Week’s weather delay doesn’t diminish crowd at Perth Road Maple Syrup Festival

Craig Bakay | Apr 25, 2018

The Perth Road Maple Syrup Festival got postponed a week due to inclement weather but last Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day and people turned out in droves.

“Well, we’re not rushed but it’s been steady all morning,” said one of the organizers, Dave Kuhn (“I’m in charge of a lot of stuff but I don’t have any official title”).

Kuhn said the festival, which consists of a pancake breakfast, bake sale, raffles and various displays, including Bill Votary’s sugar bush, etc, has been going on since 1991 but “it’s gotten bigger in the last 10 years.

“We’re really blessed in that Bill provides the syrup for the breakfast.

“Some other guys provide other things and we get a lot of support from the community when we do things.”

The festival is a fundraiser in support of the Sunday School Hall but “the greatest part is all the people involved,” said Kuhn.

“I think the first one was in ’85,” said Vera Shepherd, another organizer. “We used to go through 100 pounds of pancake mix but I couldn’t tell you how much we’ve used this year.

“However, we have 15 cases of sausages and there’s 12 pounds in each one.”

She said the bad weather the previous weekend may have been a blessing in disguise.

“People were getting sick of being shut in,” she said.

Next door, the Leland Ladies Group were selling pies and crafts just like the grandmothers of the current group were doing 60 years ago. They went through close to three dozen pies.

No doubt they’ll sell plenty more next Saturday when the annual craft and bake sale sponsored by the Sunday School Hall committee goes on.

And then, on July 21, it’s the famous Giant Pie Sale which regularly features more than 200 pies for sale.

Doors open at 9 a.m. but there’s usually a lineup forming well before that.