The maple sap is running and Darke County Parks’ volunteers and staff have been busy boiling in the sugar shack making sweet maple syrup! Freezing nights and thawing days cause the sap to move, bringing the syrup one step closer to your table. Purchase Darke County maple syrup from the nature center gift shop beginning March 4th.
This year, the Friends of the Parks’ Waffle Breakfast returns on March 4th and will be served 8am-noon! Breakfast will be held in the Nature Center at Shawnee Prairie Preserve and includes all you can eat waffles, a sausage patty, juice, and coffee. Drizzle your waffles with some delicious Darke County maple syrup. Adult tickets for the waffle breakfast are $8, children ages 3-9 are $4 and under 3 years old is free. Carry-out is available. Extra sausage can be purchased for $1.50 more. Tickets are available at the door on the day of the breakfast or presale tickets may be purchased at the Nature Center.
On March 4th, Park naturalists will also offer guided tours, from 8:00am-12:30pm, where you can learn the history and science of maple sugaring. After an educational tour through the woods, visit the sugar shack, and warm up in the steam-filled evaporator room as the sap spends countless hours on a boil to reduce it down to syrup.
Complete the day at the Nature Center where the gift shop and bake sale will be full of maple goodies fit for any sweet tooth!
For more information, call the Nature Center at 937-548-0165