It’s the season for Maple Syrup Festivals! Tap into Spring with some Maple Syrup! Have some sweet weekends, folks!
History
Long before the Europeans came to North America, the Indians were tapping the trees, especially the maple trees for sap. The natives used it to flavour their food such as meat and porridge, as well as a health tonic. Until the 19th century, people started to use metal containers to catch and boil the sap.
How It’s Made
The process of heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. It takes 40 liters of sap to make each liter of maple syrup which has a sugar content of 66.9%.
Toronto – Sugar Shack T.O. @ Sugar Beach
“Two sugar shacks will be serving up fresh maple taffy as well as a winter marketplace with delicious maple-inspired eats. Tons of fun interactive entertainment including a battle of the chainsaws ice carving competition, ice activities, warming station, live music, specialty bar & much more!”
Dates:
Saturday, March 10
Sunday, March 11
Hours:
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Address:
Sugar Beach, 11 Dockside Drive, Toronto, Ontario
Website: www.sugarshackto.ca
Stouffville – Maple syrup festival @ Horton’s Farm
“Smell the sweet aroma billowing from the sugar shack as the maple sap is boiled down to syrup. Savour the taste of hot pancakes fresh off the griddle smothered with our homemade maple syrup in the old log cabin. Experience maple syrup being made in the pioneer and modern ways is a Canadian tradition to be enjoyed year after year. We have been welcoming people to our traditional, family-run operation since 1963.”
Dates:
Saturdays and Sundays – March 10 to April 8
Good Friday March 30
Hours:
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Address:
5924 Slaters Rd, Gormley, ON L0H 1G0
Website: www.hortontreefarms.com
Stouffville – Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival @ Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area
Dates:
Weekends (March 10 – April 8),
March Break (March 12-16) and
Good Friday to Easter Monday (March 30 – April 2)
Hours:
9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Address:
Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area
3291 Stouffville Rd, Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON L4A 7X5
Website: maplesyrupfest.com
Woodbridge – Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival @ Kortright Centre for Conservation
Dates:
March 10 – April 8
Hours:
9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Special Guided Tours:
Maple Syrup by Lamplight
March 10, 17, 23 & 24
Tap into Spring with a magnificent evening that begins with a guided twilight tour of Kortright?s Maple sugar bush. Taste real maple syrup, visit our sugar shack and learn about old fashioned and modern methods of maple syrup production. Enjoy a warm campfire and a fire-side treat!
Advance Tickets Required: 416-667-6295 ext.3 or e-mail: visitorservies@trca.on.ca
Address:
9550 Pine Valley Dr, Woodbridge, ON L4L 1A6
Website: maplesyrupfest.com
Halton Hills – Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival @ Terra Cotta Conservation Area
“Enjoy syrup-making demonstrations, live entertainment, family-friendly activities, taffy tasting and of course a plate of fresh pancakes with real maple syrup. Enjoy a full lineup of performers, including our new additions of a blacksmith and the Four Paws Flying dog show!”
Dates:
Weekends (March 10 – April 8),
March Break (March 12-16) and
Good Friday to Easter Monday (March 30 – April 2)
Hours:
9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Address:
14452 Winston Churchill Blvd, Terra Cotta, ON L0P 1N0
Website: maplesyrupfest.com
Uxbridge – Maple Sugar Festival @ Brooks Farm
Dates:
Weekends (March 10 – April 15)
March Break (March 12 – 16)
Hours:
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Address:
122 Ashworth Rd, Mount Albert, ON L0G 1M0
Website: www.brooksfarms.com
Oshawa – Maple Syrup Festival @ Purple Woods Conservation Area
“We showcase 400 years of the maple syrup history in Ontario through interpretive tours, complete with fireside story telling. Our Heritage Hall provides a rustic indoor heated meeting space for families and friends. Bring your own lunch or enjoy delicious pancakes and local maple syrup and sausages cooked up by our community volunteers. We offer lots of free hands-on activities, games and crafts for the kids and kids at heart. Parking is FREE and we have lots of room.”
Dates:
March Break:
(9 to 11) (14 to 18)
CLOSED: Mar. 12, 13
Weekends: March 24/25 & April 7/8
CLOSED: Easter Weekend (Mar. 31. Apr. 1)
Hours:
9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Special Guided Tours:
Sugarbush Lantern Tour
April 6 (Evening)
Join Central Lake Ontario Conservation (CLOCA) for our first ever Sugar Bush Lantern Walk from 7pm to 9pm on Friday April 6th, at the Purple Woods Conservation Area. Family and friends will enjoy this opportunity to learn about the history of maple syrup, listen to stories from interpretive staff, try their hand at Sugarbush tasks and taste some of that amazing Purple Woods maple syrup. Lanterns will be provided and a candlelight dessert and cider will be served in Heritage Hall at the end of the walk.
Tickets: www.cloca.com/msf/tickets.html
Address:
38 Coates Road, East Oshawa, ON L1H 3T3
Website: www.cloca.com
Mississauga – Maple Magic @ Bradley Museum
- Learn the Story of Maple with hands on interactive learning stations
- Explore the Maple Trivia Trail
- Oversize Family Games
- Camp Lumperjack
- Sample Maple treats in the Bradley House
- Pancake Lunch at the Sugar Shack
- Maple Gift Shop
- Tours of the Historic Bradley House
Dates:
March 10 – 18
Hours:
12 – 4 p.m.
Address:
1620 Orr Rd, Mississauga, ON L5J 4T2
Website: culture.mississauga.ca
Oakville – Maple Syrup Festival @ Bronte Creek Provincial Park
“Enjoy a guided tour of Maple Lane, where interpreters costumed for the 1890’s demonstrate different historical ways of collecting and making maple syrup. The tour ends in the middle of Spruce Lane Farm where you can learn how to make fresh maple sugar or enjoy a stick of delicious maple taffy before visiting the various farm animals in the yard.”
Dates:
March 3-4, 10-18, 24-25 and March 30-April 1
Closed on Easter Monday, April 2
Hours:
9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Address:
1219 Burloak Dr, Oakville, ON L6M 4J7
Website: www.brontecreek.org
Milton – Sweet Water Season @ Crawford Lake Conservation Area
“Visit the reconstructed Iroquoian Village and learn how maple syrup was discovered and used by Indigeous People as you take in an interactive (and edible!) Sweet Water demonstration. Nostalgia is served in the afternoon as staff demonstrate how to make taffy on snow. Try a tasting flight of different grades and types of syrup before heading to the giftshop to pick up a delicious souvenir. Kids will enjoy winning a prize for compleing the maple themed discovery hunt!”
Dates:
February 24 – April 2 on weekends, holidays and March Break
Hours:
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Address:
3115 Conservation Rd, Milton, ON L0P
Website: www.conservationhalton.ca
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