By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

HARRISON — Maple sugar producer Joe Lavoie compares sap to milk.

“Sap is like milk. It can’t sit around,” Lavoie said during a tour of his business, Dad’s Maple Sugar Shack in Harrison.

“In high temps it will sour like milk. It will ferment. If it is in the 50s or so, sap will go bad. It turns into a vinegar. That is why we compare it to milk. That is why we haul the sap instead of letting it sit,” Lavoie said. “We have dairy tanks we use that are insulated and keep the sap cool for storage. As long as the temps are cool enough in the season, you can store it. As the season progresses and the temps warm up, you want to boil the sap as soon as possible. Ultimately, you want to take it out of the tree and boil it.”

Lavoie described the 2025 maple sap season as “Fantastic — like a normal sugar season with the frost in the ground and the colder temperatures. We’ve been boiling for the past two weeks.”

In 2024 and 2023, Lavoie was boiling sap in early February. Another difference he noted this year is that the sugar content — which is measured by a hydrometer — is higher.

“The sugar content has been higher, which is fantastic. It means less boiling,” Lavoie said.

Not only has the sugar-making season been smooth sailing, but also Maine Maple weekend ended up having a successful turnout.

Maine Maples Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday in March. During that time, local sugar producers hold open houses, inviting the public onto their properties and into their sugar shacks. It is referred to as Maine Maple weekend because many producers are open both Saturday and Sunday.

Lavoie and a few other business owners commented on the 2025 agriculture event.

“By far, it’s one of the best we ever had. We had plenty of product, an outstanding turnout, great people and a lot of return customers,” Lavoie said.

“I’m extremely grateful for all the people who come out. They get a genuine idea of how much work we put into it,” he said.

In Fryeburg, Weston’s Farm & Market held its event on Sunday only.

“It was very well attended,” according to owner Laurie Weston.

“Last year, we had a snowstorm and people were still digging out,” she said. “This year, the sun was out. They came right inside. We were all inside. They got their ice cream with maples syrup for free, and I swear that is what a lot of people come for.”

“We were very pleased with the turnout. At one point, we ran out of ice cream and had to scurry around to the stores to buy some,” Weston said.

For decades, Sweet Williams in Casco has been satisfying people’s sweet-tooth and the need to get outdoors after a long winter.

“We had a fantastic weekend. Saturday is never as busy as Sunday but we still had a fantastic turnout. We had a good weekend, sales-wise as we ever had,” according to William “Bill” Symonds.

“Obliviously, the wind was a challenge. All the tents we set up for our pancake breakfast. I was up before 6 a.m. on Sunday, parking vehicles around the tent to tie it down. It was a very exciting morning,” he said.

“The sugarhouse is down in the hollow so the wind will go over your head,” he added.

He referred to the turnout as “great” and blamed the wind gusts for causing people to stay for a shorter period of time.

“People like to come and hang out for a while. They were coming and enjoying themselves and moving on sooner,” he said.

Symonds was optimistic about the tail-end of the maple sap run.

“The season has been very good and I expect a lot more to come. We’ve got good temperatures. I never predict anything with maple, but it’s going to be a good year. This year had me a little nervous because I didn’t start making syrup until the second week of March. But when it started to run, it ran extremely well. We made a boatload of syrup. The week that it turned warm and rainy, I thought it was going to stop but with the vacuum system, I collected sap during that week,” he said.

“The hard freeze [the region] had is a good thing. Today is going to let go and we’ll see another good run,” Symonds said on Tuesday.

Lavoie said he thinks his business bring in more crowds by offering the petting zoo and public viewing of their animals: goats, rabbits, chickens and a couple horses.

“A lot of people come because we have the animals. What child wants to see sap boil? Their attention span is about four minutes. They want to go see the animals,” he said.

Lavoie’s adult daughter Jessie Taylor manned the petting zoo.

“The petting zoo — we had a quite a few people say they came to our location because of the animals because other sugar producers didn’t have animals. It did draw a crowd,” Taylor said.

Maine Maple weekend “was very good, very busy. The weather was great on Saturday so lots of people came out on Saturday. Sunday was equally good,” she said.

Her dad, a mechanic by trade, has been a sugar producer for almost 40 years.

“I have memories of collecting: Using snowmobiles with sleds and a tank. Then, he upgraded and got the tractor with a tank. He used to tap other people’s properties. We would go with him and tap,” Taylor said.

Lavoie said he started tapping trees and making maple syrup while he was raising his family. He started because of the lull in outdoor activities in February and March.

“It was the transition time. It was mud season and there is not much to do. We are very active people. It was partly out of curiosity,” he said. “The first year was a few trees. The next year was 25 trees and then 100. At one point, we had 350 buckets. That is when we decided to go to tubing.”

Lavoie had a few mentors, including his father. It didn’t take long for him to be convinced he got the maple bug.

Symonds understood the maple bug symptoms.

“I’m a builder who is passionate about maple. That maple sickness — it doesn’t matter what profession you are in, you can catch it,” he said.