Thousands of local residents and out-of-town visitors attended the Paris Lions Club’s 12th annual Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday, April 12, 2025.
Over the course of the seven-hour event, guests had plenty of opportunities to not only enjoy the mild spring weather, but several family-friendly activities too.
From dancing with Joan Minnery’s STOMPtastic line dancers, to listening to live music by the Thompson Road Band, shopping local artisan vendors, or snapping a photo with Doug “the Great” Hunt and several Disney Princesses, there was plenty of fun available for the whole family.
As always, the Lions Club members spent the morning serving up their famous pancake recipe. While many were sure to line up early for the breakfast (which included a side of Strodes sausages), some took the opportunity to stop by one of the other eight food trucks to indulge in Nutella churros, cheese and bacon pierogies, corn dogs, funnel cakes, poutine, and other classic festival treats.
Rod Laframboise, a Lions Club member and past president, said that although the signature event is usually held on the streets of downtown Paris, this year it was moved to the fairgrounds due to construction on Grand River Street North for the Downtown Dig.
“This is the first year we’ve been here and we had no idea what to expect, but we’ve had a great lineup all day. We’ve been cooking since seven this morning and it’s just been non-stop since then,” he said. “The entertainment has been good, very lively, and this year we have twice as many vendors as we’re able to get downtown; we have about 75 set up inside and bunch more food vendors outside which is nice. It’s also been great to have so much parking here to accommodate everyone too.”
He added that because the Lions always host the rain or shine event on the second Saturday of April, another positive to putting on the festival at the fairgrounds was having access to the indoor space, especially if they had had inclement weather.
“I think the vendors are happy because unlike last year, they’re not getting rained or snowed on like they have in previous years,” said Lamframboise with a laugh. “It’s different with most of the food vendors because they’re all protected in a truck so it had rained, they could have still operated, but for the clothing vendors and such, they usually have to scramble to protect all their products.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a maple syrup festival without the many vendors selling a variety of sticky sweet amber goodies to go.
Paul Blake, owner of Blake’s Maple Products, had his vendor booth stacked with large jugs of his sweet maple syrup and packs of maple candies.
“This is probably our fifth time taking part in the Maple Syrup Festival now, usually we’re set up near one of the corners downtown and it can get quite windy there so it’s definitely nice not to have to hold down the tent,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s a bit of a different pace here but we’re making sales so I’m happy.”
Overall, Laframboise said he was glad to see so many people show up and show their support for the Lions Club.
“You know, this is our signature event, the whole thing is put on by the Lions as a team, and like everything else we do, it’s all to give back to the community,” he said. “We’re just hoping everyone is having a good time, and I think so far, we’re happy with how everything has played out for the day.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
