Ashley Stevenson of St. Charles, along with her husband and children, took some time to visit the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles on Saturday to enjoy the outdoors by experiencing the annual Maple Sugaring Days festival.
“I came here five years ago and we’re back now because we’ve added another little one that we wanted to do this with,” Stevenson said as her family prepared to enter the event. “We know it’s a lot of work to get the syrup. One of my daughters, in particular, uses a lot of syrup on her pancakes in the morning.”
The event offered Saturday and Sunday by the Kane County Forest Preserve District gave families the opportunity to watch naturalists tap into maple trees in search of what some call the liquid gold that eventually yields true maple syrup.
Organizers said the celebration is a rite of spring in the area that helps free visitors from cabin fever.
Before the event, Laurie Metanchuk, community engagement director for the Kane County Forest Preserve District, said this was the 31st year for the celebration and confirmed that the warm temperatures predicted over the weekend would get the maple sap flowing.
“It’s all about warm days and cold nights and that’s exactly what you want in order to have the sap start flowing in the maple trees,” she said before the event. “We know it’s going to be a great weekend for this. We had 2,100 people a year ago.”
Metanchuk said that while many visitors have come before, the “need to get outside after a long winter is a huge part of it.”
“I always think of the start of spring as whenever Maple Sugaring Days is, whether it matches up with the calendar or not,” she said. “I think a lot of people feel the same way and like getting out and listening to music and maybe enjoying some of the old-time traditions like seeing how trees get tapped and how the land provides food. It’s a really fun event and not a high-pressure thing and an easy way to ease into spring.”
Last year, local Riverlands Brewing created a maple-enhanced beer for the fest and was back this year with a new formula, Metanchuk said.
“They have created Maple River – it’s a little lighter and a little sweeter than the version they had last year,” she said. “I think they like to change it up from year-to-year.”
A maple cafe was also offered at the event including hot cider, doughnuts, cookies and ice cream sundaes. There was also a sampling station to try out local maple syrup and a craft area.
Ashley Stevenson’s husband Ian said he remembered learning about tapping maple trees “back in third grade. We did it in the neighborhood that we live in. We tapped those trees.”
“It’s still amazing that people figured this out. The whole tapping a tree thing and then to boil it down into a product that is as delicious as maple syrup,” he said.
Inside the beer tent at the fest, Ryan Griffin of St. Charles was enjoying this year’s beer from Riverlands Brewing.
“We brought the whole family this year. It’s a little windy, a little breezy and we’ve got ice cream and coffee and now a beer,” he said.
Meanwhile outside, volunteers offered short presentations on the collection of sap as well as others supervising the drilling of logs to mimic the tapping of a tree while still others stood around a smoking fire boiling sap down for syrup.
Dan Johnson of Elburn said Saturday was his first visit to the fest and that he was accompanied by his son and his wife and his grandchildren.
“I know how much it takes to get the syrup and it’s a lot of work and I needed to see how they did it back in the day,” Johnson said. “This is a good thing for the grandkids to see. Realizing the Earth gives us food and how our grandparents had to do a lot more than go to the grocery store – and it’s probably a lot better for you.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
