• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

4/5

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

rate this trip

It’s that time of year again where trees get tapped and maple syrup gets made; and nothing says “Canadian spring” to me like hitting up the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival in Whitchurch-Stouffville. I go annually with my friends – and even though it’s typically a family festival and we’re past our university days; there’s still a little kid in me that has a blast every year. I also love taking the trip to Stouffville!

We start off our morning the “right” way by heading straight for the pancake house. Once inside, I gorged myself on three delicious pancakes and three sausages – all drowned in locally made maple syrup, of course.

Now fully stuffed, we decided to take a horse-drawn wagon ride through a small portion of the woods, and then headed over to the petting zoo where we purchased some ice cream cones filled with feed and spent a good fifteen minutes giggling as goats and ponies nuzzled our hands to eat. One particularly daring llama tried to snatch my empty ice cream cone right out of my hand when I wasn’t looking.

By this point, the next guided walk was about to leave so we joined in. I always learn something new on the walk; for instance 85% of the world’s maple syrup comes from Canada, and it takes 40 buckets of sap to make just one bucket of maple syrup! As an added bonus, at the beginning of the walk you’re invited to try some sap dripping into a bucket (it tastes like slightly sweetened water), and near the half-hour mark you get to actually drink some maple syrup. Of course, the walk conveniently ends in the ‘Sugar Shack’, where you can purchase maple syrup related treats (or a 4L jug of syrup if you’re so inclined!). My favorites are the sugar candies and lollipops.

After our hour-long walk, we decided we had not only worked off breakfast, but that we had also worked up an appetite again, and headed back to the pancake house for a second helping of pancakes to go.

Name: Maple Syrup Festival

Address: 3291 Stouffville Rd, Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON L4A 7X5

Website: Maple Syrup Festival

Over Night: No