Ready your sweet tooth for Maple Syrup Festival
A signature spring event in Durham Region is celebrating a significant anniversary in 2020.
With the approach of spring, residents can be sure of a few things, including that birds will be singing and pancakes will be flipping at the 45th Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Purple Woods Conservation Area north of Oshawa.
Central Lake Ontario Conservation (CLOCA) will be hosting the festival that starts on Friday, March 13, 2020.
The dates of the festival are as follows – Friday, March 13 to Sunday, March 15, Wednesday, March 18 to Sunday, March 22, and the weekends of March 28 to 29 and April 4 to 5.
The festival will be closed on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17.
More information and tickets are available on CLOCA’s website at www.cloca.com
In partnership with Tribute Communities, CLOCA is offering half-price admission on advance afternoon admission tickets on Saturday, March 14.
Advance general admission tickets are available online or at the CLOCA Administration Office at 100 Whiting Ave., Oshawa, during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) at a cost of $7 plus HST per person. Children age two and under are free.
CLOCA officials strongly advise visitors purchase tickets in advance to avoid disappointment.
Only a limited number of general admission tickets will be available at the door at Purple Woods (38 Coates Rd. E., Oshawa) at a cost of $10 including HST per person. Payment by debit or credit card only.
As always, visitors will enjoy a memorable and affordable family experience at the 45th Annual Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival.
Sap collected from more than 800 sugar maple trees is boiled on site into maple syrup and the modern evaporator can be viewed in action.
The festival showcases 400 years of maple syrup history in Ontario through interpretive displays.
The Heritage Hall provides a rustic indoor, heated gathering place to enjoy pancakes covered in 100 per cent maple syrup, and the Heritage Store will be open to satisfy a sweet tooth with maple syrup, maple treats and more.
The festival also offers free hands-on activities, games and crafts for kids and kids at heart.
For $2 per person, one can enjoy fresh maple taffy on ice or for $3 per person, a horse-drawn wagon ride is offered daily (weather permitting) down by the Sugar Shack.
For those who find the trails too challenging or those with physical limitations, a shuttle service for individuals is available. Visitors are asked to inform staff of any requirements when arriving.
According to CLOCA officials, the organization continues to reduce the environmental footprint of festival through the following steps
– There is a cistern on site that captures roof rainwater from Heritage Hall which is used for flushing the toilets at the Hall
– The Heritage Hall building (where you’ll get your pancakes) is made of recycled timbers from a Trenton air base hangar
– The evaporator used to cook the sap is completely air tight, so less energy is used to make the maple syrup
– New for 2020, CLOCA will be eliminating single-use plastic knives and forks, offering a reusable stainless steel option
Visitors can help out even more by bringing and using their own refillable mug.
Purple Woods Conservation Area is located at 38 Coates Rd. E. in north Oshawa, just off Simcoe Street at the City of Oshawa and Scugog Township boundary.