Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival: 68 years of sweet traditions

The Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival began in 1958 simply as a pancake dinner for the public community—a volunteer-led effort to raise funds for village recreational activities and facilities. 

The syrup was collected from maple trees in Shepherd by the people of Shepherd; this was the start of the Shepherd Sugar Bush, which remains a nonprofit that puts 100% of its proceeds back into the village to this day.

Today, the festival has transformed into something much larger, with people travelling from all over to participate in traditions, old and new, dedicating the last full weekend in April to maple syrup-themed meals, events, and more.

Every year it continues to grow—in visitors, activities, and more—and this year, the festival saw a record turnout on its dates April 23-26. 

“The visits within the village from Thursday through Sunday were over 52,000, not counting residents or employees. And then the individual visitors were about 38,000,” says Dawn Vanneste, public relations and marketing chair for the festival. 

“I was thinking Saturday may have been a record date, because I don’t remember ever seeing so many people in years past,” she adds.

All weekend long, the festival featured its famous “All-You-Can-Eat Pancake & Sausage Meals,” serving over 6,000 dine-in meals and selling out of the 5,500 pounds of sausage they bought for the event. 

Vanneste shares that the “to-go tent saw a significant increase this year because we had better signage and advertising. So, in total, the number of meals we sold was over 7,000.”

In addition to pancakes, other events saw major turnouts, like the 5k walk/run, which had over 700 participants, and the car show, which had 242 cars and trucks register to participate.

Saturday’s horse pull had 10 teams participate, “which is more than they’ve had in quite some time,” remarks Vanneste, saying that it was the biggest crowd turnout Rick McCune, the event’s coordinator, had ever seen.

“He was shocked by the crowd. He was excited to see the number of people who came to watch.”

Sunday was the Grand Parade Festival, which had 120 parade entries from local businesses to a float featuring the Shepherd Royalty Pageant’s queens and princesses. This year’s Parade Grand Marshal was long-time Shepherd resident Claude Lemmer. 

Shepherd High School hosted the Craft Show, where there were over 200 vendors this year.

“Several of our vendors that were at the Craft Show said that it’s the best sales event they’ve ever been a part of, to the point where they wished they would have brought more of their items,” says Vanneste. 

Another popular event at this year’s festival were the helicopter rides that sold out early on both Saturday and Sunday. People could opt for a shorter ride around Shepherd, or a longer flight that skirted neighboring cities like Mt. Pleasant and Alma.

“They’re so gracious; if kids want to see their grandma and grandpa’s house, they’ll dip down and get as close as they can so they can see it. They’re so good about making it an enjoyable experience for everyone,” says Vanneste. 

Aside from yummy food and crowdstopping events, the backbone of the festival is the vast amount of sponsors and volunteers who donate both time and money to ensure the event is a success, year after year. 

Over the course of the four days, there were over 800 volunteers from Shepherd and beyond that worked on tasks that ranged from wrapping silverware in the months leading up to the event all the way to cleaning up afterwards. 

The majority of the volunteers, nearly 500 of them, spend their time in the cafeteria doing all things pancake: prepping griddles, mixing batter, flipping cakes, serving plates, and everything in between. 

“I think a big thing I found people were happy to learn is that it’s all volunteer run and it’s a nonprofit going back to the community. It makes people happy to support something good like that,” says Vanneste. 

“It all goes back to the community, no matter how little or how much.”

This year, there were 70 sponsors for the festival that gave money or their services to bring the event to life for another year. 

Notable sponsors include the Sugar Bush, which donates 200 gallons of syrup annually to the beloved pancake meals. 

A new sponsor was Art of ErLens, the festival’s first official photographer. She captured thousands of professional photos throughout the weekend and preserved this year’s festival free of charge. 

All in all, the festival wouldn’t be made possible without the hundreds of volunteers, dozens of sponsors, and thousands of people who come back year after year. Vanneste encourages people to check out the website for volunteer and sponsorship opportunities in the future.

“It’s so sweet how everyone just gets together to celebrate and enjoy Shepherd and what Shepherd has to offer,” says Vanneste.