🍁 Maple Weekends: 12 Sweet Sugar Shacks Near Rochester

New York State Maple Weekends are March 18-19 and 25-26, 2023.

New York State Maple Weekend is a series of events held each spring to honor the tradition of maple syrup production. During these two weekends, local maple syrup producers open their doors to the public, offering tours of their operations and tastings of their delicious, amber-colored syrup.

Visitors can learn about maple syrup production and even participate by tapping trees and collecting sap. In addition to touring sugar houses, many maple syrup weekends also feature live music and pancake breakfasts.

With the warm atmosphere and mouthwatering maple treats, New York State Maple Syrup Weekends are a delightful way to experience our maple heritage. Enjoy some of my favorite places to celebrate!

Start enjoying fresh maple syrup in February at Cartwright’s Maple Inn

Cartwright’s Maple Tree Inn

Angelica

The 2023 season will run from February 7 through April 8, serving all-you-can-eat buckwheat pancakes with 100% pure maple syrup.

The Maple Tree Inn has been serving pancakes and maple syrup since 1963, but the Cartwright family’s syrup production dates back to the 1850s. After several setbacks, including the burning down of their sugar shacks, Ronald and his wife Virginia decided to build a new one and a restaurant in 1963.

The Maple Tree Inn has undergone numerous renovations and expansions, and the family also runs a large dairy farm. In 2006, they became the first syrup producer in the US to own a state-of-the-art evaporator, and they acquired a new reverse osmosis machine in 2015.

Despite its remote location, the Maple Tree Inn has attracted customers worldwide. Ronald passed away in 2004, but Virginia upholds the restaurant’s traditions.

New York Maple Weekend Events

Shadow Hill Maple Syrup

Ontario
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

March 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, and 26
8:30 a.m–4 p.m.

Come and enjoy our all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast with our pure maple syrup, then browse our large variety of maple products to sample and buy. In addition to all grades of maple syrup, we also have maple granola, maple covered nuts, maple cotton candy, maple hot sauce, maple barbecue sauce, maple mustard, maple cream, infused maple syrup and bourbon-aged maple syrup.

Our sugarhouse is conveniently located in the center of the sugarbush, allowing you to walk out the door and see sap being collected first hand. Enjoy a stroll along our well-manicured trails that stretch almost a mile long. This is a great family event enjoyed by all ages, and is completely accessible.

Packard Valley Farms

Macedon
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

The horse-drawn wagon rides, sugar shack and bush tours, petting zoo, and pony rides are open 10 a.m.–4 p.m. all four days. Enjoy a tractor ride between the farm and the Log Cabin Restaurant for a pancake breakfast with Packard Valley Farms maple syrup.

Kettle Ridge Farm

Victor
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

March 18, 19, 25 & 26
9 a.m–2 p.m.

With indoor seating for approximately 140 people in their heated barn, enjoy a selection of hearty maple-inspired breakfast foods.

Bring your own chair to relax by one of the outdoor fire pits after sampling maple products to take home. Be sure to check out their sugarhouse demos.

Keyes’ Trout Brook Sugarhouse

Honeoye Falls
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

Open house from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. both weekends. Stop by the Alpaca farm to pick up pure NY State maple syrup and alpaca fleece. Open 7 days a week for pick up of online orders. Phone and email orders also accepted. Call (585) 624-5648 or email us at info@troutbrooksugarhouse.com to schedule an order for pickup.

Timber Trails Forest Farm

Canandaigua
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

Our family owned working farm in the heart of the Finger Lakes produces one hundred percent pure maple syrup using sustainable forestry and agricultural practices. Located in the Bristol Hills, where long valleys rise to tall ridges over one thousand feet high, our rich forest creates an ideal location for cultivating high quality products. We welcome you to come taste, learn, and interact with the environment to see where your food is made.

Open 10 a.m.–4 p.m. both weekends, you can tour our 625-square-foot timber-framed Sugar House and learn about the traditional wood-fired method of making maple syrup. Try Amber, Dark, and Bourbon-Barrel Aged Maple Syrup.

Genesee Country Nature Center

Mumford
2023 Maple Weekends

As part of the Genesee Country Village and Museum Nature Center, the sugarhouse is a working facility where sap is collected from the on-site sugarbush and turned into real New York maple syrup. During the Maple Sugar Festival, visitors can observe the wood-fired evaporator, learn about turning sap into syrup, and purchase maple products from the Flint Hill Store.

In addition to visiting the sugarhouse, guests can also journey back to the 19th century to see the techniques and tools used by early settlers to collect sap and make maple sugar. Costumed historical interpreters will guide visitors through the sugar bush and surrounding trails, explaining the process of boiling clear sap into a thick syrup and hardening it into maple sugar. Guests can also explore a 19th-century sugar camp by walking through the wintry woods. Enjoy this unique opportunity to learn about the rich history of maple sugaring in New York State.

Cumming Nature Center

Naples
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

Join us during the last two weekends in March for our 45th annual Maple Sugaring Weekends. Visitors can enjoy steaming-hot stacks of locally-sourced pancakes inside the nature center before heading outdoors for trail demonstrations that explore the science of sap and the long cultural history of tapping maple trees in our region. Your walk will end at the sugar shack, where you can see first-hand the process of boiling sap down to syrup and take a sip of nature’s tastiest sugar.

Enjoy a locally-sourced meal with all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, and drinks. All served with real maple syrup, of course! Each pancake breakfast ticket includes admission to the Nature Center and the trail demonstrations.

We source our ingredients from Finger Lakes favorites like New Hope Mills, Bostrom Farms, Pittsford Farms Dairy, Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters, and Red Jacket Orchards. Gluten-free and vegan options are available upon request.

The dining room will be open from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. each day, and guests will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Humphrey Nature Center

Letchworth State Park
2023 Maple Weekends

Head to Letchworth to participate in maple-related activities, including demonstrations of Iroquois stone boiling, iron pot fire pit boiling, and modern evaporator techniques. Park Naturalists will lead hourly walks featuring maple tree identification, tree tapping, and more. Pancake breakfasts will be available for take-out purchase from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., thanks to the Friends of Letchworth State Park.

In addition, you can enjoy Maple SAPturdays in February and March.

Helmer Nature Center

Irondequoit
2023 Maple Weekend Schedule

March 18 & 19
10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Join Helmer Nature Center for our annual Maple Sugaring offerings! This year we are combining all maple programs into one weekend with maple sugaring tours and an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. Join us on March 18 and 19 for our pancake fundraiser breakfast from 10 a.m.–1 p.m., then join a maple sugaring tour offered on the hour from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. (last tour begins at 2pm). Tours will be filled on a first come, first serve basis; space is limited and no registration is required.

Pancake breakfast includes all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, coffee, juice, and REAL maple syrup made at Helmer. Cost is $10 per person, children ages 3 and under are $5 each.

Maple Sugaring tours will include a stop at our evaporator to see how sap is made into syrup and a hands-on hike to tap a maple tree. Cost is $5 per person, HNC members and children ages 3 & under are FREE.

Schoff’s Sugar Shack

Victor
2023 Maple Weekends Schedule

Schoff’s Sugar Shack will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Enjoy a pancake breakfast at the Victor Village Inn 9 a.m.–noon on Sunday, March 19 and 26.

Wolf Maple Products

Middleport
2023 Maple Weekend Schedule

Wolf Maple Products will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come see, smell, and taste your way through the sugaring process. Weather permitting tram rides to our sugarbush, petting zoo, demos, and displays. Lots of maple goodies and concessions.

Maple Weekends are a prime opportunity for farms to sell maple syrup and other maple-inspired products, and offer a schedule of activities that likely include:

• Walking through the sugar bush to see maple trees tapped with spiles, using buckets or bags for collection.
• Learn to identify maple trees suitable for tapping (species and age are significant!)
• Learn about the logistics for getting sap to the sugar shack.
• Learn about the temperature required for the sap boil and the water evaporate.
• Learn about old-fashioned techniques and modern technological advances in food and tree safety and quality (reverse osmosis, vacuum pumps, UV lights, tubing systems).

Did you know that Maple Syrup is entirely a North American product?

New York, Vermont, and Ontario, Canada, are the prime commercial locations that harvest maple tree sap to produce syrup. One of the best ways to enjoy maple syrup is by pouring it over a stack of pancakes. Use maple syrup to flavor food and drinks, such as cotton candy, ice cream, BBQ sauce, milkshakes, mustard, scones, cheesecake, popcorn, hot chocolate, baked beans, and sugar on snow.

Where is your favorite place to visit during New York State Maple Syrup Weekend?

Your insights and experiences are valuable. Please share them in the comments.