Maple Syrup Festival April 5 at MacKenzie Environmental Education Center
POYNETTE, Wis. – Free guided tours of a sugar bush, along with demonstrations of how to tap a maple tree for sap and how to make syrup will be featured at a Maple Syrup Festival, to be held Saturday, April 5 at the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center near Poynette.
The event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. also features interpretative talks about how Native Americans and pioneers made maple syrup.
“This is a great way to celebrate the beginning of spring,” said Ruth Ann Lee, lead educator at the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center. “It is a wonderful event to learn about the sugar maple tree and the process of making maple syrup, which is unique to our Wisconsin climate.”
Native American chepotakay
Visitors in a Native American chepotakay, also known as a longhouse, which was the gathering place for the family during the "time of the melting snow" when Native Americans collected sap and made maple sugar.
Participants will have the opportunity to watch home-made ice cream being churned with an antique engine; listen to live, old-time, country music; and take a horse-drawn wagon ride from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition, the live wildlife exhibit, which includes animals native to Wisconsin, and the museums will be open.
An all-you-can eat pancake breakfast, sponsored by the Poynette Optimist Club, will be served from 8 a.m. until noon at the Resident Center Lodge. Refreshments, maple products, and souvenirs will be sold by the Friends of MacKenzie. The Friends will also draw the winners for their raffle at 1 p.m.
Maple Syrup Festival is hosted by the Friends of MacKenzie, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The lead sponsor for the event is Lathrop & Clark, LLC.
The MacKenzie Center is located two miles east of Poynette on County Road CS/Q. For additional information call 608-635-8110.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ruth Lindert at 608-635-8110
