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Carolyn
Hollinger and Jillian King served the delicious waffles and
sausage to the hungry
crowd, and Stacy Adkins kept busy washing
silverware all morning.
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Darke County Parks
Maple Sugarin’ a
Success
On Saturday March 5th, Darke County Parks hosted its annual Maple
Sugarin’ at the Prairie Festival in conjunction the Friends of the
Darke County Parks Waffle Breakfast. Over 500 people, including
volunteers and staff, enjoyed the sausage and endless waffle breakfast
with coffee, tea, juice, or milk. The Friends also hosted an extremely
successful bake sale of maple flavored goodies. Fifty volunteers
assisted with the waffle breakfast and festival, making waffles,
serving, bussing tables, taking tickets, staffing the sugar shack, and
much, much more. Roger Van Frank, director of the park district said,
“I am continuously pleased with the event. I enjoy listening to the
cabin fever stories as friends and neighbors reunite after the long
winter.”
Throughout the breakfast and into the afternoon, park staff led tours
illustrating the science, history, and process of making maple syrup,
culminating in a stop at the sugar shack where visitors could see maple
sap boiling down to syrup. A backyard sugaring display also illustrated
the process on a much smaller scale. Despite the threat of morning rain
which never arrived, the park staff was very pleased with the large
number of people venturing out into the damp and chilly morning to
learn more about Ohio’s cultural heritage. After the tour, everyone was
encouraged to meander down the trail to the blacksmith shop and log
house where historical volunteers were treating callers to a taste of
history with samples of onion pie, beef tongue, and life on the
frontier.
Throughout the sugaring season volunteers collected about 850 gallons
of sap from two private locations and boiled that down to 18 gallons of
syrup. Before the festival, about 250 school children also visited the
park to learn about this sweet treat and even sample a little of it.
The park district and Friends would like to thank the following
business for their donations: the New Madison Kiwanis Club for the use
of their sausage trailer and club members to cook sausage, The Butcher
Block and Smokehouse for the discount on sausage and monetary donation,
Winner’s Meats for the beef tongue cooked in the log house during the
festival, and KitchenAid Experience for the new waffle irons donated
last year. The Darke County Park District would also like to thank the
volunteers who donated countless hours helping with collecting and
boiling sap, the waffle breakfast, helping with the school groups, and
doing historical interpretation.
Make sure to mark the calendar for next year’s Maple Sugarin’ at the
Prairie, March 4th, 2017!
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