Little Sap Zaps Pancake Festivals

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The sap from maple trees is running so slow in parts of the Northeast that some towns have canceled their annual pancake breakfasts for lack of syrup.

“One guy told me he didn’t do enough to cover his pancakes,” said Wilson Clark, president of the Vermont Maple Sugarmakers’ Assn.

The season for tapping maple trees for sap, which is boiled down to syrup, is nearing the end in southern New England amid signs that warm weather and an insect with a taste for maples will sharply lower syrup production. “Everybody is down at least 50% to 75%, with more on the heavy side,” said Edward McColgan, president of the Massachusetts Maple Sugar Producers Assn.