At Heaven Hill Farm, kids were learning how to tap trees the old fashioned way — with drills, hammers, spiles and buckets — under the watchful eye of Will Madison, the farm’s sugar maple operation coordinator. Between the four days, and with half of Sunday still to go, the farm had welcomed around 160 visitors.

And just one mile down the road at Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest, families were treated to a “tree to syrup,” tour encompassing everything facet of the maple syrup production process. Eyes widened as director Adam Wild dished out some fresh samples from the evaporator, steam still wafting upwards from the small cups.

While there was no shortage of maple syrup samples, once they were on the table, they didn’t last long. Wild walked groups through the intricacies of the production process, the different grades and how the latest technology has made what is a time-, labor- and energy-intensive process a bit more efficient.

While the official maple weekends are now in the rearview mirror as much of New York moves past the peak of maple season, the Adirondacks with a colder climate, are just firing up. Wild estimated that with the cool weather last week, production here was only about a third of the way complete.

Adam Wild checks a temperature controller for the evaporator at Cornell University's Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Looking ahead to this week, with a slew of high temperatures in the low to mid-40s, Wild said Adirondack sugarmakers will be seeing their best runs of the season so far.

The Madison, Mikesell and McCabe families smile after learning how to tap maple trees at the Heaven Hill Farm in Lake Placid on Sunday from Sugar Maple Operations Coordinator Will Madison, seen at left. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)