Spring arrives slowly in Grey County, but as the days warm and the nights stay crisp, the maple trees begin to wake. This is the moment the county gathers for one of its sweetest traditions. From outdoor sap boils to family-friendly festivals and hands‑on sugar bush tours, maple season runs from mid‑March through mid‑April - inviting you to explore, taste, and experience the magic of fresh local syrup.
2026 Maple Season Events
Backyard Sap Boils at Down Home - Sold Out
March 20 & 21, 2026
Celebrate maple season outdoors at Down Home with rounds of farm‑driven food, an outdoor bar, and the sweet smell of sap boiling over the fire. On March 20, join Chef Brandon Bannon for a special Grey County–rooted collaboration. Their Winter 6‑Course (Thursdays) and Signature 10‑Course (Fri/Sat) menus continue throughout March.
Maple Weekend at Meaford Maples
April 4 & 5 • 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
In Meaford, visitors wander into a hillside sugar bush where sap lines run quietly between the trees and the Sugar House chimney signals something sweet in the works. Here, Maple Weekend feels slow and generous. You hike the woods, see the collection process up close, and peek at tools from the early days of syrup-making. Families tuck into samples, compare grades of syrup, and learn just how much the weather shapes each batch. Best of all - it’s free, open to everyone, and welcoming in the way only small family-run maple operations can be.
Maple Weekend at Nicholls Farms & Maple Syrup
April 4 & 5, 2026 • 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
At Nicholls Farms in Grey Highlands, Easter Weekend becomes a maple celebration filled with learning, wandering, and family time. Visitors step into the sugar bush to see the entire process - from the tap to the tank to the evaporator - and discover how this family-run operation turns their harvest into the syrup enjoyed around kitchen tables across the county. Kids run ahead down the trails, grown‑ups linger with warm syrup samples, and everyone leaves with sticky fingers and a better understanding of how maple syrup gets from tree to table. Like many maple traditions, it’s free, open to all, and rooted in simple joy.
April 11, 2026
The Kemble Maple Tour brings together producers, artisans, families, and neighbours for one of the region’s best-loved spring events. At the Kemble‑Sarawak United Church, the day begins with the famous maple syrup‑infused meal, served from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM with meal passports available across the community. After breakfast, visitors explore an Artisan Market & Family Fun Fair at the Kemble Arena, while five local maple producers open their doors for tours, tastings, and demonstrations. It’s the kind of event where you move from stop to stop, hearing the stories behind each operation and discovering the many ways syrup can be made - traditional, modern, and everything in between.
Holstein Maplefest at Love’s Sugar Bush - 30 Years of Maple Magic
April 11 & 12, 2026
Marking 30 years of tradition, Holstein Maplefest brings visitors into the 40‑acre sugar bush by hay‑wagon for a full weekend of maple fun. The all‑day pancake breakfast is a highlight, with pancakes, sausages, beans, and fresh syrup served up by the Egremont Optimist Club. Around the bush, you’ll find maple taffy on snow, sheep shearing, log sawing and branding, blacksmith and woodcarving demos, live animals, a rope bridge, a zipline, and six different ways to make maple syrup. Entertainment fills the big tent throughout the weekend, and the Maple Rib Dinner & Magical Burn returns on April 8 with advance tickets.
Before You Go
Maple season is a spring of its own - messy, beautiful, unpredictable, and sweet in every sense. Whether you’re standing by an outdoor boil at sunset, wandering a sugar bush with family, or sitting down to a maple‑infused meal, you’re joining a tradition that’s shaped this region for generations. Gather the magical moments that happen when winter lets go and the sap begins to run.
Dress for everything.
Bring your curiosity.
Local Maple Syrup Producers
Did you know it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup? Our Grey County maple syrup producers work hard every spring to bring you the best maple syrup products. Many of them sell products at their farm store, at local markets and in several local stores and shops.
Beaver Valley Maple, Beaver Valley
Dejong Acres, Wiarton
Kemble Mountain Maple Products, Kemble
Love's Sweetness, Holstein
Meaford Maples, Meaford
Miners' Maple Products, Kemble
Nicholls Farms Maple Syrup, Grey Highlands
Uncle Richard's Maple Syrup, Priceville
