Joe Quick of St. Charles, along with his wife and children, elected to enjoy a family outing the first weekend in March by visiting the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles on Sunday for the annual Maple Sugaring Days.
“We’ve never been here as a family, but my wife has. It looks like a great Sunday afternoon activity,” Quick said as he prepared to set up a stroller for his children. “One of my kids is old enough to try the maple sugar and other things.”
Beginning at noon, staff at the forest preserve once again offered families the opportunity to watch naturalists tap into a maple tree as well as try doing it themselves along with a host of other activities.
The two-day event was held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the preserve at 37W700 Dean St. in St. Charles.
Besides the tapping, a maple cafe was offered including hot cider, doughnuts, cookies and ice cream sundaes. There was also a sampling station to try out local maple syrup and a craft area.
Outside, visitors were able to view information about the history of maple sugaring and go on a hike on the grounds.
Warm days and cold nights create the optimal conditions for collecting sap and Barb McKittrick, environmental education manager with the Kane County Forest Preserve District, said she expected a good run during the event given that the recent cold snap was now over.
“We’re expecting a decent amount of sap which should be flowing, and we can collect it and boil it down and make some syrup,” she said before the event last weekend. “The ratio is still 40 gallons of sap produces one gallon of syrup – it is liquid gold.”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Maple Sugaring Days, something that McKittrick called “a big event for us and we wanted to add something extra.”
“We’re doing a couple of new things this year. Most excitedly, we have a craft beer tent that we’re going to have available,” she said. “We worked with our partners at Riverlands Brewing just down the street from us to put together a custom-crafted imperial maple style made with the local syrup that we sell at the festival. They’re going to be serving that with a couple of other beers and we’ll have some music in the tent which is also new this year.”
McKittrick elaborated on the beer option and said that “a lot of festivals are now offering farm-to-table foods and drinks including beer.”
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“With Riverlands right down the street, it’s just a nice partnership with a local brewery,” she said. “Having that maple syrup factor – we already sell foods that incorporate maple including cookies.”
Jessica Sabin of Fox River Grove said she had visited maple sugaring events before but that Sunday was her first in St. Charles.
Like many, she elected to stop in the beer tent and try things out.
“I think having the beer is a good idea. You always have more people when there is beer and they tend to stay longer. I’m constantly looking for something to do when it’s cold and I saw this,” Sabin said. “I tried the beer and it’s very maple-y. I’d put it on desserts, actually.”
Staff on Sunday said the facility broke a single-day record with over 940 people on Saturday alone at Maple Sugaring Days.
Lyndsey Quick said she has come to the maple sugar event before “when I was their age” referring to her children and said, “I remember going to the trees and getting the maple syrup out of there and people showing how they cooked it.”
“Given the ratio of sap to syrup, it makes me appreciate my pancake syrup more – not the fake stuff,” she said.
Bridget Feldpausch of North Aurora came with her husband and children and, like others, said this was the family’s first visit to the event. Both of her daughters took a turn trying to push drills into maple logs to simulate the sap collection process.
“This is a great Sunday activity for the kids. My kids put gallons of syrup on everything,” Feldpausch said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.