Maple Festival draws record crowd to Main Street for 53rd year

The Marathon Maple Festival wrapped its 53rd run on Main Street the first weekend of April, with organizers calling turnout one of the strongest in recent memory.

Pancake breakfasts at the firehall ran both Saturday and Sunday mornings and sold out before noon each day, served with syrup tapped from local sugarbushes within ten miles of the village. Sugarhouse tours, craft vendors along Brink Street, and the Maple 5K rounding the river filled out the weekend.

"It's the one weekend a year the village really feels like the whole valley shows up," said one longtime volunteer afterward. "The kids ran from booth to booth and we saw neighbors we hadn't seen since fall."

Festival organizers thanked the firehall crew, the village DPW, and the dozens of volunteers who staffed the breakfast lines, parking, and the kids' tent. A full recap, photos, and the 5K results are expected to be posted on the festival's social pages in the coming weeks.

Planning for the 54th festival is already underway. Anyone interested in helping next spring can leave their name at the village hall.

Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).