BURTON, Ohio – The maple season doesn’t just start in late winter. The Ohio Maple Producers Association annual meeting and tour will be held Nov. 2-3 in Geauga County.
All local maple producers are invited to attend.
This year’s program will start on Friday morning with a chainsaw workshop. This will be a five-hour workshop devoted to the proper handling and cutting with chain saws. All equipment will be furnished.
The cost of the workshop will be $55 and includes lunch. Registration is limited to 15 people.
Friday’s program also includes a tour of FarMore Farms Clearview Dairy in Claridon Township. This is new dairy facility milking over 400 head of Holstein cattle.
A maple syrup contest, open to association members, will judge syrup in three categories: light, medium and dark.
Friday banquet. The program will continue into the evening at the Lennah Bond Activity Center on the Geauga County Historical Society Century Village grounds. The program will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. followed by an Amish wedding supper at 7 p.m. Proceeds from the meal will go to benefit the Johnson Corners School.
The dinner will include a brief association business meeting, followed by the guest speaker, Chuck Whitney, The Barn Consultant.
A special silent auction of maple memorabilia and collectibles will cap off the evening.
Saturday events. Saturday morning will feature a tour of some local private and public maple sugar camps.
This year’s tour will start 8 a.m. at Holden Arboretum sugar house and continue to Mountain Glen Farm’s sugar house, which is made of field stone.
The third stop will be a sugar house under construction at Sweet Creek Farm, owned by Ed Howell and family. There, producers will have chance to view close up what is involved in designing and laying out a modern syrup making facility.
The final stop will be the sugar camp at the Lake Metro Parks Farmpark and will include lunch.
Registration. The cost of the two-day event will be $30 for the Friday afternoon and evening program and $10 for the Saturday tour, which includes lunch.
Producers can attend either the Friday tour and meeting or the Saturday tour, or both. Registration deadline is Oct. 19.
For information or to register contact the Geauga County Ohio State University extension office at 440-834-4656.
Registration can also be mailed to the attention of OSU Extension, P.O. Box 387, Burton, OH 44021-0387. Make checks payable to the Ohio Maple Producers Association.
