Scores of visitors flocked to Indian Lake State Park for the annual Maple Syrup Festival on March 21 and 22, an event which featured live music, vendors, trackless train rides through the campgrounds, kids activities and, of course, pancakes topped with maple syrup made right there on the grounds of ILSP.  

The Maple Syrup Festival is now in its 39th year, so the staff at ILSP knows all the ins and outs of turning maple sap into maple syrup.  

Assistant Park Manager Renee Metzger said the maple tree sap starts to flow in late winter when the air temperatures are above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. Small taps or spigots called “spiles” are hammered about two inches into the south (and most productive) side of the maple trees, which are then attached to hoses to allow the sap to drain into buckets.  

Once each tree gives up a few gallons of juice while the weather remains favorable, the spiles are removed with the trees going unharmed and about their business until they will be tapped again next winter. 

The staff tapped 40 red, silver and sugar maple trees located on the ILSP grounds and collected 360 gallons of sap in late February when the air temperatures were favorable for the flow.  

The sap then went into an evaporator where the liquid was boiled, releasing large amounts of steam as the water was removed. While the steam rolls, sap was continuously poured into the evaporator until the temperature of the fluid reached a point just hot enough to remove the water, but remained cool enough not to burn the sugars in the syrup. Out of the 360 gallons sap collected this year, the ILSP staff were rewarded with about five-and-a-half gallons of genuine state park-to-table maple syrup. 

“We shoot for a temperature of 219 degrees,” Metzger said of the homegrown syrup as she demonstrated how the evaporator works. “At 219 degrees, it’s done.” 

Once removed from the heat, the syrup is strained through cloth to remove any “sugar sand” and bottled before being served. 

Metzger and naturalist Audrey Definbaugh were on hand Saturday morning demonstrating both modern and ancient methods for making maple syrup. The ILSP staff uses a large gas-operated evaporator for the big jobs, but also demonstrated how smaller batches can be made with a turkey fryer, noting that both of these methods should be used outdoors as the great clouds of steam that rise from the brew while it boils tend to be sticky, which is OK on a pancake, but not so great on the ceiling of your kitchen. 

Native Americans and early pioneers had it tougher, having to use pots or kettles over open wood fires to boil off the water and use their best guess method as to the temperature of the syrup. 

As for the over five gallons of maple syrup that was harvested this year, it didn’t make it through the weekend. Every drop of it ended up as small taste samples or on top of a stack of pancakes in the visitors hall.  

If you missed out this year, plans are already being made for the 40th annual Maple Syrup Festival in 2027.