Why sunflower? Sunflowers are hyperaccumulators—plants that have adapted to thrive in environments with high concentrations of toxic materials.

When we launched the first annual India Love Sunflower Festival, we wanted to celebrate creativity’s ability to flourish and give back truth and beauty, even as it absorbs and faces up to the destructive elements of the cultures from which it arises.

Through the festival, we continue to honor India Summer Deibler-Love’s mission and vision of creating inclusive, nurturing spaces that bring community of all walks of life together for positive experience through art, music, and great coffee & wine

Not only are Sunflowers beautiful, their seeds are edible, their leaves are used in livestock feed, and their stems can be used to make paper–they also have the remarkable ability to remove harmful toxins from soil through a process called phytoremediation. Basically, they alchemize poison into medicine.

India told her mother Christine in a dream shortly after her death to, “Look for sunflowers. That’s your sign that I’m nearby.” Ever since Christine shared that dream with her family and community, people from all over the world have shared photos and videos of sunflowers they see, telling her that the flowers always make them think of India with love.