Celebrate the long-standing North American tradition of maple sugaring at Genesee Country Village & Museum’s Maple Sugar Festival on March 17 to 18 and March 24 to 25, one of the largest maple sugar festivals in Western New York.
Begin the day with an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast featuring REAL New York State maple syrup, served from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day ($9 adults; $7 youth; free for ages one and under).
Between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., the entire museum will be alive with activities. At the nature center, visit the museum’s brand new sugar house and witness the process of transforming sap into syrup. Enjoy self-guided walks along the sugar bush history trail following the evolution of sugar-making from the age of wood, the age of metal with an historic evaporator, to the modern age with its plastic tubing and 21st-century tree taps.
Taste sweet samples of sugar-on-snow or indulge in some maple cotton candy ($), manage sap buckets on a shoulder yoke, and warm up in the Meeting Center with storytellers Mohawk Tonia Loran-Galban and Seneca Ronnie Reitter and their Native American tales of maple sugaring’s origin.
The Historic Village will be open all day with open-hearth cooking, candle making demonstrations and 19th-century tastings. The tinsmith and cooper will show how they make wooden sap buckets and tin spiles. Then sit down for a light meal at the historic Hosmer’s Inn Tavern.
Included also is a Maple Cooking Contest on Saturday, March 17. Adults and children are invited to submit baked goods and other creations for review. Each entrant will receive free admission to the festival on March 17.
General admission to the Maple Sugar Festival is $10. GCV&M members and youth 17 and younger are admitted free.
But that’s not all.
An adult dance Sugaring-Off Party follows from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 6, with live music by The Brothers Blue, maple-inspired appetizers and desserts, exciting games and plenty of wine, beer and drinks.
General Admission is $30/$25 GCV&M members. For more information, visit www.gcv.org.
Support provided by Market NY through I LOVE NY/ New York State’s Division of Tourism as a part of the Regional Economic Development Council awards. Pancake breakfast also sponsored by New Hope Mills.
