The Elmira Maple Syrup Festival is an annual festival held in Elmira,

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History

The yearly festival began on April 10, 1965. Organizers anticipated 2,500 attendees, but instead it drew a crowd of 10,000 visitors, thus ensuring its continuation. It continued to grow as an annual tradition in subsequent years, peaking in popularity with 66,529 visitors in 2000, making it the world's largest single day maple syrup festival according to the

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. Volunteers from the

Canadian Automobile Association The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA; french: Association canadienne des automobilistes) is a federation of eight regional not-for-profit automobile associations in Canada, founded in 1913. The constituent associations (also called "clubs") ...

counted people entering Elmira by car that year. The festival regularly attracts visitors from around the world, including

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, the

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, and the rest of Canada. Also in 2000, the Festival served its 500,000th pancake. Pancakes, apple fritters, homemade toffee (weather permitting), log sawing competitions,

arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

(notably quilts made by local Mennonites), sugar bush tours by tractor wagon and other attractions are among the festivities. Large quantities of

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

is also sold. The town's main street, Arthur Street, is closed to automobile traffic for the day, where vendors set up booths to sell souvenirs and other items. It is organized by a board and run by approximately 2,000 volunteers each year.

Charity

Since the very first edition, all proceeds from the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival were returned to the community, to both charitable and not-for-profit organizations. In 2001, the Festival received the Outstanding Philanthropic Action award from the Foundation for Rural Living. Traditionally, 40 percent of the profits are allocated annually to the Elmira District Community Living, a local charity that helps people with intellectual disabilities to participate in the community, with the remaining amounts shared among selected organizations.

References

External links

* {{coord, 43.5958, N, 80.5608, W, display=title Festivals in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo Woolwich, Ontario