Maple Syrup Festivals
Looking for signs of spring? Early March ushers in maple syrup season in Iowa.
Sap can be harvested from maple trees when temperatures rise to the 40s during the day and cool into the 20s at night. Help prepare Iowa's maple trees for "sugaring season" at one of these maple syrup festivals:
Maple Tree Tapping
Botna Bend Park, Hancock
Saturday, March 2 - Drill your own tap, learn the process of making maple syrup. Come back in August to taste the syrup you harvest.
Maple Syrup Day
Iowa Arboretum, Madrid
Saturday, March 2 - Join students from ISU as they demonstrate how to tap trees and cook maple sap. Pancake breakfast is included.
Maple Syrup Festival
Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar Rapids
Saturday, March 2 & Sunday, March 3 - Experience making maple syrup from start to finish and visit educational stations depicting historic syruping methods. Pancake breakfast included.
Maple Syrup Festival
Hartman Reserve Nature Center, Cedar Falls
Saturday, March 2 & Sunday, March 3 - Tap a sugar maple tree, watch maple syrup processing and eat all the pancakes you want.
Maple Syrup Festival & Pancake Breakfast
Greens' Sugar Bush, Castalia
Saturday, March 30 & Sunday, April 7 - Pancakes, sausage and all the extras. Fresh maple syrup, bulk syrup available (bring your own containers). Wagon and pony rides.