Maple producers looking ahead to spring with annual tree-tapping ceremony

Yahoo

07-02-2025

Even though Somerset County is in the heart of winter, maple producers are already celebrating the oncoming spring.
The annual Somerset County Maple Producers' Association tree-tapping ceremony is at 2 p.m. Feb. 22 at Baer Bros. Maple Camp, 245 Appy Acres Road, Somerset. The camp is owned by Mike and Sherry Lynch.
The ceremony will feature Queen Maple LXXVII Gracie Paulman of Meyersdale and this year's contestants for the maple queen title. Maple King Jason Blocher will officially tap a maple tree. Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell C. Redding will be this year's special guest and speaker.
The event will be held in conjunction with the Pennsylvania State Maple Tree Tapping Ceremony, an event started last year. Association President Everett Sechler of Sechler Sugar Shack, Confluence, said there also will be some state maple officials attending.
More: PennDOT reviewing plans, responses for proposed Route 219 to Maryland completion project
The maple sugar water harvest season happens when the days are warm but the nights are still freezing cold. The maple season could last for eight to 10 weeks, but the sap may run only 10 to 20 days. The season ends when the nights become warmer and the first stages of bud development are on the trees. Each tap yields an average of 10 gallons of sap per season, which boils down to about one quart of syrup.
The association's tree-tapping event was originally deemed as the kick-off to the maple season for area producers. But in the past few years, the maple production has started earlier than usual. Some producers start tapping and boiling sugar water by the end of December. The majority of Somerset County's producers start their seasons by the end of January.
More: Old-Growth Forest Network inducts Klondike Ridge area of Youghiogheny River Lake
"There is truth in what is said (about the season starting earlier)," Sechler said. "But it's been a tradition to celebrate the maple season the last Saturday in February."
The producers have sponsored the ceremony for more than 50 years, he said. There are about 75 members of the Somerset County Maple Producers' Association.
"In those 50 years of celebrating the maple season, I can think of only two times we had to cancel that I know of," Sechler said.
Visitors to the tree-tapping ceremony will be treated to free maple candies, and baked goods will be available.
The Somerset County Maple Taste & Tour is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 1, 2 and 8 and 9, at participating sugar camps. The 78th annual Pennsylvania Maple Festival is set for April 5, 6 and 9-13, in Meyersdale.
Madolin Edwards has been a journalist at the Daily American for 38 years, covering school boards, borough councils, sports and new stories. Contact the Daily American staff writers at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Baer Bros Sugar Camp hosting 2025 tree-tapping ceremony