The First Annual Sunflower Festival

8/2/2026 · The Neighborhood Team

On July 31st, 2026, our state was just about to celebrate 150 years of statehood. Meanwhile, our Villa Park neighbors were celebrating the very first annual Sunflower Festival! Hosted by the garden leaders at the brand new Martinez Park Community Garden, neighbors, friends, and family gathered for a midsummer party complete with a pancake breakfast, live jazz music, mimosas, and games/activities for kids.

Why celebrate sunflowers of all things? While sunflowers are awesome native plants that provide habitat for our pollinators, that isn’t the real reason we came together. We came together because we love to spend time with one another! That is one of the main reasons we founded Villa Park FANs - to create spaces where we can get together, work on community improvement with each other, talk about things that matter, and celebrate for the sake of celebration.

If that sounds at all like a community you want to be a part of, join us! We have neighbors looking to create spaces for families, neighbors looking to advocate for safer streets, neighbors learning about gardening together, and more. There are so many ways to get involved, even if that just means showing up and enjoying some breakfast with neighbors. We have a newsletter and an active discord so you can find out about future events and other ways to get involved - check out our Contact Page for ways to get involved!