Redpath Sugar Museum

came here during doors open, seemed a bit lackluster, so far as tours have gone
they had a tent with a tv talking about sugar, with some samples, and then we got to walk into the big warehouse where they store all the sugar. nice to see, but could have went without

I ride by the Redpath factory every day. Twice. One day i noticed a little wee sign saying «Musuem». Hmm… museum you say? I’m curious. A museum about sugar?
My friend and I were both curious and stopped in one day on our way home from work. It was a Sunday and they weren’t open but they gave us the hours so we could come back when they were open. So we returned the next day after work, parked our bikes at the bike rack out front and headed in, not really sure where we were headed.
Inside the main door is just a small security desk. The guard asked us if we had an appointment. Nope. We told him we had come just yesterday to ask when they were open and were told we could come back today. The flyer he gave us with the hours said they’d be open and didn’t say anything about needing an appointment.
After a phone call and a few minutes of confusion, we were escorted to the back of the building and told to walk towards a guy wearing a white lab coat at the back of the property. He stood back there with a wide stance and his arms crossed in a strange intimidating way. But when we got up close, he was just an odd white hairded, mutton-​chopped older man with a fun British accent. He showed us into the Museum and told us that he was just finishing up with a group of seniors (weird?) and then we would have the place to ourselves.
The displays were really nicely put together, going over the history of John Redpath and how he came to Canada and first started his businesses. Once we really got reading about him, it was pretty interesting. The strange museum man would pop in and out every once in a while to see if we had any questions. My only question was if they ever did tours of the actually factory so i could see how sugar was really made. He said they didn’t do that because it’s a food production factory and everything is all sealed up for health standards. Darn.
It was a strange afternoon at the Redpath Museum, but a fun little piece of Toronto (and Montréal) history.

While I was being yelled at by the white haired bloke w/​wiry mutton chops about the dangers of walking through the parking lot and how we had to walk hand-​in-​hand with a partner and also the rules of the place due to federal food regulations, I was like Geez, please!
My joke to our group (we had arranged for this tour midweek): For someone who works in a sugar factory, he sure isn’t sweet.
har har!
Mutton Chops didn’t bother to say hello. Our group, 7 parents and 11 home schooled kids ages 5 to 15 attempted a greeting when he started roaring the rules.
ooooKay!
But wait, I’m a fan?
Yeah, a fan.
Once past the formalities, the barked orders and the chastising of an elderly woman (not part of my immediate group) for eating nuts (against aforementioned food regulations!), a great time was had. Mutton Chops turned out to be a great guide, passionate about his subject and a good story teller.
Did you know that…
You can watch the sugar boat barges unload raw sugar using giant cranes?
Redpath Senior had 17 children but 5 of them died?
You can wear a corset and not pass out?
The factory operates 7 days a week, 24 hours a day?
It takes 10 hours to take raw sugar and refine it into Redpath sugar?
The original Redpath family mansion in Montréal (now gone) included central heat and three indoor washrooms?
Brown sugar is just white sugar with the molasses added back in?
My youngest boy, 7, said, Can you believe it– they take the molasses out and then they *add it back in*?!!
Random bonus: the museum includes a display of «sugar art»: figures from the Harry Potter series fashioned out of sugar.
Stupefy!

I came for the tour during Doors Open Toronto. They were definitely rushing people through because of the large crowds so I didn’t get the amount of time I would have liked to spend but was still happy that I got the opportunity for the experience.
It was really cool to see the giant mountain of raw sugar.