Ever wonder how the syrup on your pancakes makes its way from the woods to the breakfast table?

Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, in the Stone Valley Recreation Area, will hold its annual Maple Harvest Festival this weekend to show exactly how the sweet gooey stuff is collected from trees and turned into syrup.

Kimberly Forshey (senior-recreation and parks management) is one of the students receiving course credit by working on the festival. This weekend Forshey will be working in the center's "Sugar Shack," where she will demonstrate how to boil sap. Forshey says you need to boil forty gallons of sap to produce just a single gallon of syrup.

"We can test when the syrup is ready by checking color, thickness and temperature," she said. "And, of course, you can always sample it."

Forshey said almost every tree can produce sap, but sap isn't sweet unless it comes from a sugar maple. When the leaves fall from the trees and the branches began to grow into the shape of a teardrop, the sap is ready to be collected.

"Learning the process was pretty cool," she said. "People look past the fact that it takes a lot of work."

Ann Taylor, program aide at Shaver's Creek, said the festival is a great time to get outside, since many may have been experiencing cabin fever through the cold winter months.

"Festivals are one of our favorite things to do at Shaver's Creek," Taylor said. "It brings everyone together and gives you a sense of community."

Costumed interpreters will demonstrate early techniques used by Native Americans, pioneers and modern-day farmers to collect and make syrup.

Those attending can also treat themselves to an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast and live folk music.

Taylor said the crowd goes through hundreds of pancakes every year, and that there are about 50 pancakes on the grill at any one time.

Festival coordinator George Vahoviak said people will have the opportunity to taste and compare commercial syrups to real maple syrup.

"Most commercial syrups have only a small percentage of maple syrup in them," Vahoviak said. "Kids usually aren't used to the taste of real maple syrup."

Although the festival is a hands-on event that draws many families, Vahoviak stressed that the Maple Harvest Festival is a fun time for everyone.

"It's a good excuse to get outside after the brutal winter and celebrate spring," he said.

The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is $5 for ages 4 and up. The pancake breakfast will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is an additional $4 for ages 4 and up. Members of Shaver's Creek can attend the festival for free.