AUTHOR’S NOTE:  I first attended the Maple Syrup Festival in 2012, which you can read about HERE.

In this year’s experience, I was not able to document the musical entertainment or the maple product store.  If you wish to see it, please check out my 2012 experience.

Thanks!

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After a delicious homemade pulled pork sandwich…

…and strawberry maple cheesecake at the Malabar Farm Restaurant…

…the family and I went down the road to Malabar Farm State Park, where we caught a wagon…

…and rode into the woods…

…to the Maple Syrup Festival.

Trees around us were tapped and either prepped with buckets…

…or with a line system that deposited the sap in a large barrel.

All of that sap eventually made its way to the Sugar Shack…

…a building that festival goers could enter in groups…

…to witness the cooking-down process…

…and sample some freshly made maple syrup.

Just outside the Sugar Shack, there were some historical camp demonstrations…

…where Native Americans took hot rocks from the campfire…

…and placed them in logs filled with sap to cook off the excess water…

…and where early settlers learned that cooking the sap in pots…

…led to the by-product of maple sugar…

…which they gave us to sample.

Also on the grounds, you could find historical info found on signs…

…a cabin housing musical entertainment (sorry, couldn’t stop there this time – read my old review)…

 …and a small section of cabins…

…where you could get a find assortment of grub (including maple syrup items)…

…and enjoy it in a cozy eating area.

You could also explore the Richland County Museum…

…which had historical cooking demonstrations…

…and some delicious cornbread to sample.