WAYZATA — One of Wayzata’s sweetest spring traditions returned this year as residents gathered to tap maple trees, collect sap, and boil it down the old-fashioned way into syrup.
This year’s gatherings included March 25 and April 7 events connected to Merrily Borg Babcock’s driveway at the end of Reno Street, where participants carried forward the hands-on work of turning sap into finished syrup after tapping trees in Wayzata’s Big Woods.
The tradition is part of Wayzata’s broader maple tapping program, which has for years invited residents and families to learn how to tap trees, gather sap, and take part in the community boil. Parks & Trails Board and City published materials describe maple tapping as a seasonal program tied to the Big Woods Preserve, the 14-acre remnant of hardwood forest east of Colonial Square that includes sugar maples.
Babcock, a longtime Wayzata civic leader and volunteer, has also been publicly linked to the program’s beginnings. A recent Wayzata.com profile noted that she helped establish the Maple Tree Tapping Program with John Curtis, adding the event to a long list of community efforts she has helped shape over the years.
Babcock, a longtime Wayzata civic leader and volunteer, helped establish the Maple Tree Tapping Program with John Curtis, with Jack and Cheryl Amdal also among its supporters from day one. The syrup program is one of many community efforts she has helped shape over the years.
On her Facebook page this spring, Babcock offered a simple update that captured both the continuity and the labor of the season: “Still wearing the same boots and cooking sap to syrup. Will finish the 2026 season Tuesday evening.”
The work itself is no small undertaking. When Cheryl Lawson asked on Facebook, “How many cords of wood do you use each season for syruping?” Babcock replied: the “City has delivered 3 loads and we have used about 3 taking into consideration the use of last years old, sometimes ‘punky’ wood.”
The tradition also feels especially fitting in Wayzata, where sugar maples and the remnants of the Big Woods are part of the town’s oldest landscape. Historical accounts show that maple sugaring was happening in this area as early as the 1850s, giving today’s gatherings a connection to spring rituals that long predate the modern city.
That deeper connection is part of what gives the event its appeal. It is not simply about making syrup. It is also about slowing down, gathering outdoors, and taking part in a seasonal practice that links neighbors to the land and to one another.
City newsletters in recent years have highlighted the educational side of the event as well, with participants learning how much sap is required to make even a small amount of syrup. In 2023, the city reported that volunteers collected 420 gallons of sap and produced about 10 gallons of syrup.
For those gathered around the kettles this spring, the process was slow, smoky, and communal — a small but memorable rite of the season. In a town that values both tradition and stewardship, Wayzata’s annual maple tapping and syrup making remains a simple way to celebrate both.
Images submitted by Peter Hitch.
