A sure sign spring is here is the annual Vermontville Syrup Festival every year, always held the last full week of April.
Vermontville, the home of the original Maple Syrup Festival in Michigan, starts Friday, April 27, continues on the 28th and 29th with a full schedule of things to do, see and sample:
Two parades, Mid-America rides, craft shows, flea market, talent show, petting zoo, princess pageant, displays, games, free entertainment, pancake derby, arm wrestling and, of course everything maple syrup, candies, crème, cotton candy and pancakes with the real thing.
For a complete schedule and all the details, visit vermontvillemaplesyrupfestival.org
Michigan ranks fifth in the nation for maple syrup production. You can find producers staying with the most traditional methods as well as modern facilities using the latest refinement techniques. All maple trees produce sap, with sugar maples the highest sugar content of two percent, followed by black, red silver and ash- leafed maple with a sugar content of about one percent. It takes 40 gallons of syrup to produce one gallon of maple syrup.
Photo: Vermontville Maple Syrup Queen Alaura Reist, (top, center) and her Court, (left to right) Brenna Simpson, Gracie Fisher, and Grace Guernsey.