A forest of sunflowers blooms alongside Interstate 90 in Avon in memory of a little Avon Lake girl who died of a rare cancer.
AVON, Ohio – The 90,000 motorists who drive along Interstate 90 every day are getting a special treat -- a mile-long field of sunflowers, in memory of a little girl who died too soon.
Ed and Megan McNamara and friends planted the sunflowers for their daughter, Maria, who died on July 14, 2007, of a rare brain cancer. The Avon Lake couple started their group, prayersfrommaria.org, in their child's honor because when the 7-year-old was hospitalized for her deadly cancer, she told her parents she was praying for the other children in the hospital.
Sunflowers planted along a mile of Interstate 90 are a message of hope.
All summer long, the billboard sat in a lonely field along I-90 between the Nagel Road and Ohio 83 exits that said "Planting hope for children with brain tumors."
Earlier this week, as if on cue, thousands of sunflowers burst into bloom, turning the rugged field into a thing of beauty.
Drivers are startled by the scene. Many stop to take pictures of the rare sight.
"It's amazing," said Karen Pompeii of Vermilion. "My husband has a plumbing business in Avon and I drive this road several times a week. This was not here last week and now, there it is. It's just beautiful."
The sunflowers are expected to be at their peak next week.
Ed McNamara said he was also overjoyed when he saw the field of flowers in bloom this week.
"Those flowers represent all the children out there with cancer," he said. "We want people to look at the flowers and remember that and to remember that there is always hope."
The McNamaras chose the sunflower as the symbol of their daughter's charity for a specific reason. Rachael Stalzer, executive director of the Prayers From Maria Foundation, said sunflowers sleep at night and during the day turn toward the sun.
"That's what we do, turn toward the light to help kids with this disease," she said.
In a cookbook released last year, the McNamaras said sunflowers are "bright, cheerful and beautiful, just like our child."
Stalzer said the response to the flower field has been overwhelming.
Maria McNamara, who inspired a field of flowers.
"We've been getting numerous calls and emails from people who are astounded by the field," she said. "It's popping up all over on social media, which we think is fantastic. People are saying it gives them chills."
She said the group had a "planting party" in June.
"We had about 100 people planting sunflower seeds in the fields," she said. "But really it was a farmer named John Betzel who did all the work, planting 25,000 sunflower seeds that were donated by the Zurich Company of Independence."
She said a member of the board came up with the idea of a sea of flowers and contacted the Jacobs real estate group about using their land along I-90. She said the Jacobs officials were quick to agree and help out.
The billboard went up in June and seemed a bit out of place as the sunflowers slowly grew around it all summer.
"We wanted the sunflowers to come out at the beginning of September, which is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month," she said. "We just hoped we timed it right. Then last week, we saw a sunflower or two popping up, then this week it was like they all opened at the same time. It's a tremendous sight."
The McNamaras started their foundation to encourage research into the disease that killed their daughter – diffuse pontine glioma, an aggressive tumor deep within the center of the brain. The Prayers From Maria Glioma Cancer Foundation was formed to help raise money to research children's brain cancer, including the rare variety that took Maria's life. So far, the foundation has awarded $200,000 in grants for research and in several weeks will announce the winner of another $250,000 research grant.
The public is invited to walk through the sunflowers from 4 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6 as a show of support for the fight against cancer. Prizes will be given for the best pictures of the flowers. Interested persons are asked to enter the field from Jaycox Road off Chester Road.
For more information, visit www.prayersfrommaria.org