Visitors flock back to sap festival

Town welcomes more than 70,000 people as the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival returns to in-person activities after pandemic break

Bill Atwood

Observer Staff

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF

PEOPLE made their way to town last Saturday for the first in-person iteration of the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival since 2019.

The final fundraising tally is still being calculated, but new EMSF chair Matt Jessop said the return was a great success, estimating the turnout at 70,000 to 75,000.

“[It was an] extremely good response, and overall still exactly what the committee set out to do –bring it back and have a strong start back is what we were aiming for,” Jessop said.

Vice-chair Quentin Meyer echoed that sentiment.

“We came out strong after four years. [The break] wasn’t ideal, but being able to come back full-swing was obviously great. To see the great morale and the energy that the commu- nity brought to the festival this past weekend was fantastic,” he said.

The day’s weather turned out better than forecasts just days ahead of the festival, at least in the early going. Heavier rain came later in the afternoon.

“I think people rushed out to enjoy the festivities as early as they could, but don’t think it was quite a record-breaking year. For it to be a record-breaking year, the weather would have had to maintain itself as very warm and sunny right through the afternoon,” Jessop noted.

Along with the return of a → EMSF 10