Friday, February 29, 2008

Indian Lake State Park Maple Syrup Festival

The 23rd annual Maple Syrup Festival will be held at the Indian Lake State Park Campground, 13156 North State Route 235, Lakeview, Ohio, on 15 and 16 March. It's sponsored by the park, in conjunction with the Indian Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and the Indian Lake Development Corporation.

On the schedule are a pancake breakfast (of course!), sugar bush tours, syrup-making demonstrations -- and dulcimer music!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

There's Sugaring in the Hocking Hills

"Maple Sugaring in the Hills" is set for noon to 4 p.m. 8 and 9 March in Hocking Hills State Park, southeastern Ohio. Head for the Naturalist Cabin, located behind the Old Man’s Cave Visitor Center. There is a pancake breakfast at the Hocking Hills State Park lodge the days of the festival. And believe it or not, they even serve local syrup on those pancakes!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Maple Syrup Time at the Indiana Dunes

Maple Sugar Time is one of the most popular seasons at historic Chellberg Farm, part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

In the 1870s, Swedish immigrants Anders and Johanna "Kjellberg" bought 80 acres in Porter County, Indiana, to establish a farm. They were the first of three generations of the Chellberg Family to make their living here. In the 1930s, the Chellbergs started to tap the many maple trees on their property for the production of maple syrup.

The 30th Annual Maple Sugar Time Festival 1, 2 and 8, 9 March features the evolution of "maple sugaring" in Northwest Indiana from an early American Indian method, to the pioneer method of boiling sap in open iron kettles, to the relatively modern and commercial method of producing syrup much the way the Chellberg family did.

The festival grounds will be open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. each day Ranger-led tours will be offered from 10 a.m. - noon. At noon, the guided tours are replaced by a self-guided interpreted tour route with uniformed rangers and volunteers stationed at stops along the way. All tours start behind the Bailly/Chellberg Visitor Center and end near the Chellberg Farmhouse.

At the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitor Center, view the films "Visit to a Maple Sugar Farm" and "Maple Sugar Farmer" shown at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. All will add to your sugaring experience.

The Chesterton Lions Club will serve pancakes topped with pure maple syrup from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Bottled syrup will be available for sale at the visitor centers.

Admission to the Festival is free.

The Bailly/Chellberg Area is located on Mineral Springs Road between Highways 20 and 12, about 2 miles west of Highway 49. For more information about this and other programs, contact the visitor center at 219:926-7561, ext. 225.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival

Head to Ontario 29 and 30 March for the 13th annual Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival. There'll be the expected (tours of sugar shacks -- including the one pictured), a bed race and carnival rides), but also the unexpected (performances by the Outback Cloggers). New this year is an arts & crafts show. Read all about it here!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival

There's everything you could ever want at the Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival, 18 and 19 April in Wakarusa, Indiana.

Maple syrup baking contest? Check! Five K run? Check! Cross cut saw contest? Check! Tractor pulls, helicopter rides, book sale? Check! Check! Check!

Head to rural northeast Indiana and enjoy the season!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Maple Syrup -- and More -- at March Festival

The annual Maple Syrup Festival in Pickens, West Virginia, is held the third full weekend in March -- this year it's 15-16 March.

Not only are there pancakes (of course), but also tours of a syrup camp, arts & crafts, a quilt show and sale, 5K run, square dance, soap-making (and more).

For details, check the website or call Kim Dulaney at 304:924-5096.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Shepherd Maple Festival Celebrates 50 Years

The Fiftieth annual Maple Festival in Shepherd, Michigan, takes place 25, 26, and 27 April. (Every 50th pancake dinner will be free!) "Never did we dream back in 1958 when we made about 100 gallons of maple syrup and served a few hundred meals at our first one-day festival that we would grow to processing 12,000 meals at a three-day festival," notes the information on the festival.

The 2008 schedule of events includes not only the pancakes, but museum tours, sugar bush visits, a parade, pony rides, tractor pulls, amusement rides and an arts & crafts show.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Trees are Tapped!


All we need now is for the sap to start flowing again! Come on, sunshine!

Monday, February 11, 2008

National Maple Syrup Festival

Where else can you find maple syrup from "each and every maple syrup producing state in America" than at the National Maple Syrup Festival!

Held, somewhat improbably, at Burton’s Maplewood Farm in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana on the first and second weekends in March every year, the festival offers up hot pancakes served with 100% pure Maple Syrup all day every day on 1, 2, 8 and 9 March 2008.

The festival is two miles north of Medora, Ind., and includes music, activities and syruping demonstrations. All the details are right here.