Try real maple syrup on a stack of steaming hot pancakes at the annual Clermont Parks’ Pancakes in the Park breakfast, to be held from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 12 at Pattison Park, located at 2228 US50 outside Owensville in Stonelick Township.

“In addition to filling your stomach, you can fill your head with knowledge about making maple syrup,” said Clermont Parks’ Chief Naturalist Keith Robinson. “From now through the middle of March is a great time locally to tap trees for sap that can be put into an evaporator and transformed into a delicious pure maple syrup.”

Robinson said that sugar maple trees can be tapped, once they are 35-40 years old, with a minimum diameter of about 10 inches. “Each tree can produce one to two gallons of sap a day,” he said. “It takes around four trees to produce one gallon of pure maple syrup. That’s why it’s more expensive than the corn syrup with maple flavoring that most of us are familiar with at the grocery store.”

Tickets for the Pancakes in the Park breakfast cost $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $2 for children, with those ages 5 and under free. Tickets are available the day of the event. Call (513) 876-9013 for more information.