GALION – The sunflower fields at Covert Manufacturing are brightening the days of area residents – and paying homage to a man who worshipped the bright yellow flowers.
Symbols of summer. A tribute to the late J.D. Covert. And the brainchild of Covert’s great-granddaughter, Chanel Hipp, who is now running the longtime family firm on the east side of town with her mother and brother.
“It was more a fun, passionate project for me,” said Hipp, who thought of turning 15 acres of “ugly land” this year into a sea of yellow. “It’s turned out pretty good. We’ve had such a resounding response. People are coming out to see them on weekends and everything.”
The fields are hard to miss.
Towering annuals – poster flowers of summer – blooming since about two weeks ago on each side of the Murray Street entrance. “And we really didn’t know if they were gonna’ bloom at all,” Hipp admitted, “but we came back from the weekend and there they were.”
Hipp said when the lease came up on the land, it only seemed fitting to fill it with flowers. Her great-grandfather won a sunflower competition in Mt. Gilead back in the day and even visited Kansas, “the Sunflower State.” After he died, Hipp said, she always saw sunflowers as a sign of him saying “hello.”
But before buying the seeds, she turned to longtime family friend Mendy Sellman of Rus-Men Farms in Galion. Sellman’s grandfather, Gene Crim, and her grandfather – Covert’s founder Don Covert, Sr. – worked and farmed together. The Crims and the Coverts go back three generations.
Sellman said she consulted her seed dealer on which variety to plant given the soil and water conditions.
They chose the six-foot tall black oil Peredovik variety, and at the end of May, her husband, Russ, son Jesse, and son-in-law Dustin Tate drove their farm equipment to the factory to till and plant.
“We were really nervous because we weren’t sure if they would grow. We never planted sunflowers before,” said Sellman, whose family farms about 350 acres west of town. “We kept driving uptown to get ice cream and check on them. When we finally saw them, we were thrilled that they finally bloomed.”
The flowers, Hipp said, are also a way for her company – in business for more than 60 years – to give back to the community. “We want to be good neighbors to the homes and families that live around our facility so hopefully it’s given them something pleasant to look at.”
And given her ancestors something to smile at, too.
“I was just thrilled when Chanel called me with that idea,” Sellman said. “Just to have her, the younger generation, think of the community and something to bring them enjoyment, I think that’s pretty commendable.
It fits along with her grandfather’s personality.”
