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» Video from Chautauqua Maple Promotion Day

WESTFIELD - Maple was on the minds of many Friday as area syrup producers, politicians and plain old fans of the sweetener attended the fourth annual Chautauqua Maple Promotion Day.

Held at the Vinewood Acres Sugar Shack in Westfield this year, the event again served as a symbolic kickoff for the local maple season - featuring demonstrations of how sap is collected, evaporated and the many different, flavorful end products.

''Maple syrup is fantastic,'' said Mary Jeanne Packer, New York State Maple Producers Association executive director. ''There's a million things you can do with it and you can find a ton of good recipes online at NYSMaple.com.''

An educational event, the second purpose of Chautauqua Maple Promotion Day is to spread word of the state-wide Maple Weekend events which will be held later this month. For details on the two weekend-long events and area producers participating in Southern Chautauqua County, visit www.post-journal.com and search the words ''Celebrating Syrup.''

Admitting that New York state is pretty pleased with its maple syrup production, Packer spoke about the things which could further build the industry and also those things which threaten it.

''We're now the second largest producer of maple syrup in the United States,'' Packer said of New York state. ''In 2008 that amounted to 325,000 gallons of syrup and we are headed for number one. One of the ways in which we can do that is to find more people interested in becoming maple producers. Unlike our competitors, New York state only taps about one percent of all their sugar maple trees. Many of you may not realize that the state tree here in New York is actually the Sugar Maple. If we could double the number of trees we tap, that's just two percent of all our maple trees, we would be the leader of maple production in the U.S.

''Right now the value of the maple industry in New York is $32 million, so imagine what doubling that would mean,'' Packer said. ''Now there's real economic stimulus.''

On how to expand the industry, Packer presented three ideas - encouraging current producers to expand their operations, encouraging people thinking about producing to give it a try and encouraging those with trees to lease out their trees if they are not interested in tapping them.

In addition to hearing first-hand from area maple producers, County Executive Greg Edwards also spoke at the event.

''This gives you an idea, yet again, of how diverse and how special Chautauqua County is,'' Edwards said. ''From the woods out in Forestville to the Sugar Bush out in the Sherman area to right here on the banks of Lake Erie, where else in this country can you have that kind of diversity but have the commonality of the maple industry. And where else could you see the nature of the opportunities that are there.

''Right here, in this operation, you are experiencing something that about 20,000 a year experience when they drive off Route 90 and come here specifically to come to the Sugar Shack,'' Edwards continued. ''It's not very well known, but a very great statistic, if you think about it because what Gail and her family does by drawing people off Route 90 is they introduce people to Chautauqua County. And who wouldn't want to come back once you're here? Especially if you happen to be here when they're serving pancakes. But it's an idea and an example of what we can do in Chautauqua County with all of our industries.''

To view video from Friday's Chautauqua Maple Promotion event, logon to The Post-Journal's Web site at www.post-journal.com. The video includes comments from Vinewood Acres Sugar Shack Co-Owner Gail Black as well as Big Tree Maple Co-Owner David Mun and Packer.