Yarrow Sopinka, not quite two years old, enjoyed a horse-drawn sleigh ride with parents Gillian and Steve during first-tapping celebrations at Matthews Maple Products on March 8.
POWASSAN – People of all ages celebrated the start of the maple syrup season on March 8, with the annual first-tapping ceremony hosted this year by Matthews Maple Products, of Powassan.
“It’s to let the public know that the maple syrup season is here or right around the corner,” said Dave Matthews.
Visitors enjoyed sleigh rides, refreshments and fresh maple taffy, as well as an opportunity to take a closer look at the 15,000-tap syrup operation. Linked to the bush by a network of plastic tubing, the sugar shack, full of shiny stainless steel, demonstrated the state of the syrup-making art, while a black cauldron over an open fire honoured its history. Still, the frigid Saturday did not seem like sap season.
“It’s supposed to be a lot warmer than it is today,” said Matthews.
Good sap flow depends on the frigid nights and warmer days found in the late winter and early spring. Sap season falls somewhere between February and April, starting with those warmer days and lasting until the trees begin to bud.
The trees are tapped and ready to go, but the cold weather was still hanging around as of Saturday. Just the same, Matthews, a third-generation sap boiler, believes this will be a very good season.
“We’ve had not a lot of snow, but a lot of rain this winter, so there should be a lot of moisture in the ground to get good sap flows,” he said. “Hopefully, we’re going to have a good sap season.”
Canada leads the world in maple syrup production. Ontario farmers produce about 1 million litres of maple syrup per year. Neighbour Quebec is responsible for three quarters of the world’s syrup, turning out approximately 25 million litres annually.
Visitors will be back to Powassan to celebrate the end of the season on April 26, as the community hosts its 11th annual Maple Syrup Festival.
Editorial
