2010 Maple Festival Finished Strong

Monterey, VA – The 52nd annual Highland county maple festival was very successful despite the abundant snows and cold temperatures of February and early March, according to Highland Chamber of Commerce Director Carolyn Pohowsky.

The weather was beautiful for the second weekend of the festival. If the number of pancake meals served by the Blue Grass Ruritans is any indication, crowds were nearly twice as large the Saturday of the second weekend. They served nearly 800 meals each day of the first weekend and nearly 1400 meals on the Saturday of the second weekend.

Weather probably had the largest impact on the maple syrup producers this year. The low temperatures through February and early March slowed sugar water collection and deep snow around the sugar maple trees made it hard for syrup producers to tap the trees and connect their lines.

Where weather is concerned, long-time maple producer Everett Rexrode probably said it best, “you have to take what you can get,” and hope for better conditions in future years.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

Current Weather

MARLINTON WEATHER
WARM SPRINGS WEATHER
MONTEREY WEATHER