Mar 28, 2003 By Amanda Clegg For The 4 min read

SOMERSET – When Don Walukas of Meyersdale needs a house-warming gift he reaches for maple syrup – Somerset County maple syrup. “People appreciate it,” he said. Meyersdale, located in Somerset County, is host to the annual Pennsylvania Maple Festival, which begins Saturday, continues through Sunday and picks up again Wednesday through Sunday, April 2-6. Festival Park, the center of the festival’s activities, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Walukas, a member of the festival’s board for two years, has been involved with the festival for the past decade. And when the 56th annual festival begins Saturday, Somerset County’s maple syrup industry goes from kitchen tables to the streets of Meyersdale.

During the festival, visitors can learn how to tap a tree and boil sap into syrup at a sugar camp located in Festival Park, and enjoy a meal of pancakes and sausage at the Meyersdale Lions Pancake House. The festival is such a popular event that Walukas said, “If you want to visit someone in Meyersdale during the maple festival you’re pretty much on your own, because they’re probably doing something at the festival. People have become involved and stay involved.”

Sharon Ackerman, the festival’s advertising director for the past two years, has volunteered at the festival for more than 20 years.

“We are known as the Maple City and have been for many years. And through the maple festival, the maple producers and the community can showcase their products. Maple syrup is Pennsylvania’s sweetest commodity,” said Ackerman, adding that the festival boosts the town’s economy “through the community’s hard work and dedication.”

That community devotion helped to attract 6,000 patrons to enjoy last year’s festival, Ackerman said.

Walukas said 5,000 to 10,000 people attend the festival every year.

The festival attracts visitors from Uniontown to Washington D.C., he added.

“We’re hoping for a large turn out,” said Ackerman of this year’s festival. “We’re hoping the weather is nice and sunny. I’m sure people have cabin fever, and this will give them a reason to get out.”

Ackerman said weather “plays a large role” in the festival’s attendance numbers.

“Last year, it was snowing and blowing, but we still had faithful people who came out to support it,” she said.

Ackerman credits “hometown spirit, hospitality and 100 percent maple syrup” for the return of patrons year after year.

“It’s all the different activities,” Walukas added. “The quilt show, the pancakes and sausage, the craft show, and if you haven’t been through Meyers Manor, it’s a must.”

Peter Meyers, for whom the town is named, owned the manor from 1828 until his death in 1870. In 1968, the Pennsylvania Maple Festival acquired the manor and dubbed it Maple Manor, now known as the Historic Meyers Homestead.

During the festival, tours are available of the manor located in Festival Park.

In addition to a parade, a horse-pulling contest and an antique and classic car show, a must-see festival attraction, said Ackerman, is Meyersdale’s historical pageant, titled “The Legend of the Magic Water.”

Ackerman said more than 100 community members put the production together.

“It goes back to our heritage and tradition,” she said. “It tells the story of the discovery of maple syrup and the town’s history, through song, dance and narration.”

Tickets for the pageant are available at the Meyersdale Area High School.

The show begins at 2 p.m. Saturday and at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2, and Friday and Saturday, April 4-5, and is held in the Meyersdale Area high school auditorium.

The Pennsylvania Maple Festival began when Miss Kate Smith, a popular singer in the 1940s, announced on a radio show that she craved Vermont maple syrup, according to the festival’s Web site. After hearing Smith’s comment, Meyersdale sent Smith a sample of Somerset County’s maple syrup. On April 17, 1947, Smith proclaimed the syrup the “sweetest she had ever tasted.”

Nine months later, on Jan. 20, 1948, a group of Meyersdale men gathered around a pot-bellied stove in the Shipley Hardware Company store and discussed holding the first maple festival.

Ackerman said the meeting, known as the “summit of the pot-bellied stove,” brought about the first maple festival planning committee, which was run by the Meyersdale Chamber of Commerce.

The first maple festival was held on March 18, 1948, and was first called the Somerset County Maple Festival.

The festival name changed to the Pennsylvania Maple Festival in 1969.

“The festival is a time when the community at large pulls together to tell the story of maple history,” Ackerman said.

“There are so many events going on, and it takes so many people to pull this off. Without the gift of time and energy from community members, we would not be celebrating the 56th maple festival.”

For more information on the Pennsylvania Maple Festival or admission charges, visit www.pamaplefestival.com or call the festival’s office at 814-634-0213.