18th Annual Maple Syrup Festival underway

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The 18th annual Maple Syrup Festival is underway at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. The weather today could not have been more perfect for the occasion. The maple sap has thawed and has begun to flow and families were enjoying the day “I love the fact that it’s a gorgeous day you can take your coat off…you can actually open up the different containers coming out of the trees.”

“It’s always great to be able to go outside and takes the kids out after a long week inside and a long winter and it’s great. The people really know what they are taking about. We’re learning lots about maple syrup and getting to try a little bit.”

This year’s harsh winter has provided ideal conditions for maple trees to produce sap. “Even though its a cold time for Canadians it is required for maple syrup and this time of year when the temperature is below freezing at night and above freezing during the day is when the sap flows the best for us” says Festival Coordinator Andrew Cirtwill.

In order to tap a tree to make maple syrup the tree has to be at least 40 years old. It will take a whole day just to fill one bucket of sap. The sap will then be boiled to evaporate the water away and then we’ll be left with maple syrup.

It takes one tree to make one litre of the iconic Canadian product.

The kids at todays events were shown all the different steps involved, and while they enjoyed learning about the process, most agreed on their favourite activities – seeing the animals and eating maple taffy.

The Maple Syrup Festival runs weekends throughout the month of March.