MEDIA RELEASE
WYE MARSH & SAINT-MARIE AMONG THE HURONS
The Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre’s Sweetwater Harvest Festival – the non-profit’s biggest fundraiser of the year – will be sweeter than ever this year thanks to a collaboration with neighbouring attraction Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.
The festival, a beloved annual celebration of spring and all things maple syrup, will take place March 18, 19, 25 and 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Family-friendly activities will be on tap at both sites, including sugar shack demonstrations, maple taffy, an artisan market, and take-home crafts for kids.
“The Sweetwater Harvest Festival offers everyone the opportunity to get outside, learn about maple syrup, and enjoy the early days of spring,” says Kim Hacker, Executive Director, Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre. “Funds from this event help to ensure that the Wye Marsh can continue to deliver innovative conservation and nature programs all year round.”
Collaboration is nothing new for the Wye Marsh and Sainte-Marie. The organizations have worked together to offer events in the past and continue to co-host education programs every year. But this is the first time the Sweetwater Harvest Festival will take place at both sites.
Activities at the Wye Marsh will include trekking through the sugar bush, sugar shack demonstrations, maple taffy on ice, roasting bannock on a stick, children’s games, birds of prey demonstrations and, of course, opportunities to purchase locally-made maple syrup.
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons will host more than 20 artisans at the Sweetwater Arts and Crafts Market, historical canoe-making and basketry demonstrations, traditional Indigenous syrup-making demonstrations, as well as take-home crafts like corn husk dolls and clay okies.
Tickets for the Sweetwater Harvest Festival must be purchased in advance at WyeMarsh.com/Sweetwater. There will be no ticket sales at the gate.
The Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre and Sainte-Marie among the Hurons would like to thank the sponsors who helped to make this event possible: Midland Rotary, Windlee Farms, Telequip, Bourgeois Auto Group, Quality Inn, Industrial Filter Manufacturing Inc., and Charles Morden Construction Inc.
