If you’re only familiarity with maple syrup is from buying a bottle in the store to lap up with your pancakes or waffles, you and your family are missing out on an educational treat!
Each year when the weather breaks, McCloud Nature Park near North Salem, Ind., in northwestern Hendricks County, becomes the epicenter for all things maple syrup, except their Maple Sirup Days festival is spelled a little differently, but that’s by design.
Sirup is the old-fashioned spelling referring to the pure way of making the liquid with no sugar added. Today, most of the maple syrup you find in grocery stores is the processed version with sugar and preservatives to give it a longer shelf life and the slightly different and more common name. But regardless of how it is spelled, this amazing, educational, family-friendly event is well worth the trip as participants experience how this sweet treat was created back when the early settlers learned the technique from the Native Americans. Watch demonstrations and participate in hands-on activities over two Saturdays from 9am — 4pm Feb. 28 and March 7. You can even try McCloud’s sirup during their pancake breakfast fundraisers each of those Saturdays by reservation only. Call the parks office at 317.718.6188.
Maple Sirup Days
9am –4pm, Feb. 28 & March 7
McCloud Nature Park, 8518 Hughes Road, North Salem
Hendricks County Parks website:HendricksCountyParks.org
Parks Department contact: William Roche, wroche@hcparks.netor 317. 718.6188
Contributed by Visit Hendricks County
