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Christie, Sean and Jan McKinney with sap bucket in the snow painting by Belleville artist Jesus Estevez
Less than a week to Maple in the County and the weather has been crazy mild. We were out enjoying the freedom of no snow and light jackets when we bumped into Sean McKinney of Re/Max Quinte Ltd. with his wife Jan and daughter Christie at the Oeno Gallery. Sean and his crew are sponsors of the event, so I buttonholed him on how he feels about a) maple syrup and b) Maple in the County. Okay I’m shameless, but it’s what I do!
Here’s what he told me:
“We first did Maple in the County as a family last year and loved it, so I decided to treat about 30 Remax agents to a pancake breakfast at our cottage a week later. We visited Fosterholm Farms for a special tour of their operation and had a great time.”
Clearly the whole County maple thing made a big impression on him, and Re/Max Quinte Ltd. became associate sponsors of the 2010 maple festival. He was already backing the Harvestin’ supper and the PEC Marathon and maple makes a sweet addition to local sponsorship.
To capture the silent magic of the sugarbush, Sean commissioned a painting of a sap bucket in the snow by Belleville artist Jesus Estevez.
He’s looking forward to this year’s pancakes and sugar shack demos and maple treats. Hey, he’s a realtor, and a good one too, so it’s natural that he would be excited about Spring and everything it stands for: renewed energy, sap rising, people looking for fresh starts.
“At Re/Max we’ve had a great start with this early Spring. We’re busy listing and showing all kinds of properties, and our agents are at the Spring Cottage Life Show in Toronto promoting Prince Edward County. With all the activities and festivals and great things happening here, it’s a pleasure to market the County to people who don’t have it so good!”
Will he be doing the maple thing himself this year? “Absolutely. A lot of us are going to various events and destinations just to hang out with people and enjoy that feeling of Spring in the air.”
by Janet Davies
The 9th Annual Maple in the County is presented by The Waring House and The Prince Edward County Maple Syrup Producers in association with RE/MAX Quinte Ltd. Real Estate Brokerage and the Picton BIA.
For a full list of participants, events and activities, please visit www.mapleinthecounty.ca
We’ve printed our own Maple flyer to let everybody know what’s going on, and we’re turning Ross Street into a pedestrian district. It’s the short street opposite the Regent Theatre right in the centre of Picton. Perfect for a party street. There’s a craft center for kids….hosted by Sparkbox Studio, ice carving and live music from Mary Lambert, who won a Juno Award in 2002, and her family fun show. Pockets the Clown will be twisting balloons and doing his stuff, and the ice carvers, a group called Ice Culture from Ottawa, will be carving right here on Ross Street. I hear they’ll be carving maple leaves and a great big rabbit holding a plate of pancakes. Okaaaay.
Way back when Maple in the County started, Alex Bake and businesses on Elizabeth Street thought there should be some “Urban Maple Fun” as well as great stuff happening at the farms and sugar shacks, so they put on a bit of entertainment and treats. Picton BIA’s involvement has grown every year, and now we’re having a great time with it. We’re really looking forward to our one-day Maplefest in downtown Picton. And we don’t care WHAT the weather does, because we know we’re going to have a ball! 
Is the sap running yet? It was sunny but cold when I talked to Janice Hubbs. “More like trickling right now,” she said. “Needs to warm up a little, but it’s early. We boiled sap all last week and have a quarter of our crop already.” She’s not too concerned about the weather, and flighty, unpredictable March has had maple producers on their toes for a couple of hundred years. “Okay, my knees are a little sore from all the praying, but that’s nothing new,” she laughed. She’s busy prepping for the 33rd annual pancake breakfast at Hubb’s Sugarbush, and she’s feeling the warm sun on her face and telling it to get over there and warm up that sap! 
It was a little milder “down south” in Cherry Valley, where Todd Vader had just spent a 12 hour day in his sap house. “When the sap is running you just keep at it,” he said cheerfully. The Vaders have been at it for generations. They’ve all got a touch of syrup in their blood. And for Maple in the County the whole family pitches in, gathering, boiling, bottling, labeling and entertaining visitors. Todd was pretty happy with the weather when we spoke, but then he’d just come out of a steamy, sweet, state-of-the-art sugar shack to a gorgeous March County sunset. 
evaporators. “I use the little one to get started when there’s not much sap, and fire up the big one when it starts running fast.” The baby lambs have arrived at Nyman Farms, as sweet as maple syrup and very popular with kids and soft-hearted grown-ups like me on Maple weekend. Are the babies okay with being petted and fussed? “Are you kidding?” he laughs. “They’re all over you when you enter their pen, they love it and so do the kids.” 
best old County farmers, still strong and good looking! Cliff and Dean Foster, the father and son maple producers at Fosterholm Farm, would say I’m crazy to say stuff like that. But they’re not bad looking themselves. Maybe I’m a sucker for hardworking men, but my husband, aka The Bald Photographer, has photographed the Fosters (with their huge gorgeous dog) and many other County farmers, recording the faces of the folks who produce our food – and who make delicious maple syrup. Me? I can’t wait for the 2010 vintage!
