Sugar Rush

Volunteers Have Once Again Tapped Maples To Make Sweet Syrup For Annual Festival

WHITETOP, Va. – Blame the potency of the sugar rush.
Or maybe Buryl Greer just got a little happy when he got sappy.
Whatever the ingredients, Greer’s preacher was simply not fond of how the Christmas tree farmer once explained the taste of Whitetop Mountain’s maple syrup.
Greer called it “as smooth as Tennessee whiskey.”
And, well, maybe it is.
It does come from natural beginnings – and a lot of hard work.
Each February, Greer must stand ankle-deep in snow, with a fleet of other firemen, tapping the sugar maples of Elk Garden on Whitetop Mountain. These volunteers work for the love of the land and a sense of community pride.
And when it’s all over? Well, turning sugar water into whiskey, er, syrup – tasty, sugary syrup – helps gain a lot of money for the Mount Rogers Volunteer Fire Department & Rescue Squad during the Whitetop Mountain Maple Festival.
“It’s a good fundraiser,” said Whitetop resident Dean Richardson, 75.
“And, here lately,” Greer, 67, said, “it’s gotten to be one of our biggest ones.”
Taking place this weekend with bluegrass bands, an arts and craft show plus plenty of pancakes, the Whitetop Mountain Maple Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Mount Rogers Fire Hall, Faith Lutheran Church and the Mount Rogers School, all located along U.S. Highway 58.

SUGARING
Gallon by gallon, Whitetop’s folks are slowly reclaiming their maple syrup heritage.
Gone are the days of importing sticky stuff from Vermont to pour across pancakes.
Now Greer, the mastermind of the maples, is even trying to stop filling jugs with supplemental syrup from Virginia’s Highland County.
He wants everything homegrown. Every ounce.
That’s why he withstands winters on Whitetop – times of bone-numbing cold – to tap sugar maples and run their waters into a collection vat.
It’s called sugaring.
Yet, it is not quite the old-fashioned chore it once was.
Today, you can still drift along the gravel lanes of Whitetop and see lines on trees leading to buckets – the time-honored way to collect sugar water.
But, back at Elk Garden, Greer grinned as he showed off his modern-day tools – including a gasoline-powered engine. It helps suck sugar water from tapped trees, like a vacuum, through gravity-fed lines.
“We still have a few buckets and use them to supplement what we do up here,” Greer said, standing amid a field of lines at Elk Garden. “You also get more in the buckets than you do with the tubing.”
Getting started, though, Greer must wait for just the right weather.
“You need cool nights and warm days,” he said. “If it gets in the 20s every night and the 50s every day, it’ll run every day. It has to be up around 40 before it ever runs at all.”

‘DRAG A PANCAKE’
So the sugar water flows.
It happens naturally as trees thaw. But it doesn’t happen all year long – just a few weeks, Greer said, as winter becomes spring.
Once the trees are tapped, Greer enlists volunteers like Richardson and Christmas tree farmer Jaye Baldwin to boil water and make syrup at the rustic Sugar House near the Mount Rogers Fire Hall.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work,” Baldwin said. “But the whole community does a lot of work.”
As many as 100 people are involved each year in this festival fundraiser, with hopes of netting $15,000 to help support the fire department.
It takes 50 gallons of sugar water to make one gallon of syrup, Greer said. Last year, crews cooked up 272 gallons of their pure maple specialty.
Oh, how sweet it is.
“It’s sweeter than most syrup,” Richardson bragged.
The fire hall staff routinely sells hundreds of gallons of syrup at each festival. A quart goes for $15. You can take home a pint for $10 or grab a half-pint for $8. You can also get a sampler bottle – just 3.4 ounces – for $4.
What makes Whitetop Mountain’s syrup so good?
Greer grinned again at this question, saying he better not make any more comments about Tennessee whiskey.
A moment later, he’s still grinning.
His answer had arrived.
“You drag a pancake through it,” Greer promised, “and it’ll tear it all to pieces.”

IF YOU GO: WHITETOP MOUNTAIN MAPLE FESTIVAL
When: March 28-29, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Music held at Mount Rogers Fire Hall, U.S. 58; pancake meal with arts and crafts at Mount Rogers School, also along U.S. 58; storytelling and nature slide show at Faith Lutheran Church; Whitetop Mountain Tapping Tour runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Elk Garden; tours of Sugar House run 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
How much: Pancake meal with sausage, applesauce and drink is $6 for adults and $3.50 for children. Bluegrass music admission is $5 for adults and free for children younger than 12.
Info: (276) 388-3422

GETTING THERE
From Abingdon: From I-81 Exit 19, follow U.S. 58 east for 34 miles to Whitetop.
From Marion: From I-81 Exit 45, follow State Route 16 south to Volney, then follow U.S. 58 west to Whitetop.
From Chilhowie: From I-81 Exit 35, follow State Route 600 east to Whitetop.