“Our spirit will not be crushed, our faith unshaken, our optimism undaunted,” say residents of the South River area bravely in the face of the latest onslaught from winter with storm warnings, brutal wind, and arctic temperatures.
“Spring will be here soon, I can just feel it,” said Ron McLaren, maple syrup producer and proud co-host this year of the South River-Machar Agricultural Society’s annual Taffy Pull.
In recent years local producers have been well on their way through syrup season, though a cold snap is holding back the first official harvest of 2017. With the Taffy Pull just a little more than a week away on March 25, McLaren and his wife Meredith have dug deep to come up with syrup for taffy at this year’s celebration.
“While I can’t guarantee we’ll be making syrup by March 25 I have dug deep into our vault and can say with confidence we will have taffy,” said McLaren, who operates a heritage syrup operation started by his father, a sawmill and country store with his wife Meredith at their Bunker Hill Road farm west of South River, just off Eagle Lake Road.
The Agricultural Society is thrilled to be returning their trademark Taffy Pull event to the McLaren’s Farm after hosting the event in the village for the past few years.
“It is always nice to have a change of venue and the McLaren Farm holds many special memories for the Society and I’m sure it will provide a great time out for families of all ages,” said Society president Janet Baynton.
New to this year’s event is the Bunker Hill Egg Toss Championship where senior competitors will vie not just for glory but the biggest egg toss cash prize in all of the district.
“We were throwing around ideas and this one caught on,” said Baynton. “Hopefully it is everything it is cracked up to be, goes over easy for yolks.”
The Taffy Pulls March 25 at 42 Bunker Hill Road from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a pulled pork lunch, wagon rides to the sugar bush, tours of the working sugar shack, photos with bunnies, face painting and much more at this free admission event.
“Spring is coming and we’ll be ready to greet it with this sweet time,” said Baynton.
