Photos: Indian Creek Nature Center hosts 42nd annual Maple Syrup Festival

The event in Cedar Rapids serves up pancakes and sausage with real maple syrup, and offers visitors a look at the process that produces maple syrup. The event concludes Sunday, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Jim Slosiarek

Mar. 29, 2025 4:48 pm

Vicki Shannon (left) and Tom Chittenden flip pancakes on a hot griddle during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. Union members with IBEW Local 308 cooked the pancakes and sausage for the breakfast. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Light shines through bottles indicating various grades of maple syrup during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Tanner Boerjan, 8, of Iowa City drills a hole into a log representing a maple tree as he tries his hand at tapping a tree for sap during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Pancakes are gathered for hungry diners during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Brooke McLaughlin serves pancakes to Wade Byers, 6, as his brother Wesley, 9, and father Shane also wait in line during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Rozell Richmond with IBEW Local 308 pours batter onto a hot griddle as union brothers and sisters make pancakes during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Reagan Geiger (right), 5, of Tiffin, Iowa, hammers a spile into a log as she and her brother Riley, 4, learn to tap a super maple tree during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Jena Adams with IBEW Local 308 flip pancakes into a pan to be taken to servers for hungry diners during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Alisha Weber of Springville races her son Levi, 8, carrying buckets on a yoke during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. Demonstrations were set up to give visitors a feel for how maple sap was harvested, carried from the first and refined into syrup. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Ti Liu of Iowa City (left) gets a fork full of pancakes as she feeds her sons Andrew (center), 3 1/2, and Cameron, 22 months during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Karlyn Senica explains how a spile works in extracting maple sap from a tree during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Volunteer Ruie Chehak of Cedar Rapids uses deer antlers to put a hot rock into a hollowed out log as she and others volunteers demonstrate a Native American technique for refining maple sap during the 42nd Annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The festival with pancakes and real maple syrup as well as sessions learning about maple syrup production concludes Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)