Sap, Sugar & Syrup-Our First Special Event of The 2011 Season!!

Are you missing GCV& M yet?

We miss you!!!

About this time of year we've all recovered from the hustle & bustle that is our Yuletide in The Country Celebration and we're looking tword our new season. We have many interesting things planned in 2011, the first of which is our Maple Syrup Program, Sap, Sugar & Syrup!
This coming weekend, and for the rest of the weekends in March, the entire museum, including the GCV&M Nature Center will be alive with activites.

1. Journey back in time to our Sugar Camp where you'lll see 19th century style sugaring activities complete with log hewing, spile carving, tree tapping, sap collection and boiling down the sap to syrup and sugar, which will actually be used by our village cooks throughout the season.
   
   Visit the cooper and tinsmith as they make buckets for collecting sap. Kids (and adults) can create a maple leaf tin ornament to take home ($). Along the way, collect puzzle pieces for your Maple Passport and search for the elusive Felicity with a scavenger hunt for kids.

You can also enjoy self guided walks to the sugar bush as well as syrup and food tasting demonstrations in our village kitchens! We're cooking up chili with our secret recipe and you'll  love our maple ices as well as cotton candy made with REAL MAPLE SUGAR-A treat we dare you to try and find anywhere else!!!!

Start your day at the museum off with a  Pancake and Sausage Breakfast 9 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Museum Meeting Center.  ($8 for adults, $6 for youth and free for ages 3 and under) with real maple syrup! Then plan to take home a bit of the maple season with a visit to our museum shops. All of our maple syrup & products are from New York State Maple Syrup Producer, Sprague's Maple Farms.

Maple Baking Contest!!!!

Maple syrup isn’t just for pancakes, of course. It adds exquisite flavor to all sorts of foods, especially baked goods. Test how good your favorite maple recipe is in our Cooking with Maple Contest. The contest will take place March 12, the first Saturday of the program. The prize winners in each category get to spend a day in costume working in the historic village alongside one of our 19th-century cooks. Our cooks take great pride in what they do and this will be an experience the winner will not forget!!!

(Judges for this year's contest are: Dan Eaton of YNN’s Cooking @ Home, François Lachance, plant manager of Churchville’s Star of the West Milling Co.; Karen Miltner, staff food writer for the Democrat and Chronicle; and Sally Santora of the Livingston County News.)

For an entry form click here!

We encourage everyone to enter! There are 4 different categories and 3 different age groups for a total of 12 PRIZES!!!

Admission to Sap, Syrup & Sugar is adults $8/ $6 members; youth $6/$4 members. Children 3 and younger are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.