Join Lake Metroparks Farmpark for their last weekend of maple sugaring!
March 11 & 12 • 9 am to 5 pm
Discover how real maple syrup is produced when you tap into the fun of Maple Sugaring Weekends presented by Ken Ganley Subaru at Lake Metroparks Farmpark. Take a wagon ride down to the Woodland Center to see how sap, a water-like substance, is collected, boiled and processed into pure maple syrup and candy during the two-weekend event (March 4 & 5 and 11 & 12.)
Maple Sugaring History
Maple production is one of the few agricultural activities not brought to the Americas by European settlers. Native Americans are widely recognized as the first to discover the sweet stuff from the maple tree. From the seventeenth century onward, sap has been obtained in a brief window between winter & spring as the sap runs out to the maple trees when the temperature is around 40 degrees following a night when the temperature drops below freezing.
Maple sugaring activities:
- Watch a boiling demonstration to see how sap is converted and processed into maple syrup
- Enjoy a sample of some freshly produced maple syrup.
- Whip up a tasty treat with maple stirs, while supplies last (an additional fee applies.)
- Kids can try their hand at tapping a tree.
- Learn how you can make maple syrup in your own backyard.
- See how sap is collected commercially using a vacuum tubing system.
photo credit: Earl Linaburg
Visitors can venture out into the sugarbush on a guided hike to gather sap contained in collection buckets hung on the maple trees in the woods. One by one the guests will pour the sweet substance into a horse-drawn sled carrying a sap container. Activity is offered once daily (see schedule.) Also, see how the water-like substance is collected using a vacuum tubing system.
