ST. ALBANS, Vt. -
It was a chilly start to the 46th Annual Maple Festival in St. Albans.
That kept a lot of people away Friday. But organizers and businesses hope better weather and bigger crowds arrive this weekend.
Maple Festival Information
"We put it on. We hope the people come but there are no guarantees," says Carolyn Perley, Maple Festival co-chair.
Especially when the first day of the festival was chilly, snowy and windy.
"No, it's not the normal weather. It's definitely cool," says John Gamache.
"You live in Vermont. Wait a minute and the weather will change," says Mary Smith.
For people who did venture out, there were short lines for food. Anything hot - from fries, to pizza, to corn dogs - were big sellers.
Icier options were not.
"On a cold day, lemonade doesn't go that strong," says Scooter Desmond, Scooter's Pretzels owner.
Desmond says this is his tenth festival. While he says Friday was pretty slow, that could change as the festival continues this weekend.
"Definitely high hopes, with more sun, we'll do a lot stronger," says Desmond.
With so few people, vendors closed early Friday. While turnout is weather dependent, Perley hopes 30,000 people will sample maple products during the three-day event.
"Come and learn about maple. Come and learn to taste maple, find out what it's all about," says Perley.
And even the cold temps couldn't stop people from trying a maple creemee for the first time.
"This is wonderfully smooth, sweet, great," says Deb Cowley.
