A working maple syrup operation is one of the many things that make the campus experience at Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict so unique.
Once every two years, the CSB and SJU campus community and the general public is invited to take an inside look at how the process works.
That day comes Saturday (March 28) when Outdoor U holds its biennial Maple Syrup Festival at the Sugar Shack located in the Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum.
The event is scheduled to run from noon to 4 p.m. and will include tapping demonstrations, tours of the shack where production takes place, hot maple syrup sundaes and other forest/maple themed activities geared to participants of all ages.
There will also be live music from Zach Staver, a 2024 SJU graduate.
The event is free to CSB and SJU students and monastery members. Tickets cost $5 for Outdoor U members (free to those ages 17 and under) and $10 for nonmembers ($5 for those ages 4-17 and free for those three and under).
“It’s a great way to get outside in the springtime,” said Caitlynn LaSota, the environmental educator/community education coordinator for Outdoor U. “In the winter, you can ski and ice fish. In the summer, you can hike and swim. In the spring? You can make maple syrup!
“It’s also a good community gathering that allows you to explore the whole maple syruping process. We encourage students, their families and community members to come enjoy a lovely spring day.”
Saint John’s Maple Syrup is a partnership between SJU and the Saint John’s Abbey, which owns the more than 2,500 acres of forest, oak savannah and prairie surrounding the SJU campus that make up the arboretum.
It dates back to 1942 when the abundant sugar maple trees in the arboretum were first tapped. The current sugar shack building was built in 1970. Two new evaporators – ‘Big Burnie’ and ‘Little Larry’ – were installed in 2013.
Tapping begins in the early spring.
“This year, we put 2,000 taps out,” LaSota said. “After the taps are out, we wait for the buckets to fill with sap. Once they have enough, we call for collection volunteers to help us gather it all. All the sap is tractored up to our sugar shack where more volunteers and Abbey Arboretum staff cook it into syrup in the evaporator.
“It’s then bottled and distributed to the monastery and Outdoor U, which compensates syruping volunteers with syrup. The more you help, the more syrup you get.”
“For us, making syrup is a labor of love and a way to come together as a community,” she continued. “Not a way to profit. We don’t sell our syrup; the only way to get it is to help volunteer.”