MapleFest at Red Oak Taps Free, Sweet Taste of Spring

Most kids can tell you right away where to get maple syrup.

From the grocery store shelf, of course. There they are—Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth’s and Log Cabin—right next to the pancake batter.

What they may not know is that those brands aren’t really maple syrup at all but, rather, just corn syrup with imitation flavor that’s been dyed.

Real maple syrup actually comes from trees—a teachable moment that can be enjoyed this Saturday (March 17) at Red Oak Nature Center, which hosts its annual MapleFest event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Children and adults alike can appreciate the centuries-old tradition of tapping maple trees and collecting sap for syrup, a practice that dates back to Native American times and continues with today’s modern sugaring industry.

Demonstrations will be staged every half-hour as visitors venture into the surrounding woods to insert taps into maple trees, collect sap in buckets and then return to the nature center, where the sap will be simmered over an open fire and thickened into syrup. A little taste-testing will be in order, too.

Better yet, the event is absolutely free. No charge. Just show up with a sweet tooth.

Maple-themed treats and beverages will be available for a small fee. A new feature this year will include items for sale from Vermont (the maple syrup-producing capital of the world) that include small bottles of maple syrup, maple-flavored cotton candy and maple lollipops.

With a warmer-than-average winter and early arrival of spring, the trees are ahead of schedule this year. But it still prime-time for sugaring.

“I was a little worried with all the warm days we’ve been having so early this season, but the sap is flowing real well,” said Margaret Gazdacka, facility supervisor at Red Oak. “The sap is rising daily, and it’s running clear.”

Early spring is an ideal time to harvest sap as longer, warmer days are offset by frosty temperatures at night. The freeze-thaw cycle and continual fluctuation in temperatures cause the maples to pull water from the soil through their roots. Then during the warm daytime hours, temperatures above freezing cause pressure to develop within the tree.

When a tap hole is drilled into the tree’s trunk, internal pressure forces the sap to flow out, much like blood from a cut. At commercial farms, the sap is drained via plastic tubing and pipelines to the production site called a sugar house. But for the small-scale demonstrations at Red Oak, a simple plastic bucket is used to collect and transport sap after the tree is tapped.

On average, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup. Kids often ask if drilling holes and drawing sap harms the trees.

In actuality, sap is a renewable resource; maple syrup production is a highly sustainable activity because the tap hole captures a very small portion of the tree’s sap. Under the right conditions, maple trees can live to be hundreds of years old.

Many “sugarmakers” in the leading syrup-producing zones—such as Vermont, New Hampshire and northeast Canada—are tapping the same trees that were tapped many times by generations before them.

MapleFest is a wonderful intergenerational event for grandpa, grandma and the grandkids, a seasonal passage from winter to spring, where everybody can share and explore the art, science and folklore of “sugaring.

Just think, when one of these young school children returns to Red Oak a few decades from now for MapleFest 2032, they’ll be able to tell their young ones a “when-I-was-your-age” story about seeing the same maple tree being tapped.

Those stories, like the legend of maple syrup, never get old.

Jeff Long is the public relations manager for the Fox Valley Park District. Contact him at jlong@fvpd.net