Sweet new Vermont marketing effort combines leaf peeping with maple

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - If there’s anything Vermont is known for, it’s leaf-peeping and maple. So why not combine the two? That’s the idea behind Maple 100, headed by the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets.

The Maple 100 is a self-guided sweet celebration, highlighting sugarhouses across the state via hundreds of maple-y events, like maple creemees and digital maple bingo complete with prizes.

Not only that, it’s a chance for producers to show both Vermonters and tourists alike different uses for maple, like sauces, spirits or rubs.

2021 is the second year of the Maple 100 fun.

Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts says Vermont puts out 2 million gallons of maple per year. The Maple 100 is a creative way to help maple sugarers move it and remind everyone of how versatile it is.

“Maple 100 is celebrating maple. What’s unique about this is we’re celebrating maple not during when we’re making maple syrup. We have a lot of people coming to the state of Vermont because of the sugar maple turning color, foliage season. So we want to celebrate it, we want to get people thinking about maple,” Tebbetts said.

Tebbetts says Vermont recently got a $500,000 grant from the USDA to promote our maple products. They’ll be working to bring real Vermont maple syrup to markets outside of our region, like Texas.

The Maple 100 runs until Oct. 15. Click here for much more on Vermont’s Maple 100.

Our Elissa Borden talked to Jake Shattuck at Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier to find out what they have on tap for the Maple 100. Watch the video below for more on that.

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