Photographers hoping to snap the perfect shot in front of an eye-catching sunflower field in Hamilton, Ont. are out of luck. The farm鈥檚 owner says, thanks to the crowd chaos, amateur photographers are no longer welcome this year, and may never be again.
The picturesque Bogle Seeds farm on Safari Road has rows and rows of sunflowers bursting with colour.
The gigantic yellow field makes an attractive backdrop for amateur photographers. So much so, that the farm was overcome with tourists vying for a photo over the weekend.
Owner Barry Bogle said the farm has welcomed visitors since 1969, when it first opened. But, after a hectic weekend marked by traffic chaos, Bogle said they鈥檝e decided to close for the rest of the year.
鈥淧eople were coming from every corner of our farm and just inundating our farm properties, so we had no control whatsoever,鈥� he told CTV Kitchener on Wednesday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e closed this year and we don鈥檛 have any plans for ever opening again.鈥�
, the Hamilton Police had to step in to close the highway and manage the traffic.
鈥淲e basically had a flash mob, only with cars, with over 7,000 cars on Highway 6, completely stopping it for four kilometres,鈥� Bogle said.
Along with the traffic headaches, the selfie seekers spoiled some of the farm鈥檚 crops by wandering deep into the field to pose among the sunflowers.
鈥淭hey were going in so deep,鈥� visitor Jill Gowland said. 鈥淭here were quite a few sunflowers that I saw that were damaged, that were broken and laying down on the ground.鈥�
Although the farm is now closed to photographers, Bogle said it鈥檚 still open to people purchasing bird seed and other products there.
With files from CTV Kitchener
