Throughout the world, maple syrup from Canada is adored. Most of our syrups are made in the region between Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, which is rich in maple trees, and we produce more sweet syrup than any other nation combined. You will have the opportunity to experience maple syrup’s sweetness at these Maple Syrup Festivals.
Festival Beauceron, Quebec
Every April, the charming Saint-Georges is delighted for two days by the Festival Beauceron de l’érable, which is located just south of Quebec City. Families come together to celebrate Quebec’s long tradition of producing maple syrup and the rest of Canada and the world.
Visit some of Quebec’s most picturesque maple syrup farms in April and fall in love! Don’t forget to take your picture with Erabelle, the festival’s green maple leaf mascot.
Every festival day begins with a pancake breakfast, just like any maple syrup festival worth its salt. Consume copious amounts of the finest maple syrup and fluffy, sweet flapjacks.
Additionally, they don’t just collect sap to make syrup. Purchase locally made maple goods like maple sugar, maple candy, and maple fudge, or watch a taffy maker pour hot maple syrup on snow to make the delectable, gooey tire sur la neige.
Family-friendly events like a super slide and an outdoor show are also offered at the festival. Even the neighborhood fire department joins in the fun, making this festival a hit with little ones.
A President’s Supper and auction, catered by nearby farms, are held annually in addition to the daytime activities. If you want to attend, we advise contacting the organizers ahead of time because there are a limited number of tables available.
Canadian Maple Syrup – Lovely Sweetness Melting Your Heart
Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, Ontario
Ontario’s industry is nothing to sneeze at, even though Quebec may be the undisputed leader in maple syrup production!
Since 1965, a single-day celebration called the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival has been held in Elmira, Ontario. Every spring, tourists from all over the world come to this charming town. Elmira not only hosts this well-known and long-running maple syrup festival, but it also holds the record for the biggest single-day festival ever.
It doesn’t matter what time of year you visit; the town is a hidden gem. It’s a great location for exploring the Elora Gorge, viewing the fall foliage, and visiting the neighborhood Mennonite farmers market.
With fluffy flapjacks dripping in pure, recently harvested maple syrup, start your day off right. They are so well-liked that Flap Jack, the festival’s mascot, was inspired by this delectable breakfast. While supplies last, visitors can fill up on pancakes and sausages, so think about arriving early and joining the locals!
A half-mile long strip of the festival’s outdoor mall is stocked with baked goods and handcrafted items from nearby farmers and artisans. When you need a snack other than the sugar shack’s sweet, pure maple syrup, don’t forget to check with the nearby churches to see if their doors are open. They may be serving hot meals during the day.
Live music is played throughout the festival, and enjoyable competitions, such as pancake flipping contests, are named the best flapjack handler of the year. There are kid-friendly play areas, workshops, local Mennonite performances, and more!
Food in Canada – Maple syrup and others to eat
Atlantic Canada Festival, New Brunswick
The best maple syrup festival east of Festival Beauceron is the Maple Capital of Atlantic Canada Festival, which takes place every year in Saint-Quentin, New Brunswick. Saint-community Quentin’s is supported by their customary maple production, which is located in the Appalachian Mountains of New Brunswick.
The sugar maple trees in Saint-Quentin produce a distinctive sap with a complex sweetness you must taste. Meet up with other fans of the liquid gold to sample, dance, sing, and take tours of maple syrup farms.
The Maple Capital festival typically lasts four days, with a ton of fun each day.
Throughout the festival, live music is played, and attendees can go on guided tours to see how real maple syrup is made. Take advantage of samples and tastings of the distinctive Saint-Quentin maple syrup right at the source!
You can shop for and peruse local artisans’ creations, such as wooden sculptures and handmade textiles, in addition to locally produced maple syrup and maple-flavored treats.
However, the food steals the show as the main attraction. Throughout the maple syrup festival, restaurants and chefs open their doors to serve meals made with regional ingredients. Everyone has a specialty, from pancake brunches to dinners with maple-glazed pork, so make reservations in advance and try them all!
Why Maple Leaf Is A Symbol Of Canada?
Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival
Load up the RV and travel to the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival every weekend from March 12 through April 10, 2022. This annual event offers demonstrations, tastings, and activities galore at not one, but two Ontario locations: the Kortright Centre for Conservation in Woodbridge and the Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area in Stouffville.
Weekends at Bruce’s Mill are jam-packed with entertaining activities and events, such as life-size games, a maze, and the adventure-filled Tree Walk Village that spans the top of the forest. You can also find life-size games, shows, and tastings at Kortright. You can also sign up for the “maple syrup by lamplight” tour, which takes you through the sugar shack and the process of tapping trees in a forest at dusk.
Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival
Would you like more maple syrup? Then travel 100 kilometers northeast of Toronto to Sunderland. One of the biggest festivals in the area is the Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival. This annual festival will return on April 2 and 3, 2022, following a two-year hiatus.
On this action-packed weekend, you can take a bus tour to a nearby sugar shack, ride in a horse-drawn wagon, enjoy live music, and watch pizza-eating competitions and bathtub races. There are also lots of shopping opportunities, a kid-friendly petting zoo, a lawn tractor pull, and (of course) pancakes and syrup.
It’s time to visit the sugar bush now that spring is just around the corner. So load up the RV with warm winter clothing and head for the woods to take part in the venerable Canadian maple syrup festival tradition!
How Is Canadian Maple Syrup Made?
The history of maple syrup in Canada dates back to the country’s first settlers. In fact, the indigenous people of Canada taught the earliest settlers how to make syrup.
Today, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia make up Canada’s top maple syrup-producing region, which supplies more than 70% of the world’s syrup. But how exactly is the sweet treat made?
Maple trees, particularly the sugar maple, are the source of the syrup. The sap of the trees begins to flow every year just as the weather begins to warm up and before the trees bud. In order to gather the sap, it is now necessary to tap or drill a small hole into the tree trunk.
To produce that recognizable, beloved amber liquid, the sugary sap is boiled down. then comes festival season! Canada’s towns and cities celebrate the syrup with competitions, games, music, food, and family-friendly entertainment.
Some Interesting facts about maple syrup
- For 100 years, a maple tree can produce sap that is used to make syrup.
- Before a maple tree is tapped to make syrup, it needs to be around 45 years old.
- One gallon of syrup is made from an average of 40 gallons of sap.
- Despite the fact that there are maple trees on other continents, none of them can match the sweetness of the sugar maple trees in North America.
- The sap is encouraged to flow by chilly nights and warm, sunny days.
- Late in March or early in April, when the trees’ buds emerge, the sap starts to taste bitter.
- The largest maple syrup producer in the world, Quebec, Canada, accounts for three-quarters of global production, or about $141 million USD annually.
