The Sunflower Festival Near Albany and Saratoga Springs Your Family Needs This August
If your family's August calendar still has room for a great day, the Sunflower Festival at Liberty Ridge Farm is the one worth saving it for.
For four Saturdays in August (the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th), Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke opens its four-acre sunflower field and the rest of its sprawling farm property for one of the most beloved summer events in the Capital Region. For families in Albany and Saratoga Springs, it's an easy 20 to 30-minute drive that lands you somewhere that feels genuinely far from the ordinary.
Here's what one ticket gets your family: full access to the sunflower field and the adjacent zinnia field, one gorgeous bloom to take home, 50+ farm activities included with admission, live music from Harmonic Duo playing from noon to 4pm, festival food from the Barnyard Grill, and shopping in the Market Barn. The festival runs 11am to 7pm, which is plenty of time to let the kids do everything twice!
The farm activity lineup is exactly what it sounds like from a place called Liberty Ridge Farm: Rocky's 100-ft. Run slide, giant gerbil wheels, the Farmer Flinger Swing, duck races, pedal karts, tug of war, the giant spiderweb climb, pig races at Piggly Wiggly's Pen, Farm-Cade, farm animals including cows, goats, and chickens, and much more. The sunflower field is where the day starts and ends, but the farm itself is what fills the hours in between.
A few things worth knowing before you go: tickets are flexible across all four festival Saturdays, so you can buy now and decide which weekend works best as August unfolds. Party Cabin rentals are available if you're celebrating a birthday or want a private space for your group. And the sunflower field is genuinely four acres of bloom, which means you're not sharing a patch with a hundred other families crowded into the same corner.
Buy tickets in advance at libertyridgefarm.com/things-to-do/sunflower-festival and plan your Capital Region August day while the weekends are still wide open.
