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Ii : Syrup Festival well attended ago. by Lindsay Eaglullam The women of Purple Valley who worked the grills at the net Annual Maple Syrup Festival last Saturday are probably still trying to get the grease out at their hair and the smoke out ol their lungs otter aht solid hours of flaplsok trying, tllpplng and flogging. "I never cook them again all year," said Edna Cook. one at the chief hands on the grill. "It takes me about three days to get the smoke out of my lungs." said Elsie McKcne." Though the work was hard, Elsie was _ somewhat In her element because the Festival's temporary kitchen facility was In the old one-room school house that Elsie at- tended as a child. With a smile she thought of the curious Irony which had her standing over a hotcaka grill lust a few feet from where she sat at her desk so many years "It was lust over there." she Indicated, and explained that In the one-room school house system the cider you got the lurther to the rear you sat. "That was my last desk there.at the back.“ A couple more older women said they too shared the same memories with Elsie. But right then there was no time to be Inter- viewed: no time for reflection as they scurried to serve hundreds at people clamoring at the windows for a breakfast of pancakes, termsr's sausage and lovely and pure maple syrup. Festival committee member Audry Hapv burn was exuberant despite the tact she had almost been run all her feet. Aproned and splattered trcm head to toe with pen- cake mix, she had been up until 2 am. baiting pies, Jellies and the llk. Then awake at 1 am. to attend to the organizing ot the breakiast. The pancakes were especially tasty I discovered, or was it just that they were deliciously soaked In that smoky maple syrup from Bill Glasslord's augarbush. "What's the secret? i asked Audrey. She refused to divulge the recipe. "i think you could say It was magic." was all she would allow. "You can eat It and you can wear It." reterrlng to her spotted appearance. Seems there was a small problem with the big commercial batter mixing machine. it seemed to better everyone around it. Than It broke down altogether, but It was soon fixed. There were amazineg few calamities at this year's pancake pig out. It's running smoother every year. ' his year we didn't have to run back to town Ior supplies." said Andrey. . The only real damper was some grum- blings among the hungry crowds: some people having to well almost an hour In line during the peak lunch hour period. But amazingly tow grumblinga II that. People were in a festive mood. and the her he spirit were both Just right. V 7 d fifty kilograms of pancake haggling g offlard: two hundred kg tidied plea: titty cases of ,l ’, a m. about50gsll’ons of that aotdcalla‘dhlaplaSyrup. l l (p 1??? By the end of the iestivltles. the wonder- ful sticky atqu was not Just In people's stomachs but It was everywhere. It was sticky undortoot on discarded paper plates; it we sticky on picnic tables under the marquees; It was sticky on countsrtops and sticky on the faces and hands ol tired and cranky toddlers. But It was all the slut! that memories are made ol. And, in fact that was the very theme of this year's Maple Syrup Festival â€" "Memories Make History." And speaking oi memories, one warm and wise-looking native lndlen lady was Invtted to relate her memories of the old A it not ancient â€" Ojibway method of tapping, collecting and reducing maple sap to make maple sugar and toffee. As goes the song: "Long before the white man and long bsiore the wheel" native wisdom used rudimentary materials oi nature to fashion the necessities ol tits and .fik’ ““ 9.11122 to extract goodness from a harsh land that somehow yielded to an Ingenuity that Is all but lost. Sitting serenely at a table on the edge at the Festival grounds, seventy-nine year old Verna Johnston spoke quietly over the din of the fair. explaining the ageold Indian method of making maple sugar to anyone who cared to listen. "We would gather blrchbark to make baskets for the sap collecting. This was done during the first hot days oi June. “The baskets were fashioned and stored ‘ outside. upside down, until the following March. They were then dug out at the snow and placed into a bark chip In the maple ____’ Elsie McKcne was one of the herd Working women volunteers who survl maple logs, and the sap was boiled down In those vessels by using red hot stones. It was generally reduced to sugar form and eaten on dry pumpkin and squash eac- lions." Later, Verne spoke somewhat wisttully oi the loss of much of native culture. and the sadness and loss of identity that this has caused in the young. Memories do indeed make history. But for Verne Johnston and many others like her. what ls more Imponant than keeping memories alive Ia keeping alive the way oi life that produces them, tree, "Sap boats were made out of dugout I lied kit- chen duties at Saturday's Maple Syrup Festival. Z/M/?/% W‘ J