Old maple syrup containers sit on a window sill at Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

LAKE PLACID — Only a handful of maple producers in the Tri-Lakes region will open their doors to visitors this week and next for New York’s Maple Weekends, yet there are more than 180 locations throughout the state participating this year.

The New York State Maple Producers Association, its members and the state Department of Agriculture and Markets are promoting Maple Weekends this Saturday and Sunday, March 23 and 24, and next, March 30 and 31. Most places will accept visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Since the first Maple Weekends were launched in 1995, the public has been invited to see maple syrup producers up close and personal, taking sugarhouse tours, enjoying pancake breakfasts and jack wax parties (jack wax is a candy made by pouring boiling maple syrup over snow), and sampling and buying maple syrup and related products.

This is what visitors can do, according to the New York State Maple Producers Association:

¯ Taste a pure and natural food product at its freshest and in its many forms.

¯ Learn how maple syrup and other maple confections are made.

¯ Experience the unique family traditions of making maple syrup in New York state.

¯ Celebrate New York’s first agricultural harvest of the season in a family-friendly environment.

¯ Meet the producers who annually make New York the second-largest maple-producing state in the U.S.

¯ Share in the many ways to cook and bake with maple syrup, maple sap and other maple drinks and products.

¯ Witness sustainable agriculture at its best.

The following locations in Essex, Franklin and Clinton counties are participating.

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Essex County

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¯ Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Forest, Bear Cub Lane, Lake Placid, 518-523-9337

¯ Black Rooster Maple, state Route 73, Keene, 518-576-9792

¯ Maple Knoll Farm, 784 14th Road, Minerva, 518-251-5141

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Franklin County

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¯ Mark Twain Mapleworks, 624 Lake St., Saranac Lake, 518-891-5915

¯ The Wild Center, Museum Drive, Tupper Lake, 518-359-7800

¯ Paul Smith’s College VIC, 8023 state Route 30, Paul Smiths, 518-327-6241

¯ Cedar Brook Maple Confections, 962 Limekiln Road, Malone, 518-593-3688

¯ Moon Valley Maple, 215 Johnson Road, Malone, 800-848-8766

¯ Friend’s Maple Products, 402 Spencer Road, Burke, 518-483-5559

¯ Woods Maple Products, 1470 County Route 23, Chateaugay, 518-497-6387

¯ Lakeside Maple, 298 Narrows Road, Chateaugay, 518-569-4142.

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Clinton County

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¯ Brandy Brook Maple Farm, 439 Brandy Brook Road, Ellenburg Center, 518-569-5146

¯ Trombley’s Sugarhouse, 7180 Star Road, Ellenburg Center, 518-390-7691

¯ The Forest Farmers, 4448 Route 374, Lyon Mountain, 518-637-7000

¯ Decoste Maple Farm, 1183 Cannon Corners Road, Mooers Forks, 518-236-5962

¯ Brow’s Sugarhouse, 89 Sugarbush Drive, West Chazy, 518-493-5683

¯ Bechard’s Sugar House, 61 Sanger Lane, West Chazy, 518-846-7498

¯ Parker Family Maple Farm, 1042 Slosson Road, West Chazy, 518-493-6761

¯ Sacred Roots Maple, 161 Atwood Road, West Chazy, 518-420-6806

Other participating locations in St. Lawrence and Warren counties are within day-trip driving distance from the Tri-Lakes area.

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New York maple facts

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New York state remained the second-largest maple producer in the U.S. in 2018, producing 806,000 gallons of maple syrup, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Producers benefited from a long season, which lasted 52 days compared to 43 in 2017.

New York is typically second in production among the U.S. states every year, behind Vermont and in front of Maine. In 2018, Vermont produced 1.94 million gallons of maple syrup (down 40,000 gallons from 2017) while Maine produced 539,000 gallons (down 170,000 gallons from 2017).

New York’s maple production accounts for 19 percent of the national total. There were 2.73 million taps in production in 2018, the highest number since 1943.

Overall, maple production in the U.S. totaled 4.16 million gallons in 2018, down 3 percent from 2017.

For more information about New York’s Maple Weekends, including maps of participating locations throughout the state, visit www.nysmaple.com.