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Ogdensburg BOCES students travel to state capital to mark 'Maple Day' as lead-in to second 'Maple Weekend'

Posted 3/29/16

Front, from left, Sen. Joe Griffo and BOCES Northwest Tech students Alyssa Gagnon, Natalie Chambers and Hayley Rubin. Back, Sen. Patty Ritchie, State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball, Sen. Betty …

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Ogdensburg BOCES students travel to state capital to mark 'Maple Day' as lead-in to second 'Maple Weekend'

Posted

Front, from left, Sen. Joe Griffo and BOCES Northwest Tech students Alyssa Gagnon, Natalie Chambers and Hayley Rubin. Back, Sen. Patty Ritchie, State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball, Sen. Betty Little, Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush and students from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School.

OGDENSBURG -- Leading into the second of two Maple Weekends, students from Northwest Tech BOCES joined state lawmakers in Albany on Tuesday to mark the state Senate’s “Maple Day.”

North Country senators Joe Griffo, R-Rome, Betty Little, R-Queensbury and Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton hosted the event.

Tuesday’s event comes in advance of the second in a series of two “Maple Weekends” in New York, where producers open their doors to the public with pancake breakfasts, tours and other activities. More information is here.

Today, New York is the nation’s second largest producer of maple syrup, after Vermont, with 2.3 million taps. That’s twice the number of 2009, Ritchie said.

Maple is a $20 million industry in New York, with the state producing 18 percent of all maple syrup in the country. In addition, New York syrup production in 2015 reached its highest level in 70 years, Ritchie said.

“This event, along with the upcoming Maple Weekend, teaches people about the journey from tap to table, showing them that maple isn’t just a sweet part of the foods we eat, but also a major part of our state’s agricultural economy,” Ritchie said in a prepared statement.