Experience Maple Season in Simcoe County!

Experience Maple Season in Simcoe County!

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As winter loosens its grip and spring starts flirting with the landscape, Simcoe County wakes up to one of Canada’s sweetest seasons – maple season. This is the moment when the sap starts flowing, and everything feels just a little warmer, stickier, and tastier.

Maple syrup runs deep in Canadian tradition and is a unique experience to see from tap to taste! Luckily, Simcoe County is the perfect spot to get outside this spring and discover maple themed events and festivals!

Tap into Maple

March 6 – April 5, North Lake Simcoe

Tap Into Maple invites you to slow down, breathe in the fresh forest air, and follow the sweet scent of maple syrup down scenic country roads and winding woodland trails. This experience is part education, part indulgence, and 100% delicious, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how maple syrup goes from tree to table…with plenty of sampling along the way.

Stroll through peaceful sugar bushes as producers share the age-old magic of turning clear sap into liquid gold. Step inside cozy sugar shacks where the air smells like caramelized heaven, the stories are as rich as the syrup, and samples are strongly encouraged. Whether this is your first maple season or a long-standing family tradition, Tap Into Maple has a way of making everyone feel right at home.

Food lovers, consider this your calling. Local cafés, bakeries, and restaurants lean fully into maple season with creative dishes and drinks that blend sweet and savoury. Think maple-infused comfort foods, indulgent baked goods, warm beverages, craft brews and unique cocktails designed to take the chill off early spring days and maybe convince you to order seconds.

Shopping local is part of the fun, too. Throughout Orillia & Lake Country, markets and boutique shops showcase maple treats, handcrafted goods, thoughtful gifts, and maple-inspired art. Many sugar bushes offer roadside farm stands or partner with local retailers so you can bring home freshly made local syrup. Every purchase supports producers and helps keep this iconic Canadian tradition thriving.

And while you are busy tasting, learning, and embracing your inner maple enthusiast, why not turn your visit into a full getaway? Book a stay and explore everything maple and beyond in Orillia & Lake Country. From lakeside and forest accommodations to charming downtown shops, scenic trails, and memorable dining, this region is made for spring escapes. Whether you are planning a girls’ weekend, a friends’ getaway, a family outing, or a peaceful solo adventure, you will find spring starts sweeter here.

At its heart, Tap into Maple is about more than syrup. It’s about reconnecting with nature after a long winter, with the people who matter most, and with a region that values community, sustainability, and inclusiveness.

So come hungry. Come curious.
Tap into the season and experience Maple Country in OLC.

Sweet Water Harvest Festival

March 28 & 29, Heart of Georgian Bay

This two-day festival, located in the Heart of Georgian Bay, celebrates the long standing tradition of harvesting and processing maple sap. Attendees will be treated to a full day’s worth of memorable maple experiences and sweet treats as they journey across two unique sites in both the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre and neighbouring Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons.

Beginning at Sainte Marie Among the Hurons take home a local treasure at the Artisan Market, relive history through story-telling and reenactments, and experience sap (or ‘sweetwater’) as it was used in the region through the eyes of both the French and Wendat.

At the Wye Marsh, explore the sugar bush, tour the sugar shack as we boil sap down to syrup, take in live entertainment and unique maple-inspired food, and enjoy a range of engaging family-fun activities for all ages as 3,000 acres of forest and wetlands comes to life during the spring thaw!

Use promo code SWSIMCOE26 to receive 15% off admission through Eventbrite!

Maple Weekend

April 4 & 5, across Simcoe County

Maple Syrup producers across Ontario open their sugar shacks for a special weekend event where visitors of all ages can taste the freshest maple syrup of the season!

Ontario maple syrup producers make some of the best syrup in the world and during Maple Weekend they show you how it’s made. Across Simcoe County, producers open their sugar shacks and sugarbush trails for a special weekend where visitors of all ages can taste the freshest maple syrup of the season! Enjoy pancake breakfasts, sugarbush trails, sugar making demonstrations, taffy on snow, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and more.

Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival

April 25, South Georgian Bay

For over 54 years, the Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival has been welcoming spring with a maple celebration in Springwater! This family-fun event brings together maple syrup producers from across the region to showcase their fresh product alongside food vendors and loads of activities. Including a pancake-eating contest, log sawing competition, unique arts and crafts, and free bus to a sugarbush tour to see first-hand how maple syrup is made. Welcome to Elmvale – sweet by nature!

Check out these maple events and more!