Xenia, Ohio---Offering locally made maple syrup with all the trimmings, Greene County Parks & Trails’ (GCP&T) Annual Maple Sugar Pancake Breakfast will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Saturday, March 1, at Bellbrook Middle School, 3600 Feedwire Rd., Bellbrook.
Families will enjoy hot pancakes with maple syrup made at the Narrows Reserve as well as sausage, milk, coffee, tea and juice. Real maple syrup and maple candy will also be available for sale.
Naturalist-led hikes in the Sugar Grove at the Narrows Reserve will be held from 8 a.m. to noon to demonstrate how sap from maple trees is transformed into syrup. Tours will be available throughout the day with a shuttle provided from the school to the Sugar Grove.
Approximately 24 trees are tapped each year at the Narrows Reserve and the park’s sugar camp usually produces about eight to ten gallons of maple syrup.
“We generally place about 60 to 70 taps each year,” says GCP&T Chief Naturalist Cris Barnett says. “It depends on the weather and the health of the trees. We want to make sure we have a healthy sugar grove for a long time and we do let some trees remain untapped if they appear to be stressed.”
Sugaring season can begin as early as late January but usually begins the second week of February and runs through the second week of March.
“We generally like to see temperatures been 30 and 45 with sunny conditions,” she adds.
Cost for the Greene County Parks & Trails Pancake Breakfast is $7 for those seven and older; $4 for those under six.
For more information about the Maple Syrup Pancake Breakfast or visiting the Narrows Reserve Sugar Grove, call Greene County Parks & Trails at 937.562.6440 or email [email protected].