Elmira Maple Syrup Festival

Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, or Freeze-​your-​ass-​off-​call-​in-​sick-​Monday Festival. It’s April, in Ontario, and you wonder why everybody runs towards the Pancakes once they’ve arrived at the scene? Reminder to self: Listen to Nat King Cole and dress like an Eskimo.
I’ve done this over and over again, but have yet to learn from my mistakes. When your nose is frozen and dripping with liquid ooze, your hands cannot hold a fork and knife properly, it’s cold enough that you won’t get to taste the true taste of that liquid gold Maple Syrup.
Activities galore if you come at the right day right time. Explore the Sugar Bush, Enjoy the Birds of Prey Show, Cheer at the Pancake Flipping Contest, Watch talented pups in the Dog Show, Craft booths, Savour Old-​Fashioned Toffee, Saw A Log, Go for a Pony Ride, etc…
After the Pancake brunch that’ll give you just enough calories to recover, you’ll be strolling down the Arthur street passing along the usual carnival vendors: cinnamon buns, apple fritters, funnel cakes, kebabs, turkey legs, corn on the cob, etc…
Then at the end you’ll loop back the other side and again see another set of vendors with mostly the same food stuff all the while de-​ja-​vu, am I seeing the same Maple Syrup vendor and the same labeled bottles? Repetition is the name of the game. No indie Maple Syrup vendors with their own brand.

Happy 50^th Birthday Elmira Maple Syrup Festival!
It was a cold cold overcast day. Maybe that was why the festival was not as crowded as I expected. Parking was easy, you have a choice to park at the various designated parking lot for $ 5 per vehicle and includes a wagon ride or you can go around and look for a parking spot in the surrounding residential area.
Pancake lines was acceptable $ 5 for a 2 pancakes and drink. There was a tent area set up so you can enjoy some of those fluffy pancakes away from the cold gusty wind. I just wish there was more maple syrup!
If you want to keepsake bottle of Maple Syrup commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the event, you would need to pick up from one of the vendors here at the festival. There were quite a few food vendors, but most of them were serving up the usual carnival style food.
Elmira Maple Syrup Festival is worth coming if you are in the area. It is the World largest Single Day Maple Syrup event and it is really community orientated. I would not mind coming back again on a nice warm spring day in the future!

3.5÷5
Went to the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival today. I took GRT there, which was extremely convenient as it only took about 30 minutes between Conestoga Mall and the festival site (bypassing all the car traffic on 85 and on Arthur).
Arriving at around 12:30, the place was extremely busy. It was about as crowded as the nightclub just before last call, except people are all happy and it is kid-​friendly. Some stuff I saw/​went to include the sawmilling area, pancake flipping, and concerts at Gore Park. There was also an endless sea of food vendors… which is where 1.5 stars are eliminated.
Seeing how this is a MAPLE SYRUP festival, I expected the food vendors to have some sort of maple syrup theme. At the very least, since we’re in Waterloo Region, I expected the food vendors to have a German theme. However, there was a large vendor selling fajitas, falafel, shawarmas… etc. There was another vendor selling corn on the cob, and some more other vendors selling food that is not related to the festival at all. Maybe I’m being a little anal, but when the festival is advertised to have a maple syrup theme, I expect elements of it (including food) to revolve around the theme of maple syrup.
That being said, I enjoyed my time up in Elmira today. Be warned though: I highly recommend you take GRT to get there (they operate extra buses that day anyway), as the process of being stuck in traffic and looking for parking can be quite agitating.