Cross E Ranch thrives with Sunflower Festival amid urban Salt Lake City
Oct 24, 2024 02:34PM ● By Bailey Chism
A colorful harvest at Cross E Ranch showcases an array of pumpkins and gourds, ready for picking as part of the Sunflower Festival’s autumn festivities. Photo courtesy of Cross E Ranch Instagram.
Heather Limon and her brother Dalon Hinckley are like many family farmers today, finding creative ways to keep their operation going. Their solution? Hosting thousands of visitors on their land.
From mid-September through October, the Cross E Ranch becomes home to the Sunflower Festival, an event drawing crowds eager for fall fun. Adults pay $18 and children $13 to enjoy a nostalgic, farm-filled day. Activities range from pig races and corn mazes to pony rides, hayrides, pumpkin picking, face painting, and much more.
When it’s time to eat, festival-goers can dig into burgers made from Cross E cows that were grazing just weeks earlier. And if you’ve got room for dessert, the ranch’s signature donuts are a must-try.
What makes Cross E unique is its proximity to downtown Salt Lake City. In just 10 minutes, you can leave City Creek Mall and be surrounded by farm life. The land where the Salt Lake International Airport now sits was once part of the ranch before the state purchased it in the early 1960s to expand the airport. Back then, Cross E Ranch’s 3,000 cows roamed where airplanes now land.
Hinckley and Limon represent the fifth generation of their farming family, tracing their roots back to Latter-day Saint pioneer Ira Hinckley, who farmed in central Utah in the 1800s. His descendants eventually purchased the land that became the Cross E Ranch, continuing the tradition until urban sprawl reduced the property to its current 200 acres and 52 cows.
With the farm shrinking, turning a profit became a challenge, prompting the siblings to start the festival a decade ago.
“We had talked about it for a couple of years and when I lived in Texas I missed the farm and would go to a ranch that did activities for the public,” Limon said. “I started thinking that our place would be a great place to do ag-entertainment.”
It turns out, people love visiting the ranch, as proven by the growth in attendance – from 3,000 visitors in the first year to 88,000 last year.
“We want to keep farming and share with others why it is important,” the Cross E website states. “Everyone loves the feeling of being on the farm; it is peaceful and feels natural. We want everyone to be a part of that.”
They also host a few other events throughout the year if you want to get back to the ranch before fall.
“We do a Baby Animal Festival in the Spring,” Limon said. “We have a couple of just Donut Days per year where people can just come to buy donuts.”
So, the Cross E continues to thrive, standing firm against the odds as a family farm nestled between skyscrapers and jumbo jets. For now, it’s still going strong, a little slice of rural life in the heart of the city. λ