LUCAS – Ohio State Parks’ Maple Syrup Festival herald’s Spring for maple syrup enthusiasts and for those yearning to spend time out of doors as Spring approaches. Horse-drawn wagons carry visitors to the sugar camp; and that’s one of the attractions – the leisurely ride up to the sugarbush, which is the stand of maple trees tapped for their sap.
This year’s festival begins this weekend March 5 and 6 with hours from 12-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and then again on March 12 and 13.
Near the sugar shack visitors meet reenactors who show how Native Americans, and then the pioneers, first boiled maple sap to make syrup. Thenearby sugar shack offers an explanation of modern syrup making as the water content is boiled away and syrup results. Visitors are offered a sample of the syrup.
The sugar shack lies east of Pugh Cabin, a rustic cabin where visitors can grab a bite to eat and purchase syrup and maple syrup candies, books and more. Pugh Cabin was built by James Pugh in 1938 as a year-round retreat.
Behind Pugh Cabin is a small one-room cabin where volunteers from the Richland County Museum tell guests about pioneer life. In front of the cabin, a volunteer demonstrates blacksmithing and hand drilling.
Pure Ohio maple syrup, homemade maple walnut fudge, maple cotton candy, maple popcorn, and other maple products will be on sale during the event, and in the Malabar Farm Gift Shop throughout the season.
Bromfield’s historical 32-room mansion will also be open for tours.
The festival is free. Malabar Farm’s address is 4050 Bromfield Rd., Lucas, Ohio.
