If you’re not already from Johnson City you may have never heard of the Maple Syrup Festival. This past Saturday, Feb. 12, the 2022 Maple Syrup Festival was hosted at the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site.
Matt Frye, one of the festival’s advisors, said, “The purpose of the festival is to represent how sweeteners were made in historic errors- maple syrup in the winter/spring, and in the fall sorghum molasses!”
The Maple Syrup Festival is a tradition in Johnson City, as noted by Frye.
“We have done this event since 2002, but because of the pandemic the festival has only been put on for 18 years,” said Frye.
The festival provided the community with a pancake breakfast, along with other breakfast items that were donated, from 8 to 11 a.m. Frye mentioned how the true meaning of this festival was to show the community how syrup was made in the past and is still this day.
“All day during the festival they are boiling down maple sap from the trees on sight, and the visitors can see the whole process of how the syrup is made right then and there.”
Frye would like to add, “This year’s turnout was amazing, and I can’t wait for fall to come for our next festival, which will be for sorghum molasses.”
