Sugarfest set to turn Belchertown sugarhouse into maple-filled party

BELCHERTOWN — In need of a sweet break from the winter blues?

Look no further than Sugarfest at Shattuck’s Sugarhouse, a maple syrup festival celebrating the season’s signature flavor. Starting at noon on Saturday, March 14, people from all around New England can watch the sugaring process before shopping at a mini market, eating local cuisine and dancing to 90s hits. It’s agrotourism in its purest, stickiest form.

“It’s the sweetest place to be for a Saturday afternoon in March,” said Nate Shattuck, event organizer and owner of Shattuck’s Sugarhouse.

Sponsored by Massachusetts Cultural Council and Belchertown Cultural Council grants, the event is free for all to attend.

Shattuck was born into sugaring. His parents Will and Judy Shattuck opened the business 51 years ago by tapping maple trees on the same land as their Devon cattle farm and Devon Lane Tractor Supply store. This event, however, is his personal creation.

“This is our Super Bowl,” Shattuck said.

The Shattucks finished construction of a brand new sugar house at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing prevented them from opening to the public or setting up a restaurant, so Shattuck decided to get creative. He invited fellow vendors at the Belchertown Farmers Market and local food trucks to be part of a maple syrup celebration.

“It’s a wonderful blend of local businesses working together and agrotourism of the maple industry,” Shattuck said.

The first year 400 people showed up. The next year, attendance doubled despite the rainy weather. Last year, Shattuck estimates 1,400 people from every New England state except Maine traveled to their Belchertown sugar house.

As part of the theme, local businesses sell maple-flavored goods using syrup from the sugar house. The Shattuck Sugar House spins maple cotton candy and sells the famous maple candies the season is known for. Ludlow brewery Vanished Valley offers the Shattuck Maple Brown Ale on tap as well as other beers and wines. Barton Beeswax perfected a candle that smells like a sugar house during a syrup boil.

“We went over a month back and forth with samples until he felt like this represents the sugar house,” said Melissa Hibler, owner of Barton Beeswax.

Hibler met Shattuck through the Belchertown Farmers Market, and his support has been essential in launching her clean-ingredient candle business. Shattuck recruited her last year to sell at Sugarfest, where the “Shattuck Sugar House crackling maple” candle sold out quickly. She plans on bringing eight or nine other maple scents, like maple pancakes or maple stout, as part of her display this year.

“I have some people who purchase the candle who live out of state but used to live in Belchertown and they were so happy to have a candle that reminds them of living here,” Hibler said.

Diana Consolini Shea of Fortuna Artisan Cookies has spent the last two months designing a menu for Sugarfest. Named after her grandmother Fortuna, Shea specializes in Italian cookies and desserts pulled from her family’s recipe book. She also offers a gluten-free version of her cookies, including a maple sandwich cookie.

“For this event, I really try to do things that highlight the maple products,” Shea said. “I have experiments, and I get my husband and my neighbors for the taste test.”

Last year, she made a maple sugar cookie shaped like the Shadduck Sugar House’s syrup jugs as well as a litany of other maple-flavored creations. This year, she plans to add maple biscotti, maple whoopi pies and a maple dessert martini complete with a brown-butter blondie soaked in a maple liquor.

“It’s the most rocking backyard party you’ve ever been to in their life,” Shea said.

For those who need a break from the sweet stuff, five savory food vendors will supply dinner options. The lineup includes Italian Madd Eatz, egg roll extraordinaire Rustic Fusion, deli-focused North Elm Butcher Block, handmade pierogi producer P’frogi and hot dog vendor Jeannie’s Weenies.

Accompanying the event is pop rock cover band NOW That’s 90s Band. Shea and Shattuck said the dance floor is always full of smiling people.

While the event takes place at the sugar house, the entirety of the Shattuck property is wrapped in the festivities. Shea said that people park in the fields and walk down Kopec Avenue, past the babbling Jabish Brook, tapped maple trees dripping sap into buckets for the next syrup batch and Devon cattle grazing in the fields. Shattuck suggests people wear boots in case of any mud.

“This was born from a conversation at a market and it’s fascinating to see how it’s evolved into something,” Shattuck said. “When you attend, the vibe is happy, the people are dancing, there’s food, it’s sweet all around.”

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