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Maple Syrup Festival celebrates simple life
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The scouts of Troop 60 out of Westminster Church, Boardman, attended the Maple Syrup Festival and showed guests old-fashioned camping techniques. In between work, Daniel Raver (left), Devin Patton, Mike DiRienzo, and Ivan Muntz were happy for a break.
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Troop 60’s time at the Maple Syrup Festival was also a chance for the scouts to work on their knife and axe skills. Riley Brooks (left) worked on splitting a log while Tony Sabb watched over the process.
By SARAH FOOR
Boardman Township Park invited area residents to explore simpler times over two weekends in March with their Maple Syrup Festival.
In the park’s Chester V. Long Pavilion and surrounding areas, the event offered hay rides, pony rides, Civil War reenactments and demonstrations of old-fashioned blacksmithing and maple syrup making.
Boardman Park representative Pete Cordon manned the maple sap evaporator and chatted with guests about the process of making maple syrup.
“I think people like to learn something new,” Cordon said of the mapling process on March 19. “I tell everyone that comes by to talk that with the right trees and equipment, anyone can start making their very own syrup.”
Cordon also found that interest in syrup process, which has remained unchanged for hundreds of years, reminds guests of simpler times, which the festival celebrates.
“Our festival definitely has people reevaluating their perspective. Not very long ago, the residents of this Valley lived off the land right here in the park, and that took a lot of hard work,” Cordon added.
Members of Boy Scout Troop 60, out of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Boardman, learned about that hard work by practicing old-fashioned camping techniques over the festival’s two weekends — March 19-20 and 25-26.
Troop leader Karl Harnishfeger used the weekends to teach younger scouts knife and ax skills, including how to carry, sharpen, and safely use each tool.
“This is an important event for our younger scouts, who are working to get their Totin’ Chip cards. We teach them to respect the tools, and not to treat them as toys. The festival offers us real-world experience for the boys, which is indispensable to their learning process,” Harnishfeger said.
On the troop’s first day at the festival, March 19, Riley Brooks worked on his ax skills.
“I have to admit, having an ax makes me a little nervous,” Brooks said. “But, the more I work and practice, the better I’ll get. I’ll be OK if I follow all the rules.”