Sweet stuff: The start of Vanier Sugar Shack’s first full season in five years

The sugar season tradition pays homage to the area’s French-Canadian history, as it stretches back several decades.

Published Feb 17, 2024 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 2 minute read

Brigitte Adm, her partner Jeff Donnelly and her three-year-old son William were making the most of a chilly morning in the forest, Saturday, tapping maple trees while protected by pocket-warmers and battery powered socks. Photo by Marlo Glass /POSTMEDIA

Saturday marked the kickoff of sugar season in Vanier, with dozens of people scrambling through the snow in a sugar bush to tap into tall maples, kick-starting the maple syrup production process.

Over the next several weeks, approximately 500 trees will be tapped in the urban forest and, with a little luck, maple syrup will be produced in the rebuilt Sugar Shack.

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It’s the first “full” sugar season in five year, said Annick Normand, communications and marketing manager for Vanier Muséoparc, after a spate of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an arson fire in the summer of 2020.

Last year, the brand-new sugar shack was open for maple syrup-themed meals, but some of its equipment for making syrup wasn’t yet functional. This year, though, maple syrup will be produced just steps from where the sap flows from the trees.

“It’s done in a traditional way,” Normand said. Buckets of raw sap are dumped into large vats before it’s pumped into a boiler, boiled until it reaches the right colour and consistency and then bottled.

Vanier’s sugar shack is thought to be one of the few active sugar shacks in an urban setting in North America, she said.

Families scrambled through the Vanier bush, tapping into maple trees to harvest sap. About 500 trees will be tapped this season. Photo by Marlo Glass /POSTMEDIA

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe was among the first people taking a tap at the trees on Saturday morning.

“One of the great things about Ottawa is we obviously have a very urban part of the city, but, within the city, we have these amazing places,” Sutcliffe said. “You don’t have to travel very far to be in nature and do something like tap a maple tree.”

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Brigitte Adm and her three-year-old son, William, were also making the most of a chilly morning in the forest, armed with pocket-warmers and battery-powered socks.

“It’s awesome,” Adm said. “I’ve lived in Vanier since 2015, and I’ve come to this event, but this is the first time I’ve picked up a drill. I didn’t realize I could also be tapping trees.”

Armed with tools and comprehensive instructions, tree tappers barely break a sweat, she said.

“All you have to do is show up, as long as you can take the cold.”

The sugar season tradition pays homage to the area’s French-Canadian history, as it stretches back several decades. Pères Blancs missionaries constructed the first sugar shack in Vanier in 1939 and held the inaugural sugar season in 1940.

A second, larger sugar shack was built in 1960, but tree tapping was discontinued in the mid-1970s, when the Pères Blancs departed and sold their land to the what was then the City of Vanier.

The tradition started up again about 15 years later, with the municipality resurrecting the sugar festival before handing over sugar shack management to the Action Vanier community group.

The sugar season runs until April 28, with large groups booked Wednesday to Friday and walk-ins welcome on the weekend. There’s also a sugar festival scheduled for March 18-24.

With files from Gord Holder

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe was among the first people tapping trees for maple sap on Saturday morning. Photo by Marlo Glass, POSTMEDIA Photo by Marlo Glass /POSTMEDIA