Pope family\, Town of Middleton disagree on charging admission for Sunflower Days

For closing.

Farmers are planting the famous sunflowers at the pope farm conservancy ... to return in july after their absence last summer.

For the first time, the town of middleton is putting on the event ...approving their plan with an events contractor this week.

But there is some controversy.

New at six - madalyn o'neill shares the story behind that ..

And what you can expect this year since 2007, the sunflowers at pope farm conservancy have grown in popularity ... so much so that about 90 thousand people came to visit in 2017.

A bit overwhelming for the volunteers who ran the event ..

Who are handing it over to the town of middleton this year.

But the pope family has some concerns.

Dave zoerb representative, pope/zoerb families 48:47 "this is something special."

So special that dave zoerb's mother and father-in-law wanted to share their land with everyone.

Zoerb leah0510 nats 56:00 "i come up here on a regular basis."

So his family sold the 105 acres to the town of middleton around the turn of the century ..

Creating what's now known as the pope farm conservancy ..

Perhaps best known for its nearly annual sunflowers.

Zoerb leah0508 nats 55:37 "it's up here, to the rest of the hill here."

They're not sprouting yet ... but farmers are planting nearly ten acres worth in preparation for this year's sunflower days.

Zoerb 54:33 "we want to make sure that my mother and art's vision is put forward."

Zoerb worries that vision is not shared by the town of middleton, which is putting on the event.

Greg dimiceli town administrator and treasurer 2:38 "it is special.

It's a really special event."

Zoerb and town administrator and treasurer greg dimiceli have the same aim.

Dimiceli 3:30ish "we want to share the sunflowers, the beauty of pope farm."

Where they grow apart, is how best to do so.

Dimiceli 5:10 "it's gonna be $4 or an adult, anybody 12 and under is going to be free."

Zoerb 52:33 "we don't at all object to the fact of sunflower days, but it should be like it's been since day one.

Free and open to the public."

Zoerb says his family put in a restrictive covenant in their sales agreement with the town to keep the land free and open.

Zoerb 52:45ish "if you allow it to be compromised, you set a precedent for what's going to come in the future."

Dimiceli 4:34 "we want to be extremely respectful to them.

We believe, our attorneys told us we have the right to charge a reasonable fee for entrance into this particular event."

4:44 dimiceli says the fees will go toward event overhead and back into the park.

Dimiceli 5:31 "for maintenance, upkeep."

For zoerb, it all comes back to this park's roots.

Zoerb 55:07 "the key words to us are free and open... free and open to the public."

The town of middleton says they're talking with the pope family.

The nine-day event runs july 26 through august 4th this year.

The town will be hiring the company race day events to put on the sunflower days ..

... which they say will make things like parking transportation to and from the event run a lot more smoothly.

Thanks