Canada is synonymous to maple syrup. No wonder, its flag bears a maple leaf on it. For 49 years, a little town in Waterloo, called Elmira, has been hosting the Maple Syrup Festival which the Guinness Book of Records recognized as the World’s Largest Single Day Maple Syrup Festival!
An hour and 20 minutes from Toronto, Elmira township is a lovely place close to St. Jacob’s where its market is known for its fresh, organic produce. Going there on a festival day could be a test of your patience if traffic is not your thing. When you’re off the highway 401, roads are only two lanes. A long and heavy queue of cars with passengers hungry for pancakes and maple syrup, is unavoidable. Parking is another thing to find if you come around noontime. But, don’t worry, you’ll find one for sure.
Some of the houses at Elmira have character, like this one. Notice the quaint and detailed woodwork on its patio.
When we arrived at noon, the crowd was already walking elbow to elbow at the town’s Arthur Street.
Tens of vendors selling maple syrup in bottles and gallons. See the various bottle designs?
Because we were hungry, we went directly for the pancakes. Above is the queue after buying a $5-ticket for double. We were standing for about 20 minutes until we were served with fresh, hot cake. My mouth suddenly got dry.
The Maple Syrup Festival is run by volunteers. These women do their job like they’re doing it at their own home kitchen.
When you got your pancakes, a lady at the end is ready to pour your plate with sweet maple syrup. She won’t stop pouring if you don’t tell her. LOL….
Luckily, we found seats in this tent. Your ticket comes with milk or coffee. You should go with coffee. The pancakes with maple syrup is already sweet enough. 🙂
Yay! I’m almost done with this. I’m not gonna leave without devouring everything. LOL… I travelled for almost two hours (including traffic and queuing up) for this!Â
When our stomach was full and happy, we walked out of the tent and strolled around to see the rest of things the festival had to offer. This child (above) is helping himself for sauce on his funnel cake.
One of the many activities to do around is sawing a log for $2! And you can take the piece of log you just sawed!
These popcorns are beautifully sold like a round lollipop!
Legs, meat, anyone?
Who wouldn’t stop, smell , look and buy these?
Apple fritters.
And the crowd got thicker.Â