Andover Lions are preparing for the 44th annual Maple Festival. The Lions will be selling their syrup as well as maple products from a number of other local producers during the annual Maple Festival April 2 & 3, 2016 at Andover Central School. In days gone by many farmers tapped the sugar maple trees to boil down the sap to make delicious maple syrup. Today there are fewer producers. Despite labo
r saving advances in the process, it is still a tremendous amount of work. Typically 40 gallons of say are needed to produce a single gallon of syrup. When the Andover Lions Club first began their Maple Festival in 1972, the maple lined streets of the Village of Andover were seen as a maple bush that could be used to demonstrate the process to the public. The trees are on the streets near the school are tapped with traditional collection buckets and boiled down at the sugar shack that the Lions operate on the grounds of the Blessed Sacrament Church on Elm Street. Visitors are welcome to stop by for a look, a chat, a smell and free taste during the festival. If this gets you mouth watering for something more substantial, a full pancake breakfast is being served 7 AM and on into the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday at the school cafeteria. Sausage and eggs with buckwheat pancakes topped with real, locally produced maple syrup will be prepared by the Rod and Gun Club. Maple products by local producers and buckwheat pancake flour will be on sale at the Maple Room, along with many other food vendors for lunch, snacks and dinner.
