19-03-2025
Sweet relief arrives this spring with events celebrating Vermont's maple-syrup season
You can have your Daylight Saving Time or your dwindling snow banks or your red-winged blackbirds or your sprouting daffodils. Vermonters know the real first sign of approaching spring is when they hear the words 'the sap is running.'
Sugaring season hits the senses hard. The sugar house gives off sweet scents and warm vibes as that maple-tree goo gets boiled down into syrup. And of course the taste buds celebrate the rite of spring by tasting that nectar with everything from pancakes and waffles to candy and creemees and that curious tradition known as sugar on snow.
Events to celebrate the occasion of maple season get started this month and stretch into April. Here are a few options to choose from, free unless otherwise indicated:
Saturday, March 22-Sunday, March 23, the two-day Spring Maple Open House Weekend sees maple producers statewide throwing open the doors to their sugarhouses and welcoming visitors to the sights, smells and tastes inside. Maple syrup is not just some fun, feel-good symbol of Vermont; according to the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association, the state still leads the nation as the top maple-producing state, with more than 3 million gallons processed in 2024 – more than half of the nation's entire production.
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, March 22, activities on Spring Maple Open House Weekend include 'Maple Madness,' an event on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington featuring live music, butter sculpture, maple samples and other giveaways and treats.
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 19, the Kingdom Maple Festival in St. Johnsbury begins from 8-10:30 a.m. with a pancake breakfast, followed from 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. by a yard sale and bake sale featuring maple products; 10 a.m.-3 p.m., a Sweet Street Fair including local music on Railroad Street; 10 a.m.-3 p.m., guided tours of St. Johnsbury Distillery ($5-$10); 10 a.m.-1 p.m., the St. Johnsbury Farmers Market; and from 1-5 p.m., a maple history bus tour of St. Johnsbury and North Danville led by maple-industry historian and author Matthew Thomas ($100).
Friday, April 25-Sunday, April 27, the Vermont Maple Festival sprawls over three days in St. Albans with highlights including, at 7 p.m. Friday, April 25, a concert by Americana musician Chris Staples at the St. Albans Museum, which from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 26 is hosting a special maple exhibit ($20 for concert, free admission to museum); from 7 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 26-Sunday, April 27, a pancake breakfast at St. Albans City School presented by the Swanton-Missisquoi Valley Lions Club ($6-$11; free for ages 4 and under); from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, April 26, a maple beverage tasting at 14th Star Brewing; and at noon Sunday, April 27, the Vermont Maple Festival parade.
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Maple syrup in Vermont: Events to celebrate sugaring season statewide
