By Theresa Knapp

On a crisp sunny day in late February, 20 people gathered at the Bancroft Memorial Library to learn the art and tradition of maple sugaring at a hands-on, family-friendly event hosted by resident and local historian Kelly Merchant.  

Attendees of all ages learned the basics of tapping maple trees, including how to identify suitable trees, when and how tapping is done, and how sap is collected and transformed into delicious maple syrup – and Merchant shared samples from a previous batch. 

“It’s just a backyard hobby that I like to do but it’s fun and it’s delicious,” said Merchant, a longtime Hopedale resident. 

Myla DeSilva, 4 of Mendon, was Merchant’s unofficial assistant sugar maker. Myla knew all about the maple syrup process after learning about it through Forest Friends at Bright Beginnings. She said the syrup tasted “good” and her favorite part about the event was “handing her stuff.” 

Nathan DeMattia, 11 of Hopedale, attended the event with his friends and family. “It’s amazing, I’m going to go right home and try to make it myself,” he said while tasting a bit of syrup Merchant shared from a previous batch. 

Jayson Stone, 11 of Hopedale, agreed. “It’s really good; it’s a lot more natural than the commercial syrup.” 

And, because there was still plenty of snow on the ground, some attendees added snow to their syrup to make a maple slushie. A fun and tasty time was had by all.