JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site hosted its annual Maple Syrup Festival & Pancake Breakfast on Saturday morning. Community members had the chance to watch tree-tapping and syrup-boiling on site after eating a sweet breakfast.
Co-director of the site Wes Spurgeon told news Channel 11 that this event takes place each year to raise funds for operations and other events at Tipton-Haynes.
“This is our biggest fundraiser here at the site,” he said. “Our biggest event is the Maple Syrup Festival, with a pancake breakfast behind me there; making the pure maple syrup that we’ve been collecting the sap from our trees for the past month now.”
Spurgeon said the site was hoping to break its record of 1,000 attendees, which it surpassed last year.
“Last year, we had a little over a thousand people. So hopefully we can break our record because last year was a record, which we broke the previous year before that.”
Spurgeon said utilizing this area’s resources and residents’ knowledge has led to the most successful fundraiser the site hosts.
“Well, everybody loves food, so when you put pancakes out with pure maple syrup it’s going to bring a lot of people. And I think it’s just something that people don’t really know, that you can make maple syrup down this far south.”
More information on Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site can be found on Tipton-haynes.org.
