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.

The Trees are Tapped!

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

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.

Elmvale Maple Festival

Every year the sleepy town of Elmvale explodes in a celebration of Nature's rites of Spring - the running of liquid gold - Ontario Pure Maple Syrup. (This year, it'll all take place on 19 April!) In addition to sugarshacks filled with bubbling goodness and a pancake restaurant (open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.) where your flapjacks will be drenched in maple, you'll find carnival rides, crafts, quilts and other diversions. Check it all out here.

Maple Syrup Festival in Mansfield, Ohio

Malabar Farm State Park in Mansfield, Ohio, is the setting for an annual Maple Syrup Festival. This year, it's from noon to 4 p.m. 1, 2, 8 and 9 March. There's no admission charge. There'll be demonstrations of sugaring techniques over the centuries, and a self-guided tour of the sugar camp -- with free samples at the sugar house. Ohio maple syrup, maple walnut fudge, maple cotton candy, maple popcorn and more will be for sale in the Malabar Farm Gift Shop throughout the season.

17th Annual Maple Syrup Festival in Indiana

Yum! Make plans to get to Salem, Indiana, for the 17th annual Maple Syrup Festival at Leane and Michael's Sugarbush on the last weekend in February or the first weekend in March.

The menu stars are pancakes or waffles topped with strawberries or blueberries, ice cream, whipped cream and pure maple syrup (sausages optional) and a chicken or pork chop dinner (the chicken is, of course, barbecued with maple syrup!).

There's lots to buy and take home, too, including maple cotton candy! You can watch the syrup-making, participate in contests (like the log-sawing, pictured), listen to traditional music and ride in a mule-drawn wagon.

The dates for 2008 are 23 and 24 February plus 1 and 2 March (Saturdays and Sundays) from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Remember, that's WINTER in Indiana, so wear warm clothing and sturdy boots!

Leane and Michael's Sugarbush is at 321 North Garrison Hollow Road, Salem, IN 47167. Call 'em -- 812:967-4491 or (toll free) 877:841-8851 -- or send an email. There's more information at their website.

How To Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup

There's little ambiguity in the "how to" site from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Its bulletin #7036 gives just two paragraphs of history before launching into complete instructions. "A tree should be at least 10 inches in diameter," they caution, "measured at 4-1/2 feet above the ground, before tapping." There's even a bibliography for further reading. Check it out at here.