Relax and enjoy the pleasures of a simpler time at the Wye Marsh Sweetwater Harvest Festival; taste, smell, and learn all about traditional maple syrup. Delight in the mouth-watering aromas of maple sap boiling and bannock cooking over an open wood fire as the sounds and smells of maple syrup preparation drift through the Marsh’s maple sugar bush.

Maple syrup has been produced and enjoyed for centuries by native peoples, pioneers, and is still popular today, with Canada being the world’s largest producer. The annual Sweetwater Harvest festival at the Wye Marsh is one of the top maple syrup events in Canada and will entertain, educate, and engage people of all ages.

The wide variety of activities being held throughout the day are sure to put a smile on everyone’s face: • All-day Pancake Breakfast (10:00 to 3:30). Six thousand pancakes were consumed last year! • Sugar Shack Demos and maple taffy tasting – it takes 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup. Boiling sap down into sugar was a strategy of the Native Peoples & Pioneers. This allowed them to sweeten just about anything all year long! • Live music and vendors • Bannock Roasting - Bannock is a simple bread that was enjoyed by both the Native Peoples and Pioneers, but is credited to the Scottish for its origin. • Maple kids zone: Face painting, crafts & pioneer toys • Snake, Frog, and Turtle displays with a naturalist on hand to answer questions • Horse Drawn Wagon Rides • Chickadee Feeding • Wye Marsh Woodcarvers exhibition • Visit to the Birds of Prey in our new Bird Barn • Observe the magnificent Trumpeter Swans • Learn techniques for Cooking with maple syrup • Nature Walks