“It’s been a long, cold winter,” says Randy Galusha of Toad Hill Maple Farm in Thurman, New York, and the sap running from his sugarbush is a “little bit late this season,” but the season is here. He’s already produced 300 gallons of maple syrup and, over the past two days, has collected 4,000 gallons of maple sap from his 3,200 taps, enough to net another 100 gallons.
Toad Hill Maple is one of five sugarhouses opening to the public for Thurman Maple Days, an annual celebration of maple products, and the age-old process of collecting and evaporating the spring flow of maple sap in a town that calls itself the “Maple Capital of New York.”
In the Toad Hill kitchen, visitors are offered free samples of maple sugar candy, maple-frosted nuts, maple popcorn, and maple syrup. When the Lake George Examiner visited on Saturday, Co-owner Jill Galusha was pulling a sheet pan of six-inch maple cookies from the oven. The warm cookies, topped with a maple glaze, sell for $3 each. More maple products are for sale in the maple shop.
Maple Days runs the last three weekends in March, inviting the public for tours each Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to the sugarhouses, the Thurman Maple Days self-guided tour includes a stop at Martin’s Lumber, which is hosting an artisan arts and crafts fair featuring woodworkers, jewelry makers, soap and candle makers demonstrating and selling their art. The fair includes hands-on activities, including candle making and woodburning.
Just up the road from Martin’s Lumber is Nettle Meadow Farm, an internationally recognized artisan cheesemaker, and the Kemp Animal Sanctuary, with retired goats, horses, sheep, llamas, and other animals that will poke a nose through the split-rail fencing to greet visitors.
The tour has eight stops, which may be made in any order. Each stop provides maps to help visitors navigate through the mountains. Travelers driving in from Warrensburg will first come to the Thurman Town Hall, where they will find information and a craft fair.
Mud Street Maple, operated by Jeff and Robin Mahler, is boasting a new kitchen addition this season, and those on the tour may want to plan their Mud Street stop for around lunchtime. The menu includes maple hot dogs, with or without chili, maple sausage and peppers, and broccoli cheese soup. The maple shop has traditional syrup, maple butter, and maple sugar candy, along with more unique products such as maple crunch ice cream topping, maple lollipops, and bourbon-infused maple syrup.
In addition to a new kitchen, Mud Street Maple has expanded their sugar house and storage space to efficiently process the sap that runs from 2,515 taps throughout two sugarbushes across more than 60 acres in the Thurman hills. Jeff says the 2026 season has been good, and they have produced 150 gallons of syrup so far and expect to produce another 700 to 800 gallons by the end of the season.
Valley Road Maple is serving up pancakes with syrup and Oscar’s Smokehouse maple sausage each Maple Days morning, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (or until the food runs out). The age 10 and younger portion (2 pancakes, 1 sausage) is $6, the adult portion (3 pancakes, 2 sausages) is $11, and the Sugar-Makers Special (5 pancakes, 3 sausages) is $15. The breakfast includes coffee, tea, milk, chocolate milk and juice.
The Candy Mountain Maple Farm, which is the area’s only UDSA- certified organic maple farm, and Hidden Hollow Maple, which specializes in small-batch, handcrafted syrups, are also open to the public during Thurman Maple Days.
If you go, be sure to have enough gas in your car, as there are no gas stations in Thurman. Dress for March’s fickle weather with warm clothing and boots to traverse through snow and mud. Cell phone service gets spotty in parts of Thurman, so you may wish to download maps if you use your phone’s GPS to navigate.
Featured image: Jeff Mahler of Mud Street Maple gives a tour of the newly expanded sugar house.
Photos: Thurman Maple Days 2026
Making syrup at Mud Street Maple
The Mud Street Maple sugarbush is laced with tubing that carries sap to the sugarhouse. Owner Jeff Mahler says they must continually walk the lines to check for leaks, which can be caused by squirrels and deer chewing on the lines or a break from a fallen tree.
Sap is collected in a 5,000-gallon storage tank and condensed using reverse osmosis. Mahler says he can process 30 gallons of sap per hour.
The sap is moved to a head tank above the evaporator room and fed into the evaporator to produce maple syrup.
The final product is bottled and ready for sale.
Discover more from The Lake George Examiner
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.