Sweet! Elmira Maple Syrup Festival makes highly anticipated in-person comeback

The Elmira Maple Syrup Festival is back in-person again this year after a three year hiatus because of the pandemic.

On Friday, the festival's committeewere getting ready for the 59th year of celebrations at the Royal Canadian Legion in Elmira with a big breakfast and of course, pancakes were on the menu.

Matt Jessop, the committee chair, said they are looking forward to a big comeback with somechanges this year.

"We've built a new headquarters for the festival. We've redeveloped our brand and created a new website, which is great and allows users to navigate what's going on a lot easier. We've also built all new sets of stairs to load the wagon," he said.

"There's been a lot going on in the background and we're hoping to be back better than ever this year."

Jessop said this year, pancakes will be served indoors at the Lion's Hall in Elmira so any rain in the forecast won'tdampen the spirits of festival enthusiasts.

He said the community in Elmira has been really excited and supportive about bringing the festival back this year.

"Initially we were a little bit afraid that people were going to forget about us," he said."But after we got going, it seemed like there was a lot of excitement."

Jessop said they've got a little over 2,000 volunteers helping run the festival. That's a record-breaking number of volunteers for the festival.

He said while weather can always be a factor when it comes to attendance, they're hoping to see a crowd of about80,000 visitors.

LISTEN|Elmira Maple Syrup Festival makes a comeback after three years: