Sugar Bush Festival educates people about maple syrup
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Hundreds headed to Blandford Nature Center Saturday to learn all about maple syrup.
The nature center held its 54th annual Sugar Bush Festival to celebrate the end of its syrup-collecting season. Visitors were able to learn about how staff tap the maple trees, collect the sap and then create maple syrup. They also were able to try different maple syrup foods, see performances and various kinds of animals and more. It went from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The center taps and creates around 20 gallons of maple syrup per year. Sarah Bass, the farm program specialist at the Blandford Nature Center, said this year they produced less, due to the weather.
“We need freezing nights and warmer days around 40 (degrees) for that sap to flow inside the maple tree. And so when things get warm really quickly or like if it seems like spring’s coming early and that weather isn’t exactly what we need it to be, then the sap isn’t flowing as well or those trees stop giving sap,” Bass said.
The center sells its homemade maple syrup year-round in the visitor center. During the syrup season, they also have different programs running where you can learn more about the syrup-making and tapping processes.
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