Conboys’ Maple Weekend cancelled, store still open

Craig Bakay | Mar 18, 2020

Another popular event in the area has been cancelled.

The Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association has decided not to hold Maple Weekend this year, in response to provincial recommendations regarding public gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 10 syrup producers in Lanark, Frontenac and Leeds and a Thousand Islands who were planning to participate. George and Darlene Conboy and family of Bell Line Road near Sharbot Lake was one of them.

“(Cancelling the event) is going to impact our business for sure,” George Conboy said Tuesday. “It’s been a good event for us (but) just how much of an impact remains to be seen.

“We’re still open as far as that goes and people can still come to the farm (5959 Bell Line Road) to buy syrup but we’d prefer they don’t come if they’re sick.”

He said their products are still available at a variety of locations including Mike Dean’s Grocery, Gray’s Grocery, Pharmasave, Seed to Sausage and Local Family Farms in Verona.

He said syrup-wise, it’s been a pretty good year so far.

“But we’re only about half-way through so far,” he said. “This (covid-19 pandemic) is quite the thing, isn’t it?

“It certainly makes people realize we’re not in charge of things.”