Maine Maple Sunday

   The maple syrup will come from trees tapped in Smyrna, as Kristi Brannen owner of Spring Break Maple and Honey will donate the organic amber liquor.
    “We haven’t really gotten into the season yet,” said Brannen. “It looks like this week might be our first sap run.”
    Brannen had told volunteer Kevin Ward that the Sno-Sports couldn’t have a Maine Maple Sunday Breakfast with the fake stuff.
    “So, we will get them syrup,” she said.
    Spring Break Maple and Honey will also be open to the public for Maine Maple Sunday until 4 p.m. Their shop is on U.S. Route 2. The Brannens will be giving tours and to celebrate the day, they will be selling maple syrup sundaes with Houlton Farms Dairy ice cream.
    When enjoying the treat on Sunday, remember a maple tree must be near 40 years old before it can be tapped for its sap, which flows only six to eight weeks in the late winter and early spring. The sterile liquid provides the tree with nutrients prior to buds opening and leaf appearance.
    To go with the syrup will be plump homemade pancakes.
    “My wife makes her own special recipe,” said Ward. “We moved here from the central, western region of Maine. We offered this type of breakfast there and it developed into a substantial fund-raiser.”
    Even though there is a bigger population in western Maine, Ward can foresee the Maine Maple Sunday Breakfast becoming a yearly happening for the Sno-Sports.
    “If we break even, we’d be happy,” he said. “Over time, this could develop into an annual breakfast and the funding would in turn help the club.”
    Doors will open from 6-10 a.m. at the clubhouse in Linneus on Saturday. Cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12.
    “The Sno-Sports have a beautiful clubhouse,” Ward added. “And, the organization maintains more than 150 miles of snowmobile trails. They operate six grooming machines and it cost money to do so.”
    The Sno-Sports have four Ski-Doo Scandics keeping the trails groomed and ready for use, and the breakfast is one of many fund-raisers to help offset the expense.
    “The proceeds will be put back into the trail system” Ward added. “It’s a volunteer organization with 200 members.”
    The breakfast will be complete with bacon, homefries, coffee and juice.
    “It’s very reasonably priced,” said Ward.
    Ward and his wife have been involved with snowmobiling and four-wheeling in Maine for quite some time, as he has been on the state snowmobiling committee and served as a former ATV Maine president, and they know the importance of the recreational industry in Maine.
     “We recently bought a house on the McIntyre Road and we will be opening a lodge this summer complete with individual two-bedroom cabins,” said Ward.
    The cabins will have a kitchen, living room, fireplace and barbeque. It will be a facility where snowmobilers, ATVers or someone who has company and doesn’t have room can rent.
    “It’s important to promote the industry,” said Ward.