Our third annual Maple Fest will be held on March 15, 2025!

(**Due to the weather, Sunday has been canceled**)

There will be vendors, live music, specialty beverages, educational programming, entertainment, and of course all things maple! Come out to celebrate the beginning of the season with us and experience the magic of maple, in all of its form, all of March!

Don’t forget to support and visit all the wonderful local maple farms during Maple Weekend, hosted by the New York State Maple Producers Association!

Mountain Winds Farm (MWF) is nestled in the western hills of Berne, New York in the Helderberg Hilltowns. The Grippin Family has owned this maple farm since 1961.

MWF sells a variety of maple products such as maple syrup, maple drops, maple sugar candy, maple popcorn and much more— some of their maple goodies are available in our Farm Store all year round! We are honored to be working with MWF to create our cider and beer for Maple Fest! Check out their table during our Maple Fest weekend.

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

CIDER

Makeshift Sugar Shack

7.5% ABV – Our Golden Russet cider conditioned on Mountain Winds Farm Grade A Maple syrup and aged in a maple bourbon barrel.

COCKTAIL

Tap Season Tonic

Ginger beer, maple syrup, bourbon, citrus, and ILFCB Dry Hard cider, served in a maple bottle

BEER

Tappin’ Some Trees Maple Stout

10.8% ABV Imperial Stout made with maple syrup from Mountain Winds Farm in Berne, NY. This deep, rich, viscous stout has big notes of coffee, chocolate and maple, with a nice sharp bitterness. A must try!

BIERSTACHELN (beer spiking/beer poking)

A centuries-old German tradition where a metal wand is heated up and submerged into beer (or hard cider). The effect of the heat caramelizes the sugar in the beer and adds to the flavor, as well as creating a rich creamy foam head. We will have a beer and hard cider tent/table set up for you to watch this process happen and enjoy the final product!

FOOD BY DEFAZIO’S

Our friends at DeFazio’s are now the full-time food operator at Indian Ladder Farms. Be sure to stop by the Tasting Room over the weekend for their Maple Fest specials like Tuscan Ribollita Soup with maple glazed roasted carrots and Semolina Gnocchi with a creamy sauce, topped with maple glazed mushroom bacon.

View their menu here!

BAKED GOODS

The Farm Store may be closed until April, but you can still enjoy a variety of maple treats in the Tasting Room! We’re excited to bring back our apple cider doughnuts, along with a special pumpkin doughnut drizzled with maple glaze, and our classic doughnuts topped with maple glaze and Collar City’s mushroom bacon (available exclusively for Maple Fest weekend). You’ll also find other maple treats such as cookies, danishes, cupcakes, and coffee!

LIVE MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT

Carmen Lookshire

Saturday March 15, 12PM- 3PM

BIRD SHOW BY WHISPERING WILLOW

Bird Show begins at 1pm

Educators from Whispering Willow Wild Care (WWWC) will be putting on a bird show over Maple Fest weekend! WWWC is a nonprofit sanctuary providing rehabilitation of injured wildlife and educational programs featuring our non-releasable birds of prey. They offer owl related items to the audiences for a donation. Learn more about bird biology, migrations, environmental issues and adaptations.

 

LOCAL VENDORS

AND MORE!

MAPLE HIKE

Saturday, March 15. Check-in at 2:30pm, and hike begins at 3pm

Join Claire Guyer on a hike around Indian Ladder Farms over Maple Fest weekend. Enjoy (1) glass of our specialty maple cocktail (21+), Tap Season Tonic, included with your ticket. Participants under 21 years old are welcome to join in on the adventure (no beverage included with admission).

REGISTER HERE!