Maplewood State Park to host maple syrup demonstration

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The sap will be running through downtown Vergas on Saturday for one of the tastiest celebrations of the year.

The annual Maple Syrup Festival will feature a 5k run, horse drawn rides and enough maple syrup to provide sticky fingers for just about everyone who stops by the community on Saturday.

The day will get underway with the annual pancake breakfast from 7:30-11:30 a.m. at the Vergas Event Center. The breakfast will include pancakes, real maple syrup and sausage served until the items are gone. Adults are $10, kids 10 and under at $5 and take out will be available. 

The Sap is Running in Vergas 5k fun run will kick off at 9 a.m. and medals will be awarded for the top five runners. The cost to enter the run, which will get underway at Summers Design Center, will be $30. 

Horse drawn wagon rides will also highlight a busy day in Vergas from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The wagon rides will load near the Vergas United Methodist Church. 

In addition to the classic Maple Syrup Festival events, Summers Design Center will host a number of events including a maple syrup contest from 8-10 a.m., as well as a vendor fair from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and live music and kids events from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Summers Design Center will also host a special “Back to the Maple Basics” talk led by Stu Peterson beginning at 10 a.m. 

As always, downtown Vergas stores will be open with Maple Fest specials. Many of their specials can be located on page 2 of this week’s issue of the Frazee-Vergas Forum. 

At Maplewood State Park, volunteers will hold a variety of demonstrations on how to make maple syrup and harvest some of the maple sugar from trees. Maple Syrup Demonstration Day will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The park is located 22 miles southwest of Vergas off Highway 108.