Maple Harvest Festival is March 29, 30

Interns in period costume at Shaver's Creek show how maple syrup used to be made. Click on photo for more images.

University Park, Pa. — Penn State's Shaver's Creek Environmental Center welcomes the community to its annual Maple Harvest Festival and all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 29 and 30 at the center.

The festival blends traditional and modern maple syrup production, lessons in cultural history, music, entertainment and live animal shows for an entertaining family event. Visitors can enjoy all-natural, Pennsylvania maple syrup on the center's special homemade pancakes and a variety of cultural and entertaining programs. Learn how to identify and tap sugar maple trees and how syrup is made today. At other stations, visitor's can see how American Indians and early settlers harvested and produced their syrup. Guests can buy authentic syrup and other treats to eat at the festival.

Entertainment includes acoustic and folk music, story telling and live bird-of-prey shows in the center's amphitheater. A bake sale will run on the front porch throughout both days of the festival.

Festival admission is $8 for the general public and $4 for members of Shaver's Creek. Entrance fees include the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. For $2, guests may add sausage to their breakfasts, courtesy of Penn State's Association for Sustainable Agriculture.  A free breakfast for members of Shaver's Creek will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Sunday, March 25.

A video of Maple Harvest Festival is available at http://www.live.psu.edu/outreach. The video and more information about the festival also can be found at http://www.shaverscreek.org.