Thurman Maple Days

Three Glorious Weekends
of
Sweet Spring Fun
in Thurman, where nature is a way of life, and sugaring is second nature,
easily found in the Lake George Region

2013
March 9 - 10
March 16 - 17
March 23 - 24

Pancakes served at 190 Valley Road
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

also...

Thurman MapleSugar Party
March 9, 4 p.m.
till all are served, at Thurman Town Hall

Spend the weekend -
Guests staying at The Glen Lodge during Maple Days
will receive money-off coupons to be redeemed at host sites on the Maple Days tour.
Offers subject to terms specified by participating businesses
Make yourThurman lodging reservations today
to get your Sweet Deal Dollars

Download the Adirondack Harvest "Sweet Taste of Local - Maple Madness" rack card.

Free Tours of Thurman Sugarhouses, a Family Sawmill, a Llama Mini-Farm and a Cheese-Making Facility

Thurman Maple Sugar Party (site 7 on the map below)
Thurman Town Hall, 311 Athol Rd., Athol
Saturday, March 9th only, 4 p.m. until all are served
Fighting cancer for over 50 years...

This all-you-can eat sumptuous buffet is crowned with a dessert of genuine jackwax. Serving begins at 4 p.m. and lasts until all are served. $10 adults, $5 for kids 6-11. free for those 5 and under. Info. 518-623-2967, feidenk33@yahoo.com. During the day of the event, call town hall kitchend, 518-623-4050. Join the fun as The Warren County Ramblers perform some good old mountain music.

Jackwax parties have been held by North Country folks forever, and this confection, it has been said, probably originated with the Native Americans.

A Thurman diary written in the 1930s tells of the jackwax party held at Athol Methodist Church, which once stood between town hall and the Harris House. It raised funds for the church, but one year the call went out to help the family of a young local boy stricken by leukemia. The next year, the church had closed and the young boy's life had been lost. Organizers decided to carry on the tradition of hosting the meal, and to donate the funds to the American Cancer Society. This year marks the 54th year that the dinner has been held for this purpose.

Performing at the 2013 Maple Sugar Party are
Hod Ovitt and The Warren County Ramblers.
Seen here, l - r: Kenny Myers, Johnny Mosher, Hoddy Ovitt, Pete Bolster

Tour the Farms
Each weekend, Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Family Fun on Tap

Bring the whole family to visit all the sites! Watch maple syrup being made before your eyes. At three four maple farms, all different, you'll see syrup, maple sugar and candies being made. Wonderful maple treats will tempt your palate, and special activities will fill your day with fun. Sugarhouses will open their doors for touring and tasting, sampling and shopping; Martin's Certified Tree Farm will offer demonstrations of their sawmill operation, showing beautiful grains of the sugar maple, and wood sawed from a tree tapped in bygone days, as well as craft demonstrations and items for sale. Just down the road, find Nettle Meadow Farm, with tasting of goat and sheep cheeses. (Note below Nettle Meadow's time limitations.) On High Street, near the Toad Hill turnoff, stop in at Peru Llama farm to meet (and be kissed by) Critter, and learn more about llamas and also the Heifer Project International. Look below for detailed addresses and descriptions of all the sites and a map showing their locations.

BREAKFAST ANYONE?
Valley Road Maple Farm invites you to come early (9 a.m.) to enjoy a pancake breakfast dripping with...what else?...pure Thurman maple syrup!

JACK WAX !
And don't forget the Maple Sugar Party on March 9th. It's a delectable all-you-can-eat buffet topped off with old-fashioned jackwax for dessert, accompanied by local musicians. Held at Thurman town hall, 311 Athol Road, Athol, NY, it begins at 4 p.m. and lasts till all are served.

Find brochures with maps at each site, at Thurman Town Hall and around the region, or download one on this website. Many visitors use GPS readings, but some just watch for signs.

 

MEET YOUR TOUR HOSTS...

1. Valley Road Maple Farm
    190 Valley Road
www.PersisGranger.com/ThurmanMapleDays.htm.
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sugarmakers Mike Hill and Ralph Senecal host breakfast each morning beginning at 9 a.m. maple sausages from Oscar's, hot, fluffy pancakes with pure maple syrup drizzled over the top! MMmmmmm. They'll keep flipping flapjacks till 1 p.m. Tour the facility, too! Valley Road Maple boils in a state-of-the-art sugarhouse. They have expanded their operation to 3,400 taps on vacuum with reverse osmosis, producing syrup, cream, candy, sugar, maple roasted nuts, maple peanut brittle and maple cotton candy. Valley Road Maple won first place in the Vermont international maple syrup contest for light amber syrup and the 2008, 2009 and 2012, New York State Fair first prize for maple candy. Come see why!

2. Martin's Lumber & Lucyann's Crafts
    280 Valley Road
    www.martins-lumber.com
Gary and Wini Martin have a one hundred-acre Certified Tree Farm with a portable bandsaw mill. Martin's is also the home of Lucyann's Stained Glass Stepping Stones and Paper Bead Jewelry. You can now shop for these items and participate in interactive demonstrations of the crafts in a cozy indoor display room. Intrigued? Reserve a spot now for a.m. r p.m. workshop and make your own earrings! 45-minute class completes the project; cost $10, or, if Sterling Silver findings are used, $15. The Martins carefully manage their woodland resources and will talk to you about silviculture, explaining the principles of sustainable forestry. They will demonstrate operation of their sawmill, and show selectively cut maple that bears the indications of tapping in bygone days. Their displays will include maple boards, showing some of the unique and beautiful grains of the sugar maple, many available as slabs for table or bar construction. Gary's forge will be on display, too, along with some old logging tools.

3. Nettle Meadow Farm
    484 South Johnsburg Road
www.NettleMeadow.com, Noon to 3 only
Nettle Meadow will offer an indoor cheese tasting (ask about Maple Walnut Chevre!) if the weather is bad, and will hand out free booklets about the farm, the cheese, the animals, and the history of the place. Farm tours will be offered if the weather is good. Land at this site has been farmed since John Thurman deeded acreage to the Johnson family, which founded Meadowbrook Stock Farm and ran it for generations. Nettle Meadow is now primarily a goat farm and artisan goat and sheep cheese shop. See, sample and shop their gourmet goodies.

4. Adirondack Gold Maple Farm
    74 Bear Pond Road
www.AdkGoldMaple.com 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Here third generation maple producers operate an old fashioned sugarhouse. They have 700 taps (600 with tubing and 100 in buckets) and a 2' x 6' wood-fired stainless steel evaporator. Come browse the Kenyons' full line of maple products--coffee, tea, cotton candy, cookbooks, and maple donuts--to get your "maple fix" and stock up on gifts for the year. See exhibit by Adirondack Spectral Investigations of paranormal evidence, and browse Native American dream catchers. Family activities are planned at Adirondack Gold Maple Farm for both days of each weekend. "Tapper" will show the kids how to tap, gather sap and boil it. Bring snowshoes to try out, snow permitting. Our "Big Foot" snowshoes will be available. Test your tastebuds with different syrups to see if you can discriminate between grades, and between what is real and what is artificial. Adirondack Gold offers maple recipes, to show you that maple syrup isn't just for pancakes anymore!

5. Toad Hill Maple Farm
    151 Charles Olds Road
www.toadhillmaple.com
The Galusha family has produced pure Adirondack maple products at Toad Hill Maple Farm for more than 40 years. In 2011 they opened their large new timber frame sugarhouse, which included a new energy-efficient process for producing pure maple syrup utilizing a wood-fired evaporator, a reverse osmosis machine and large stainless steel tanks. In stark contrast, see the old cast iron kettle hanging outside, with sap boiling over an open fire. Toad Hill is the largest maple producer in Warren County, gathering sap from more than 3,700 sugar maple trees. Take a tour and see the new maple kitchen where Toad Hill packages the syrup and makes maple cream, candy and sugar. Enjoy samples and browse the expanding list of products in the gift shop, now offering such exotic maple delicacies as cotton candy, popcorn, tea, coffee, cookbooks & some non-maple items like balsam pillows & hats.

5P. Peru Llama Farm
      661 High Street; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Peru Llama Farm will be open on Maple Days for farm tours, kisses from Critter llama, displays about llamas, llama fertilizer, and, teens promoting the Heifer International Project, an organization that works to end hunger and poverty. Games for kids will be led by the teens. Also available, Irv's new book, Breaking the Rules. Please park vehicles on High Street, near Toad Hill Maple sign.

6. Hidden Hollow Maple Farm
    312 Dippikill Road
    518-623-9406, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Two generations of the Wallace family work together to produce pure Adirondack maple syrup, maple cream and delectable maple candies. Old meets new in this operation, with a woodfired evaporator processing sap already reduced by reverse osmosis. Find Dippikill Road just a hop and a skip off Valley or Glen-Athol Road by taking Parker Cross Road (which connects them), and turning NNW onto the road to Hidden Hollow, just beyond the Loveland Road turnoff. Like Hidden Hollow Maple Farm on Facebook.

7. Thurman Town Hall - Maple Sugar     Party, 4 p.m. - ? on March 9. See above

8. The Glen Lodge B & B