By Stephen Smoot
Maple Days has the effect of bringing large numbers of visitors into the area to sample the best of what Pendleton County producers promote.
The event’s intent, however, lies in boosting the business side of maple from the taps all the way to value-added maple products for sale locally and across the region. In both areas, Maple Days has been a success as local producers have had to ramp up operations to meet a fast-growing demand.
Mark and Sarah Kimble of M&S Maple Farm in Upper Tract have truly seen the dynamic at work. Mark Kimble explained that “any time you can sell from your sugar shack and not have to haul it to a festival, it’s a plus.”
The West Virginia Maple Producers, with assistance from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture statewide as well as Future Generations University and the Pendleton County Convention and Visitors Bureau locally, use Maple Days to put a spotlight on the entire Mountain State maple industry, upstream, midstream, and downstream.
Participants from producers like M&S Maple Farm to those who take in-house maple to create other products, as Mountain Cajun Getaways does, to shops and restaurants such as Elevated Grounds and the Orange Cat Café get marked on a map. Carloads of maple enthusiasts and those who just want a reason to see the area come in steady streams to listen, ask questions, and chow down.
While Mark Kimble and his son, Brandon, tended to the evaporator and other devices used in production, Sarah Kimble greeted visitors from a small dining area. Guests could serve themselves a hearty breakfast of sausage and sausage gravy, pancakes, coffee, and sample the different tiers of syrup produced on site.
One of the bottles on the table featured the amber variety. “We just made that the other day,” remarked Sarah Kimble. At the dining table sat visitors from as close as Franklin and as far away as Romney. The travelers from Romney noted that they learned of the event when they received an email from the Grant County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Sarah Kimble explained the different varieties of syrup made there, from the lightest in color and gentlest in flavors to the most robust and dark. The tiers come in gold, amber, dark, and very dark.
Behind her sat a number of both glass and plastic bottles of maple syrup for sale. “We typically put amber in glass bottles because it looks so nice.” They also sell maple products such as sugars, maple candied nuts, cotton candy, and more. One special type sold is Bourbon and rye barrel aged maple syrup that, like aged whiskey, pulls flavor off the interior of the barrel.
At Cindy and Mike Gray’s Orange Cat Café in Franklin, one could see massive jugs of both M&S Maple Farm and also Cool Hollow products. Their celebration of Maple Days included a special menu of carefully crafted maple recipes that proved popular to locals and visitors alike.
Cindy Gray shared that “we cook with it, bake with it.” She listed some of their offerings, including “wet walnuts” for ice cream, maple glazed bacon, buckwheat pancakes and a special breakfast treat called “the Waffle Stomper.” Between two waffles is piled ham, egg, and cheese with maple drizzled on the outside.
The local connection with area businesses added to the growing demand elsewhere has fueled production expansion. Mark Kimble explained that in the past two years of production that “we’ve doubled it,” going from just over 2,000 taps to almost 4,000. They also acquired access to additional lands that provide more trees to tap.
Between the growing local market and outside interest, M&S Maple Farm has their hands full in working to satisfy their market. That market includes a regular buyer in Richmond, Virginia.
Also, while in the past they had to purchase some of their syrup from others for their products, those days have passed. “All the syrup we sell now is made by us,” said Mark Kimble.
According to a 2025 United States Department of Agriculture report, production is on the uptick in West Virginia in recent years. It states that “Maple syrup number of taps in 2024 was 70,000, up from 69,000 taps in 2023. Yield per tap was 0.171 gallon, up from 0.159 gallon in 2023. Production totaled 12,000 gallons in 2024, up from 11,000 gallons in 2023.”
