Sugar Bush Maple Syrup Festival

I came here for the maple syrup festival at Bruce mills in April 2015. We paid an admission of $ 10 per person including taxes. This was unlike the other maple syrup festivals I have attended in Ontario since it was based in a conservation area. There were no vendors at all. They had a café and a store which sold maple products though they did not have as much variety in the products or the signature festival eats like funnel cakes. Also most other maple syrup festivals don’t have an admission fee.
However, there were quite a few things to do in the park and most of them were directed towards kids. They had a guided tour of a sugar bush which used to be a farm fifty years back. They had a few samples of maple syrup but they weren’t from the same sugar bush. Nevertheless it was interesting to see the history of maple syrup. They also had a tent with animal hides, skulls and bird feathers found in the conservation area.
There was a mini petting zoo, wagon rides and horse riding for kids. Overall, it was an ok experience as an adult, definitely more fun for kids.

Time time time, let’s while away the time. A little petting zoo, pancakes galore and a deeply involved tour of maple makery and what do you know, Sunday is blissfully complete.
This past Sunday a few friends and I trekked (aka drove in the VW) to this maple extravaganza. Being a recent maple liker, this was a great picture into the life of the maple farm, and surprisingly Santa Claus (more to come). Thank goodness I wasn’t driving, I’m honestly not sure where we were. All I know is there was a large gathering of tiny people and their parents, and for $ 8.00 I’m pretty sure I know where Santa spends his off hours.
We started with the zoo, petting and poking many furred four leggers, moving to the pancake house where we sampled their wares, and then onto an hour of the most in depth tour one might need of a maple farm. As a side note it was a little slow, my suggestion is to get together a big group and get a private tour, it appeared a little more catered than the mass tours they give out on the hour.
After being regaled with tales of maple from long ago we went into the «fire room» where the syrup is made from sap. It was here that I spied Santa Claus (spoiler alert). The very same Santa that spends his time a few weeks a year at the Eaton’s centre. No joke, pretty much a great end to a pretty good day.
I found it interesting that while this farm produced very little maple syrup this year, there were farms in Ontario that did fairly well, and they were quite well stocked with various maple wares.
Bottom line… while this place was more kid friendly than adult friendly, it did bring out the child inside and I might just make another trek… in a few years time.

I pretty much loved this adventure. I subscribe to a
group that does AMAZING things and I often steal their ideas and invite my friends to do the same activities just without the meetup group (Dakota Tavern Blues Brunch, Maple Festival, hiking). Does that make me a bad person?
Kat F, Danielle P, Adeel O, Matthew T, Katie B, Darrin, Danielle II and I met at Mercury on Sunday for a coffee before we departed for «a place called Stouffville,» to Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area for the Maple Syrup Festival.
The good:
— The tour was excellent. The guides wear speakers so you can hear them even in a big group. Over 60 minutes we witnessed reenactments of the evolution of maple syrup production from the First Nations birch bucket and log rock techniques to the 3 cauldron system favoured by the Pioneers. I loved this tour.
— There were bags of maple candies that contained 5 candies for $ 1.55. That is just and INSANE value. I bought too many.
— The Illuminati runs the pancake factory. Seriously.
— The petting zoo had a vast selection of animals to pet, from a mule to a llama to a pig. All varieties of lambs sheeps and ewes in between.
The bad:
— There were too many children here (at this childrens festival with a petting zoo and pony rides.) This is clearly marketed as a family event and our cars were the ONLY non-​minivans in the FULL parking lot (there were literally over 200 mini vans there when we arrived at noonish… It was like the Ford Factory used to look in Oaks when they made Windstars.)
— It was kind of expensive. 8 $ a head (my car of 4 was $ 32 to drive in the gates) and we split on the family pancake meal which was $ 20 total. I think entry should be $ 5 for adults. It’s run all by volunteers and we all bought syrup and candy so… It should be $ 5.
— Epic disappointment — no syrup will be produced this year from that farm because the warm weather we had in late February ruined their crop. Fun fact — to make maple syrup the nights need to be below 0 Celsius and the days need to be above 0 or there will be no maple syrup from that year’s sap.
Would I go to this again:
Absolutely. BUT… I would get a bigger group and book a private tour so as not to be hit in the face by children innocently swinging sticks around unsupervised in the forest.

This was an excellent activity and if you hurry over the next two weekends, you can zip up the 404 to Stouffville** Road, just north of Markham, and see for yourself.
The Sugar Bush Maple Syrup Festival runs from March 6 to April 11 every year, and tours take place every hour on the hour, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 3pm. Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area is open year-​round for hikes and other activities. This year’s festival was the 42^nd of its kind!
Once you find parking amid the SUVs (seriously — our car was one of the only non-​minivans/​SUVs in the parking lot), head towards the main area and check out the free petting zoo, filled with goats, sheep, llamas, donkeys and pot-​bellied pigs. I’ll bet you didn’t know that goats are as soft as kittens and that a potbellied pig’s hair is coarse and wiry! All of the animals are very friendly and you can freely pet them as they’ll come up to the edge of the pen to check you out. There are also guided pony rides for $ 3. The ponies looked tired. :(
Then head inside to the restaurant, where you can have a pancake breakfast for dirt cheap — I believe for 4 people it came out to $ 8 for a stack of pancakes, drinks and sausage links with maple syrup, and we couldn’t even finish the pancake plate. If you’re childfree you’ll be in the minority so bring patience and/​or earplugs, maybe steeltoe boots for the inevitability of getting slammed by stroller wheels.
Finally, gather around the firepit for the hourly guided tours and stick to the front so you can hear all of the riveting information that the tour guides share along the walk. Alice, our guide, has been leading the tours for two years and she was filled with fun and quirky facts about the production of maple syrup over the years as well as some interesting dendrological information. Along the way we met Katherine, the First Nations guide who explained the early heating methods for sap and the bartering systems they once employed, Martin, who explained what goes into each step of the process and the way that neighbours once shared the profits from maple syrup production, and Bill, the off-​season Santa Claus, who showed us the modern-​day extraction and production techniques and shared with us that 70% of maple syrup sold comes from Quebec.
In the adjacent shop you can buy maple products like fudge, maple lollipops and other candies and maple syrup tins and glass bottles. I noticed that some of the bottles are the same ones you can buy in the basement at St. Lawrence Market so there was no rush to buy them here.
At Bruce Mill’s Conservation Area there are four types of maple trees, and the sugar maple produces sap that is much sweeter than the other varieties. Most of the trees are not distinguishable other than by the leaves, and the sugar maple leaf is the one that’s on the Canadian flag (who knew??). Speaking of fun facts, maple syrup production is currently only one fifth what it was at the turn of the 20^th century.
The only thing that could have made the tour itself better would be a separate adults-​only tour. As expected there were a lot of SUV strollers not conducive to hiking in the woods as well as toddlers with limited attention spans (recall: 1 hour walk) and questionable walking technique/​supervision.
Guided One Hour Maple Syrup Walk:
Adults — $ 8
Seniors & Kids — $ 6
Kids 4 and under — FREE
Groups of 20 or more, private tour — $ 6.56 (call 416−667−6295 to reserve)
** STOWville