Thousands of people are descending in Northeast Ohio this weekend for a sweet annual tradition: the Geauga County Maple Festival.
Founded nearly a hundred years ago in 1926, it claims to be the oldest maple festival in the country and the largest in Ohio.
“[Tree tapping] is basically an American tradition that started way back with Native Americans here,” said Jerry Tvergyak, the festival’s historical display committee chairman.
The practice is still strong in Geauga County today: It has more maple sugar operations and taps than anywhere else in the state.
Geauga County’s maple history
There’s no record showing when Native Americans first started harvesting sap, Tvergyak said, but history suggests it was a practice long before European settlers arrived.
Without metal kettles, one method they used to make syrup was to put maple sap into hollowed out logs. They then used hot rocks to evaporate water from the sap, leaving behind syrup or eventually sugar.
Early European settlers adapted the technique, and by 1899, Geauga County was the top producer of maple syrup in the country.
“Back then, there were a lot of sugar makers,” Tvergyak said. “But they really didn't have a good outlet to sell their syrup.”
A local merchant wanted to change that.
In order to better compete with Vermont syrup producers and in an effort to fetch a higher price for syrup — which at the time sold for just about 50 cents a gallon — Art Carlson and a group of his friends organized the area’s first maple festival.
“They anticipated a few hundred people might show up, but it ended up being about 5,000 people,” Tvergyak said. “From then on, it became history and it’s carried on ever since.”
The maple festival
Geauga County’s early maple festivals featured a maple syrup judging contest, along with events like sheep shearing and oxen pulls.
It’s changed since then. The festival now features activities like a lumberjack competition, a sap run and bathtub races.
“But they still have some traditional things, believe it or not,” Tveryak said.
The maple syrup judging contest, for example, continues to this day and plenty of locals are participating.
“Some of the sugar makers have really gotten big,” Tvergyak said. “And there's a lot of up-and-coming people who just want to try it offhand and just get a small operation going.”
These days, Ohio typically ranks in the top five states nationally for maple syrup production, contributing about $5 million a year to the state’s economy, according to the Ohio Maple Producers Association.
“Once you start doing sugaring, it gets in your blood and it's always there for the rest of your life,” Tvergyak said. “There’s a lot of sugar makers here I know that probably fifth and sixth generations have done it here in Geauga County.”
