The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre was the place to be for pancake and maple syrup lovers Saturday.
The Bushplane Museum hosted a Maple Syrup Festival, pancakes prepared and served by museum staff and volunteers.
The syrup - along with an array of sweet treats containing maple syrup - was provided by local producer Hogan’s Homestead.
The public enjoyed samples of different flavours of maple syrup from Hogan’s including Pumpkin Spice, Ginger Root, Aged Vanilla Bourbon, Peach and Vanilla Bean.
Treats available containing Hogan’s maple syrup included peppermint chocolate pudding, Popsicles and coconut maple cheesecake bites.
After a long winter, maple syrup season appears to be drawing near.
“We had a couple of days of maple syrup run last week and looking at the forecast it's going to continue Monday and Tuesday so I think we're in season now. Next week’s forecast is really good,” said Spencer Hogan, Hogan’s Homestead co-owner.
The Hogan’s Homestead store is located within Pioneer Village on Great Northern Road while the syrup itself is drawn and produced from trees on Hogan’s property near Goulais River.
“We tap our trees on 336 acres. We deal in pounds. So, we try to average four pounds per tap. We try to shoot for just over 100,000 pounds in a season, which is roughly 10,000 gallons or almost 40,000 litres,” Hogan told SooToday.
The business has 20 maple syrup-infused flavours for sale.
Hogan’s Homestead, co-owned by Spencer Hogan and wife Erica, was launched in 2016 on St. Joseph Island and has grown since then.
The business has won many awards including a Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Award.
“When we were on St. Joseph Island we were just down from Gilbertson's Pancake House and we used to go there for breakfast. One day we decided ‘we think we could do this.’ I knew that we had maple trees on our property so I went and bought five buckets to start and I drilled every tree on our property,” Hogan said.
What started out as a hobby became a business success story.
The Hogans hold an annual Hogan’s Homestead Maple Weekend in April in Goulais River.
Saturday’s Maple Syrup Festival was the first Hogan’s Homestead event held at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.
Saultites know it’s more important than ever to buy local and eat local - and keep it Canadian - in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs on Canadian goods.
“It’s definitely important to buy local and it's going to be tough (because of Trump’s tariffs),” Hogan said.
“We don't really know what’s going to happen. We keep roughly 20 per cent of our stock that carries us through the rest of the year at Hogan’s Homestead on Great Northern Road. But we ship 80 per cent of our syrup to Quebec to big packing companies and then they ship it world wide, and who knows what's going to happen because Canada produces roughly 90 per cent of the world's syrup and a lot of it is exported to the States. Who knows what's going to happen with the tariffs.”
Tariff concerns aside, Hogan enjoys being a maple syrup producer.
“It's something that you end up falling in love with,” Hogan said.
“It's a lot of work and a lot of long hours. And then as soon as the season's over, you miss it and you're waiting for the next season.”
Money raised from Saturday’s Maple Syrup Festival went to Hogan’s Homestead and Bushplane Museum programming.
