My Town Destination: Indian Lake Maple Syrup and Pancake Festival
Trip Type: Day Trip
Date of Visit: 3/15/19
Town Ambassador/Contact: Brenda Moots: email: [email protected]
Every once in a while My Town Today travels a bit different than the norm, and instead of visiting a small town and including events it may have in an article, we simply attend an event and write about what the event has to offer. This being the case for the Indian Lake Maple Syrup and Pancake Festival!
This particular Maple Syrup Festival, is unique because of its location on Indian Lake, at Indian Lake State Park . Indian Lake is located in the West Central part of Ohio, about 75 miles from Columbus. It is a popular summer destination for Columbus, Ohio and surrounding communities such as: Marysville, Urbana, and Bellefontaine. The festival is run by the Indian Lake Development Corporation also known as ILDC. ILDC Has been a successful volunteer group formed to lobby and make improvements to Indian Lake State Park. Recently, ILDC is turning its attention to education in the region, starting with the Maple Syrup and Pancake Festival.
Maple Syrup Festival and Production
The Indian Lake Maple Syrup and Pancake Festival is in its 33rd year! The event takes place at Indian Lake Campground annually from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday the third weekend in March. Activities include a wagon ride through the Sugar Bush, Maple Syrup extraction demonstrations, and syrup production demonstrations. In addition, there were also free samples of maple syrup in several different forms, living history displays to show you how pioneers lived in the area, live entertainment, and lots of local vendors with several handmade items for purchase.
The Tour
As My Town entered the event, the first place we went was the pancake breakfast. We enjoyed seeing the volunteers tirelessly working making pancakes and sausage for all who attended, and got our first taste of local Maple Syrup! Next, we moved on to our wagon ride that took us through the sugar bush, and gave us a very good tour of Indian Lake Campground. The wagon ride was also great because of the volunteer who told all about how Indians would extract the maple syrup. See Video Here. Then we continued on to the demonstrations, where we started with the sugar shack. In the sugar shack we could see how maple syrup is boiled down and extracted, and were given maple candies to try. The maple leafed candies were to show how many gallons of syrup it takes just to make one piece of candy!
There were vendors with fun giveaways and games for kids- like little planting pots, and a giant connect four! Overall, this festival is a great day trip for anyone within driving distance to Indian Lake. Ohio in particular, has many great places to check out for maple syrup production, so if you are not close to Indian Lake, make sure to check out what other small towns and farms have to offer for maple syrup next spring!
Short History of Indian Lake
Currently, Indian Lake is 5,800 acres that lies along a major avian migration route. Furthermore, it is a very important stop for several birds as they migrate such as: geese, ducks grebes, egrets, and heron. Indian Lake was formed from natural lakes made after the continental glaciers left Ohio. To read more about the history of Indian Lake click here:
Indian lake is in a wonderful stage of development, and events like the Maple Syrup and Pancake Festival are bringing awareness to the area’s natural beauty. Stay tuned for more information on the small town’s of Indian Lake and what they have to offer!
MTT Antique and Market Finds
Great Antique Shops and Farmers Markets are familiar sights in small towns. This can also include Thrift Shops, Local Eats, and the like! Here are some great MTT Antique and Market Finds from Indian Lake.
Indian Lake Outfitters and The Depot
MTT Referral
My Town Today has started a referral section of each article. It’s based on the fun of visiting a town, and finding out what town the majority of its citizens would recommend for My Town to visit next.
The referral for this entry is: Steubenville, OH. Stay tuned for My Town Today to pop up there soon.
Click Here for photo gallery: