SUGAR BUSH MEMORIES
Maple Syrup Festival brings sweet nostalgia to historic homestead
Sticky fingers ran rampant through John R. Park Homestead over the weekend, but not the thieving kind.
More than a thousand guests wandered around the 19th-century historic farm for the Maple Syrup Festival, learning how to refine tree sap the way pioneers did, and getting a taste of the finished product. For the first time in its near 30-year existence, the popular event spanned two days instead of one to accommodate the hoards of visitors.
“The sap is running, the sun is shining — we’re really pleased,” said Kris Ives, the homestead’s curator and education co-ordinator. She spent a few hours by an outdoor firepit near the 177-yearold house showing passers-by the heat-intensive maple sugar-making process. A frozen Lake Erie was her backdrop.
“It’s one of the first festivals of the year,” she said. “Families are ready to get outside and stretch their legs and have a day in a conservation area.”
Every half-hour, large groups lined up at the snow troughs ready to roll maple taffy onto the clean popsicle sticks they wielded for a gooey treat. Once a homestead staff member poured the hot liquid onto the snow, guests had only a few seconds to gather and eat the amber substance before it hardened in the cold.
“I remember doing this as a kid, and I wanted to bring my kids to have them try it,” said Stephanie Malott, an Essex resident. “It was a good memory.”
Her 10-year-old son, Ethan, who had just popped some taffy into his mouth, said it tasted “very good.” Many adults at the festival recalled visiting the restored property of John and Amelia Park on school field trips when they were young children. Many activities were familiar to them, like stilt walking and the lumberjack challenge of hammering a nail into a wood block in as few strokes as possible. Hatchet throwing and a beard contest also drew attention. “In the Ontario curriculum, grade threes study early settlers,” said Ives. Thousands of children still attend field trips there each year for hands-on learning. “For a lot of people, now their kids are that age, they’re coming back and remembering they’ve been here before, or making new traditions of their own.”
Abbie Hart brought her niece and nephew for the Maple Syrup Festival for that reason.
“It’s nice to see how things were done when life was much simpler,” Hart said while waiting in line to roll taffy.
The smell of burning wood filled the air. “It brings you back to that home feeling. I think everyone should come here and experience this at least once. It’s refreshing.” John R. Park Homestead is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.
It’s one of the first festivals of the year. Families are ready to get outside and stretch their legs.