Page 6 Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, September 20, 2026 hometownsource. com / heartland /
Sunflowers for Buffalo
Few Fish Sunflowers sites carried as much meaning as the fields planted in Buffalo in 2021.
On Feb. 9 of that year, a gunman opened fire inside the Allina Health Crossroads Clinic. Lindsay Overbay was killed and four others were injured.
Johnny had considered planting a field in Buffalo before, but the plans had never come together. After seeing reports of the shooting, he decided the project needed to be there.
“ What I saw was shocking,” Johnny said.
“ I knew then that we had to go to Buffalo— and start the season off in Buffalo.”
A field adjacent to the clinic was planted in honor of Overbay, the four people who were injured and the Buffalo community.
Local land surveyor Paul Otto helped plot a heart-shaped pathway through the main field. A stage was built on a hill overlooking the sunflowers for music and community gatherings, including an appearance by a University of
Minnesota choir.
The Olsons also planted purple sunflowers among the traditional yellow blooms.
Purple is the color of Buffalo schools and had become a symbol of the Buffalo Strong movement after the shooting. The varieties included Moulin Rouge, Strawberry Blonde and ProCut Plum sunflowers.
On July 25, 2021, community members were invited to wear purple and stand along the heart-shaped path, creating a human outline inside the field.
For Johnny, the gathering reflected what Fish Sunflowers was meant to be: a place where beauty could exist alongside grief and where a community could come together after tragedy.
“ They show sunshine at a time of hurt and need,” he said.
The Buffalo fields also showed how much Fish Sunflowers had grown.
What began as a family project now required coordination with communities, property owners, volunteers and event organizers. The mission was expanding faster than the structure sup-
Jeffrey Hage / Stories of the Heartland
A bumble bee rests on a Procut Plum sunflower at the Fish Sunflowers field near the Allina Buffalo Crossroads Clinic in Buffalo in 2021. The Procut Plum sunflower, with its plum and cream-colored petals, are one of three varieties planted in the fields that have purple coloring to honor Buffalo Strong and the victims of a February, 2021 shooting at the clinic.