PERHAM, Maine — This past weekend was Maine Maple Weekend and at Salmon Brook Valley Maple Syrup in Perham Roger and Joan Connolly were more than ready to welcome hundreds of folks for the beloved tradition.
Located just off High Meadow Road, Salmon Brook Valley encompasses 15 acres of more than 3,500 maple trees used to produce pure syrup and other products from mid-March to mid-April. The Connollys began their operation in 1996 as a small hobby, using the old-fashioned method of nailing buckets from trees to collect sap.
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- Charlene Bradbury, owner of Bradbury Maple Farms, pours Maple Taffy Saturday for a customer as part of the Maine Maple Weekend event. (Staff photo/Wanda MacIlroy)
During tours of Salmon Brook Valley on Saturday and Sunday, friend and longtime employee Josh Wayne explained the steps that turn the maple sap into pure syrup. Today, the Connollys use the more modern method of a vacuum system, a long and intricate line of tubing that brings sap into a reverse osmosis machine. Reverse osmosis eliminates 75 percent of the water from maple sap before it is boiled.
The process then transports the sap into an evaporator that boils the sap at more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In the last step, the syrup is drawn into a finishing pan and any excess debris is filtered out. From there employees bottle syrup and make other tasty products such as maple butter, sugar, candy, popcorn and moosepops.
“On a good day we try to pump 40 to 50 gallons of syrup,” Roger Connolly said during the family’s Maine Maple event on Sunday.
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- Joan Connolly (behind table, left) bags maple popcorn Sunday during Maine Maple Weekend at Salmon Brook Valley Maple Syrup. Joan and her husband Roger have produced maple syrup and other products from their sugarhouse in Perham since 1996. (Staff photo/Melissa Lizotte)
Throughout the weekend, the Connollys welcomed community members to their maple syrup shack for a hearty breakfast of homemade beans and pancakes topped with pure maple syrup. Folks not only learned about the process of producing syrup but also sampled treats and purchased some to take home.
Many families of two or more generations came out to Salmon Brook Valley on Sunday in hopes of making the event an annual tradition.
“I’ve known about this place all along but never came here before today,” said Perham resident Nadine Ouellette, who came with her husband, Dell, as well as their son John and granddaughters Julia and Jillian of Easton. “I never saw just how big of an operation it is to make the syrup.”
“I like the lollipops,” Jillian said, referring to the famous moosepops, candy maple shaped into the head of the famous Maine animal.
Other guests came from even further down the road, as did Jeff Pickering of Houlton. Pickering said that he has known the Connollys for years but had yet to attend Maine Maple Weekend events until this year.
“It’s a great community event with friendly people,” Pickering said.
Interacting with the community is one of many reasons why Joan Connally said she looks forward to Maine Maple Weekend every year. Though around 125 people showed up on Saturday, she said the family was expecting even more people to come on Sunday because of the end of a snow storm that worked its way through northern Maine the day prior.
The Connollys have yet to produce their first official gallons of fresh syrup for the season, but they predicted that they will begin this week. When that happens, Joan Connolly said they could schedule visits and tours as long as folks call in advance. Despite the delay in syrup production, the sugarhouse store proved to be one of the busiest places during the weekend.
“Most of the people we’ve seen this weekend are people we know, so it’s like visiting with family,” Joan Connally said of Maine Maple Weekend.
To schedule a visit to Salmon Brook Valley, call 455-8340. More information can be found on their website mainemaplesyrup-sbv.com.
