Joanne Williams
Editor

(Courtesy photo – This year’s 85th Festival will include a drone show in place of a traditional fireworks display.)

Can you imagine what those 1940s farmers who sat around, in a barbershop, jawing about some sort of syrup festival would say today?

Sweet!

The festival, concocted to help area farmers earn money for much-needed spring seeds, was a no brainer. Maple syrup flowed in the Maple Valley area, and early settlers from Vermont knew how to tap the natural bounty. The rest is history.

A town of about 750 swells to more than 20,000 the last full weekend of April to host the three-day event, which some Michigan event planners call the “granddaddy” of all such Michigan Festivals.

Festival Presidents Mary Ann and Steve Hayes know the history and promise the occasion presents. That’s why, this year, they have added an extra piece: a drone show.

Fund-raising has been going on since the beginning of the year, Mary Ann said. “We’re down to the bits and pieces” of the $10,000 needed. “It’s been quite an endeavor.”

Mary Ann learned about the growing popularity of drones versus fireworks at a state fair and festival planners gathering. She thought it would add a special kick to this year’s event.

She also explained to volunteers that they would not have to get up a “5:30 Saturday morning to pick up shrapnel,” she said. That, and the more environmentally friendly aspects of drones, made the decision easier.

Funds are still appreciated for the spectacle, which happens April 24, 25 and 26.

The weekend schedule and all things Festival are on the website syrupfest.org.

Other aspects of this year’s event include some fund-raising opportunities for the dancers from Step in Time of Nashville, who will be traveling to Disney this June. There is also going to be a designated food truck area.

There are not many obstacles that festival planners have not overcome, from finding parking space for visitors as well as space for vendors in a small town, to providing handicapped accessible porta-johns.

The first big tapping of trees happened at the start of February, as well as the crowning of this year’s Festival Court: Queen McKenzie Soper, Aubree Roth and Kiylee Kirby.

Next, the naming of the grand marshal for the parade, and a full schedule of events. Information can be found at syrupfest.org.