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Island Lake’s Maple Syrup Festival all week

March 17, 2016   ·   0 Comments

The Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival is under way this week at the Island Lake Conservation Area locally and two other area conservation parks.

Through a partnership with Credit Valley Conservation (CVC), there are three locations this year offering maple syrup festivities for the whole family – Terra Cotta Conservation Area in Halton Hills, the Kortright Centre for Conservation in Vaughan and Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area in Stouffville. Island Lake Conservation Area in Orangeville has opened their sugarbush to the public during March Break, while the festival will run at the other locations until April 6.

Visitors are invited to enjoy demonstrations of maple syrup making from pioneers to the modern day sugar shack. There will also be wagon rides, outdoor activities and pancakes and real maple syrup. There will also be pony rides, a petting zoo, taffy making and giant games. Special activities for March Break include a visit from Lofty the Magician and a chainsaw carver. An Easter Egg Hunt will take place this Saturday and Sunday at Island Lake and March 25 to 28 at Terra Cotta.

Ideal conditions for maple syrup production are when temperatures hit around 10 degrees Celsius during the day and drop below freezing at night. The Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival locations are demonstration facilities only and any syrup that is produced is used as samples for visitors.

“This is an educational facility,” said Yasmine Slater, conservation area superintendent, adding that attendance for the festival at Island Lake has been a bit low this week due to the rainy weather. “We had quite a few people here on the weekend and we hope to have more over the next few days. The weather is more of a factor than how much syrup we produce in the bush.”

To avoid parking and line-ups, Island Lake will be running a free shuttle on weekends during the festival from the parking lot between Walmart and Best Buy in Orangeville from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dates and times for activities vary at locations. For a complete schedule of events,  visit www.maplesyrupfest.com.

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