Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
BURLINGTON — Vermonters found a sweet spot during mud season on Saturday with celebratory confections.
For the second year, Runamok Maple and Church Street Marketplace brought Maple Madness to Burlington as part of Vermont’s Maple Open House Weekend.
Attendees enjoyed live music from three bands and free mini pancakes, courtesy of National Honors Society students at Burlington High School. Though the day was cold, a large crowd showed, some warming their hands over fire pits.
As celebrants satisfied their sweet tooth, they also supported winter-fatigued businesses.
“March is typically a really slow time of year for foot traffic and for business,” said Samantha McGinnis, director of the Church Street Marketplace. “Maple is such a huge part of Vermont that it just made sense to both drive foot traffic to the marketplace during a slow time and celebrate something that’s so uniquely Vermont.”
Twenty businesses offered Runamok syrup tastings. Eventgoers wandered from shop to shop, collecting stickers on bingo cards by trying each flavor. Those who finished their card won a Runamok mini maple syrup bottle and a coupon for King Arthur Baking Company pancake mix.
Some flavors were a hit, while others raised eyebrows for some attendees.
Art gallery Frog Hollow had a zingy choice: rum-infused syrup. Gallery assistant Anna Rozelle noted its popularity among adults and kids alike. Josselyn Foley, another gallery assistant, chuckled as she poured out the next round of samples.
“Stickers and rum — can’t go wrong,” Foley said.
At the Runamok tent, a couple waiting to redeem their completed bingo card confirmed that the rum had a kick to it, making it their favorite.
The pineapple syrup offered by Zinnia, a jewelry store, was a little more controversial.
“People either really really like it, or they really really don’t,” said Lindsay Sampson, an employee at Zinnia. She enjoyed hearing people’s ideas for pairings. Her favorite was vanilla ice cream.
People followed their noses to a demonstration by Vermont Evaporator, which sells sugarmaking equipment to small-scale syrup producers. Maple-scented smoke billowed out from the barrel-shaped machine, which held bubbling syrup.
Jessica Gervais and Jason Shepard, who were running the demonstration, said many attendees were surprised to see how the state staple is made.
“A lot of people have no clue about maple syrup,” Gervais said.
“And they have no clue they can make it themselves,” added Shepard.
Others, like a visitor from California, had never tried syrup before but left the event as a fan, Gervais and Shepard said.
After a day of tastings, people burned off the sugar at BurlyAxe Throwing’s activity, which invited people to chuck axes in an enclosed flatbed trailer. Though many an axe tumbled, a few throwers stuck their shots in the targets.
At the Proctor Maple Research Center’s stand, onlookers learned how maple syrup is graded with a digital grader shaped like a purple egg.
All syrup is considered Grade A, according to the official maple syrup standards by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Grade A syrup is split into four distinct categories of depth and color: golden with a delicate taste, amber with a rich taste, dark with a robust taste and very dark with a strong taste.
On Church Street, depth and color were determined by the amount of light that passed through the syrup sample in the egg-shaped device. The device then read out a percentage that placed the sample in the appropriate category.
Maple syrup can be golden or amber, pure or pineapple. But most importantly, it’s something Vermonters have in common.
“It’s such a huge part of our community and our culture here,” McGinnis said, recalling how she grew up visiting Vermont sugarhouses. “It’s a huge part of who we are. So it’s really exciting to be able to celebrate it on the Marketplace.”