The best thing about March in Canada is that it's Maple Season. It is that sticky time of the year again when sugar shacks open their doors for all of us to see how maple sap is tapped from trees and then boiled down to the purest, golden, maple syrup.  We can also enjoy simple sugar shack food from pancakes, sausages and baked beans cooked in a wood-fired oven to the most important one of all, the quintessential Canadian sweet – Maple Taffy. On snow. 
For all of you who are not familiar with this dessert, it is basically a sugar candy that is made by boiling maple sap poured over fresh snow and rolled onto a stick. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? 
Traditionally, sugar shacks are found in the country, amidst the sugar bush. However, there are winter festivals during the maple season that create an urban sugar shack experience for big city dwellers.   
This past weekend, Toronto's waterfront got a big dose of sticky sweetness from the 3rd annual Sugar Shack TO. Yes, you read that correctly – maple syrup at Sugar Shack at Sugar Beach at Toronto's waterfront.
How much more sugar-sweet can it get? 
Torontonians were melting away the winter blues while celebrating all things maple
with 
live music, 
traditional sugar shack treats,
organic food, 
hot mulled cider,
ice carving sculptures,
maple sugaring demonstrations, 
and much more.

Design by Alexandra Tanner


For those living in the city, I highly suggest putting the Sugar Shack TO Festival on your calendar for March next year.
If you are willing to get out of the city, there are many operating Sugar Shacks and Maple Syrup Festivals around the Greater Toronto Area for you and your kids to enjoy as well:

Maple Syrup Festival at Bronte Creek Park
1219 Burloak Drive
Oakville, Ontario
L6M 4J7
905-827-6911

Maple Town at Conservation Halton
2596 Britannia Road West
Burlington, Ontario
L7P 0G3
905-336-1158

Sweet Water Season at Crawford Lake
3115 Conservation Road,
Milton, Ontario
L9T 2X3
905-854-0234

Maple Syrup Festival at Horton Tree Farms
14844 Warden Avenue
Stouffville, Ontario
L4A 4M8
905-888-1738

Maple Sugar Festival at Brooks Farms
122 Ashworth Road,
Mount Albert
L0G 1M0
905-473-3246

Maple Syrup Festival at Westfield Heritage Village
1049 Kirkwall Road,
Rockton, Ontario
L0R 1X0
519-621-8851

Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival at Toronto and Area Conservation
March – April, various locations