Maple Weekend in Simcoe County

Hosted by Partidge and Vandergeest families

Backwoods Maple Syrup is a family run maple syrup producer near Coldwater, Ontario, proudly operated by the Partridge and Vandergeest families.

In 2006 Backwoods Maple Syrup began with just 40 pails and an outdoor fire, and by 2015 had quickly grown to include a custom-built wood & propane evaporator, supporting over 2,000 taps on 20 acres.

Backwoods Maple Syrup is proud to announce that it has acquired a new 120 acre sugar bush, just across the road from the original sugar shack. This new site includes miles of new sap tubing and a new sugar shack that will support our growing business and sugar making endeavors.

Hosted by Kent & Dawn Breedon

Breedon’s Maple Syrup is a first generation, family owned and operated business. They are located south west of Alliston at the edge of Hockley Valley, in Simcoe County. They have been producing quality pure maple syrup since 1995.

Currently they tap about 5000+ maple trees. The sap is collected using about 40 miles of tube networking throughout the bush. With the use of their wood pellet fired evaporator, stainless steel tanks, reverse osmosis system, filter press and a semi-automatic bottling unit, they can proudly say they run an operation that is extremely efficient while proving to be environmentally responsible.

Hosted by Carl Campitelli

Elsie’s Creek is a first-generation, family-owned and operated Maple Syrup producing Farm. They purchased the property in 1987, located in the heart of Simcoe County, beside the Copeland Forest, near Horseshoe Valley. They started producing syrup as a hobby in 2000 and have continually grown over the years and presently have over 1000 taps. Even though they are a smaller producer, they strongly believe in producing maple syrup as pure and natural as possible but one that is extremely full of flavor and worthy of an assortment of ribbons from the Royal Winter Fair! Pay a visit for Maple Weekend where they will have their farm in full operation, with guided tours of the maple bush, the evaporator in action, syrup tasting, pancakes on the griddle, and of course maple syrup products for sale!

Hosted by The Hutchinson Family – Doug, Michele & Orval

Hutchinson Maple Syrup is a family owned and operated maple syrup farm. Orval, Doug, and Michele, with the help of their family, turn the maple sap that flows from their hardwood maple bush into sweet maple syrup to share with you! In 1974 Orval Hutchinson began producing maple syrup in Oro-Medonte using cast iron pots with only 200 taps. From 1975 to 1988, Orval with the help of his family and son, Doug, expanded to 800 taps and moved his operation into a sugar shack with a wood-fired evaporator. Fast forward 23 years later, when Doug and his wife, Michele, purchased a sugarbush on the 5th Line North of Oro-Medonte, it wasn’t long until the evaporator was once again fired up. In 2012, Orval, Doug, and Michele, began making maple syrup as a “hobby”. Because they love to share their sweet maple syrup with everyone, Hutchinson Maple Syrup has grown from 300 taps flowing into buckets, to now over 1600 taps with the maple sap flowing through a high vacuum system right into their new sugar shack.

Bring your boots and come visit them at their brand-new sugar shack. Walk through their trails and let them show you how to make maple syrup from the tree right through to the bottle and taste the flavour of their fresh 2024 maple syrup!

Hosted by The Beers Family

In the small town of Uhthoff in Severn Township (just 13 km from Historic Downtown Orillia), you’ll come upon Maple Grove Syrup. Within this 50-acre sugar bush of towering maple trees, they produce 100% pure maple syrup on a traditional wood-fired evaporator. Their trees have produced high-quality maple syrup for generations.

They started producing maple syrup with 50 buckets and a large open fire. Today, the renovated sugar camp has a large Dominion and Grimm evaporator, and operates with 1500 taps but still does it the traditional way.

Hosted by Greg & Nadina Bray

Family run operation with 1500 taps located in the Town of Innisfil, Maple Heights is a family-centered farm where they have chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese living a natural life of foraging and frolicking in the fresh air. They have several acres of maple sugar bush where they mainly use a pipeline sap collection system. They love to have visitors to their sugar shack in the early spring to see how they produce delicious pure Canadian maple syrup in their wood-fired evaporator that allows for a hint of wood smoke in the finished product. They are committed to producing high-quality local products, such as their pure maple syrup, that will help grow their community and county in a positive and healthy way.

Hosted by Thomas and Terri-Lynn Shaw.

Welcome to Shaw’s Maple Syrup who have been tapping their forest every year since 1904; many of those original trees still producing their liquid gold today! Each year, starting February 16 through to April 22, the tradition continues with families visiting for the annual spring celebration. The warm Pancake House serves up tasty treats to fuel a walk through the bush. And with 4,500 trees all connected with tubing they collect around 180,000 litres of watery maple sap each season. On weekends they have horse-drawn wagon rides through the trails which recreated the way they collected sap until the late 1960’s. If the weather’s been “just right” you will be able to watch and smell the sweet sap boil away through the evaporator.

Hosted by The Ellsmere Family

Welcome to Steamy Kettle Sugar Bush. The Ellsmere family has been making Maple Syrup since the early 1840’s and has produced syrup since 1913. Originally, their Sugar Bush produced maple syrup in an old-time fashioned way with taps and buckets and collected sap by hand, but in 2018 they changed their sap collecting process to a modern pipeline system with vacuum collecting in their collection tank in the sugar house. Walk through their sugar house to see the tanks, filter press and bottling process. Take time and walk on a self-guided tour through the 25 acres of sugar bush to see how the maple syrup process begins; making your way through beautiful trails, seeing the tubing lines that lead to their sugar house. When you arrive back at the sugar house you can walk through and see the process of making pure maple syrup from tree to table, for you and your family.

Hosted by John and Suzanne Williams

John spent his teenage years helping his parents make syrup from 130 taps. That early experience created a passion for maple syrup and it brought him back to making syrup in 2001.  Now they have 3400 taps in 55 acres of maple bush located on the edge of the Wye Marsh, just south of Midland. The trees produce thousands of litres of sap each day during the season. Pipelines bring the sap to two collection points and the 4000-litre tanker pulls the sap to the sugar house. The heart of their system is a modern wood-fired evaporator fed by a reverse osmosis machine. Come and see it and the 150-year-old barn which houses it. Feel the heat of the wood fire on your face as they stoke the evaporator. Taste warm, fresh syrup and melt a soft maple candy in your mouth. Take a trip to the sugar bush and watch the sap pour into the tanks. Don’t forget to buy your supply of fresh syrup!

Hosted by Peter & Anne Lorriman

Windlee Farms Maple Syrup is a family owned and operated craft maple syrup producer located in Tiny. Maple syrup has been produced from the sugar bush at Windlee Farms for over 30 years. The property spans over 150 acres, with approximately 20 acres dedicated to the sugar maple bush. Come taste pure maple syrup, smell it boil, and learn how maple syrup is made, from tree to bottle. This is what Maple Weekend is all about at Windlee Farms Maple Syrup. Explore the trails and take a wagon ride to the sugar bush to see the miles of pipeline and listen to the arborist in the maple bush.