Kenton County Parks & Recreation is hosting Sugar Camp 2018: Making Maple Syrup on February 21-24 in Middleton-Mills Park at Shelterhouse 2.
The address is 3415 Mills Rd., Covington, KY 41015.
Step into the forest and back in time to experience life in a mid-1800’s sugar camp. Visit a working sugar camp, demonstrating the art and science of making maple syrup the old fashioned way. First visit an American frontier settler camp and see how one would work with many of the tools and accoutrements used 150-200 years ago in frontier America and the dress representative of the era.
A second camp set up nearby, provides participants an opportunity to see how Native Americans would have lived and worked at the time. See how sap water was processed into hard sugar using hand-hewn wooden bowls and birch bark molds. Visitors will be encouraged to participate in many of the day-to-day tasks of Sugar Camp. Learn about and make a “spile”; help tap Sugar Maple trees and gather sap; taste unrefined sweet sap water and sample home-made maple syrup.
Call (859) 525-PLAY (7529) to make reservations for class-size groups, individuals, and families. Weekday time slots are 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. No reservations are necessary for Saturday, February 25. Saturday ONLY: Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with additional activities available. Dates may change due to the weather; however, historically, this is the best week for Maple sugaring in Kentucky.
Prep work day volunteers needed
It’s going to take a whole lot of firewood to keep the cast iron kettles boiling at the Sugar. A prep work day has been scheduled for Saturday, February 17 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. to set up camp and gather, haul, split and stack firewood for Sugar Camp.
Anyone wishing to help should come to Middleton-Mills Park and meet near Shelterhouse 2. This is a great opportunity for students who need community service hours. All those attending should dress for the weather, wear clothes that can get dirty, bring work gloves, and bring a wheelbarrow if possible. Registration is not required. There will be hot chocolate in a kettle on the wood fire!
Directions: From I-275, take Exit 79 (Covington/Taylor Mill). Go south on KY 16 about 7 miles. Turn left on Mills Road. Go one mile. The park will be on the right before the entrance. Turn right when entering the park and follow the signs to Shelterhouse 2.
For more information, please contact Rhonda Ritzi at Rhonda.Ritzi@KentonCounty.org.
For news of upcoming programs, activities, and events to be held in Kenton County’s parks, call the Parks & Recreation office at (859) 525-PLAY (7529), visit the website or follow Kenton County Parks & Recreation at Facebook.com/KentonCountyParks.
Kenton County Parks and Recreation
