It is maple sugaring time in northern Michigan. Maple Sugaring Days presented by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in partnership with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear offers a variety of activities to get outdoors and learn about the history of maple sugaring.
New this year are two Candlelight Maple Sugaring hikes on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1 from 5-8 p.m. The hike is an approximately onehour hike at the Dechow Farm on M-22 across from Port Oneida Road, four miles north of Glen Arbor. Interpretive stations will tell the story from maple sap to maple sugar along the hike.
The main event of the weekend is Saturday, March 1, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Port Oneida Heritage Center/Olsen Farm and Dechow Farm. The full-day family event allows attendees to experience all of the interpreters showing the process and evolution of making maple syrup from start to finish, including a stop at the sugar shack. After hiking at Dechow, visit the Olsen Farm across the street, to see the final boiling of sap, sugar making, hands-on kids’ games, and maple syrup snow cones. Maple candy, maple syrup, and Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear items will be for sale in the Olsen farmhouse gift shop. If hiking at the Dechow farm is not your pace, a one-stop demonstration is on-going Saturday at the Olsen Farm. Participants should plan on spending 2.5 hours at this event. Those that arrive after 4 p.m. will only have time to takepart in the activities at one site. Parking is available at each farm in a snow-plowed field near the farmhouses. Participants can drive and park at each site or follow the groomed path to cross M-22. These events are free for the public with a park entrance pass, or an annual pass displayed in your vehicle. If there is snow or ice, attendees are encouraged to bring trekking poles, or snowshoes for the hike at Dechow farm. Snowshoes will be available to borrow on a first-come, firstserved basis. Dechow Farm: 3991 W Harbor Hwy, Olsen Farm: 3164 W Harbor Hwy, Part of the festivities is the annual Maple Sugar Days Community Pancake Breakfast at The Homestead Resort’s CQ’s Cabin, on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Menu includes pancakes, eggs, sausage, potatoes and fruit at $12 per adult, $6 per child ages 6-12, and free for children 5 and under. The breakfast is hosted by the Homestead Resort sponsored by Sleeping Bear Visitor’s Bureau with proceeds benefiting Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear. No reservations are required for the breakfast or any of the weekend’s events.
