Maple Sugar Days Begin Saturday At Troy’s Stage Nature Center

If you need a fun, kid-friendly activity this weekend - or the one after that, and the one after that, too - Troy Historic Village at the Stage Nature Center is hosting Maple Sugar Days, “three sweet Saturdays in March.” Saturday March 3, 10 and 17, the center invites Metro Deroiters to “explore the sugar bush on the grounds of our nature center…to venture out into the woods, sample sap, participate in hands-on activities to learn all about maple sugaring.”

Visitors can talk to the resident “sap masters" inside the sugar shed, while they operate a wood-stoked sap evaporator, transforming gallons of raw maple sap into shiny new jars of maple syrup. The event includes a walking tour with historical interpreters from the Troy Historic Village, including a pair of fellas who take on the personas of early Troy pioneers Chester and Zenas Goodrich. The Goodriches arrived in the area in the nineteenth century, producing maple sugar on the property that now contains part of Stage Nature Center.

After a 90-minute tour, guests can head indoors to try a maple treat or three The kiddos will have the chance to make syrup-themed crafts, too. There will also be Michigan-made maple syrup, cream, candy and other delicious offerings for sale in the nature center’s lobby.

Tours run on the half hour from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Registration and tickets are available at the Stage Nature Center website. Tickets are $9 for teens and non-member adults, $6 for kids and Stage Nature Center members. To register and buy tickets, just click the time you want under the day you prefer.

Image via Stage Nature Center.