parts and uses of the plant. It is a great sensory station for them as well.
Thursday, September 12, 2024 – Evening from 5:30-7:30 we are open for our final evening hours and GOAT yoga. We have a certified yoga instructor that joins us to host an hour long class from 6:30-7:30 and then a local farm that brings their goats. During the class during different poses the goats will interact with visitors by jumping on their back and allowing time for baby goat cuddles. We are also open to the public during his time. Just like the weekends visitors can enjoy shopping and eating with our vendors or taking photos at any of our 13 photo stations including two LOVE signs. We offer a kid zone with an area to play in sunflower seeds, a hay ride and a cow to learn how to milk. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum all about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see equipment we used and photos from the family. We also encourage visitors to check out our interactive app to see what insects are helpful and harmful to the plants. Of course, we can’t forget the main visitor experience…700,000 sunflowers to see!
Friday, September 13, 2024 – Evening from 5:30pm-7:30pm we will host one of two sunflowers at sunset dinners. We partner with a local church that caters meals to raise money for their Dominican Republic outreach mission team. We have the church cater the meal and then the ticket price pays the church fees for fundraising. Visitors are at the fields with only those attending the dinner. They have the fields to themselves without all of the crowd. They are served a four course, sit-down meal, and learn about the history of the farm and the DR mission team as well. Visitors can then catch the sunset over the sunflowers. This is our most sought-after experience, and normally all 60 tickets sell out within several days of going on sale.
Saturday and Sunday, September 14th and 15th, 2024 – From 10:00am-5:00pm. On Saturdays, we will have live music performances from musicians from Botetourt, Roanoke and the Richmond area. Visitors can enjoy shopping and eating with our vendors or taking photos at any of our 13 photo stations including two LOVE signs. We offer a kid zone with face painting, an area to play in sunflower seeds, a hay ride, and a cow to learn how to milk. We have a grain bin that we turned into a history museum about our farm dating back to 1900 when we purchased the land. Visitors can walk through and read about our story, see the equipment we used and photos from the family. Twice a day visitors can watch a demo from the Friends of Botetourt K9 Group including the K9s apprehending a suspect and training with an officer in a bite suit. This is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Botetourt K9 group that helps take care of the dogs. We also encourage visitors to check out our interactive app to see what insects are helpful and harmful to the plants. And of course, we can’t forget the main visitor experience…700,000 sunflowers to see!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think before anyone can do anything well, they have to know their why and or their purpose. Mine was easy, It was to help save the family farm for future generations! Knowing that helped me know exactly what I was working towards, to diversify the farm income to bring in more money to help pay bills and to make sure my family had a future to look forward to. A skill set and knowledgeable area that has greatly paid off for me is the fact that I am an artist and graphic designer. The farmer was born and bread into me but the artist and graphic designer in me came out all throughout life and is what I studied in college. Those skill sets and that creative thinking have given me an edge to be able to diversify our festival offerings more and to be able to create our advertising for the event as well. I don’t have to rely on someone else to help me put tother my marketing plan and pieces and that has been invaluable. People must use their strengths that they were born with and rely on others for those items where you might fall short.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Growing up on a dairy farm my whole life is truly a lifelong lesson and the most impactful thing my parents did for me. It taught my brother, sister and I so many lessons that many miss out on. It taught the value of long, hard work days. It didn’t matter if it was 10 degrees outside with snow on the ground, the cattle still needed to be milked. That might mean you have to get up at 4am instead of 5am because you had to anticipate that all the pipes would be frozen, adding another few hours of work to defrost them to get equipment working and water to the animals. It didn’t matter if you had an event to go to at a certain time if the cattle weren’t milked, you would be later arriving. It didn’t matter if you were on your way to school and there were cattle in the road, that meant you were going to stop and run them back off the road into their fence to save them from getting hit in the road. It didn’t matter if it was pouring down rain and there was a calf being born, that meant you had to get out and make sure that momma had a healthy birth and get them inside out of harms way. For my mom it meant cooking dinner for us 3 kids and keeping it warm for our dad once he was inside for work. Winter months were earlier, usually 6:30 but summer nights lead to late dinners 8, 9, 10:00 or eating at 6:30 and then him going back out to finish up. It meant her being there for us for school, sporting events and friendly gatherings. She worked off of the farm to help provide while he carried out his families legacy of the farm. Growing up we had the BEST playdates! Our friends would come over and we were able to run through the hay fields, play in the creeks, jump into the cotton seed and play with the bottle fed calves. We were blessed to be able to work on the farm. Unlike the majority of kids our age, we didn’t have to be a waitress or work at a convenient store. We were milking cows, feeding bottle babies and working in the fields, outside enjoying it all. We were taught the importance of life and how to value what an animal had to offer rather it was milk for breakfast or beef for dinner. Life is a continuous cycle and we had the best!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.BeaverDamSunflowers.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeaverDamSunflowers
- Linkedin: Candace Monaghan
- Youtube: Beaver Dam Farm Sunflowers
Image Credits
Jason Reinhart
Jenny Marie
Tony Hensley
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
