Maple Syrup 5K (Vermontville - 2022 - 5K)

      Maple Syrup 5K Photos


39 Mile Drive



Registration:

 

As Spring running months approached and the amount of runs per weekend tripled, it got more difficult to pick out cities.  The things that draw my attention the most when it comes to choosing runs are:

 

-         Inaugural runs

-         Runs with festivals

-         Runs on any of the Great Lakes

-         Runs that have extremely unique courses

-         Runs that have been happening for decades

 

The Vermontville Maple Syrup 5K was close to home and part of the 82nd Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival, the oldest maple syrup festival in Michigan.  It immediately got my vote as I was planning the end to the month of April. 





Online registration was very informative for the in-person and virtual races that were offered.  I loved that their virtual participants could receive age group medals with proof of their times in a separate “virtual” category.  The only time I’ve seen that done was during the three months of pandemic lockdown in Spring 2020 when 99% of races went virtual. 



 

It was a nice touch to include proceeds went to helping the Maple Valley Cross Country teams go to Cross Country camps and buy new running equipment.  Registration said there would be t-shirts, a sticker and a small maple syrup gift included for in-person 5K finishers.  Virtual finishers would receive the shirt and sticker.  The maple syrup gift was awesome and almost topped a finisher medal.  It was intriguing that the course’s start and finish were 3.1 miles apart.  There would be a shuttle to take participants back to the start if they chose to park their cars at Maple Valley High School.  I hadn’t run a course that started and finished in different areas since the great 2019 severe thunderstorm Pi Run in Lansing.

 



I loved the detailed course map on RunSignUp.  It had me confused at first.  I asked Jason for his input on the “Ø” symbol on the map.   The arrows above the “Ø” were the confusing part.  Jason pointed out the numbers 1-10 that were meant as guides along the path.  If the “Ø” path was followed participants would cut the course.  It was an important note.  There was a volunteer stationed at that intersection to guide us in the right direction.

  


 

Packet pick-up was in the front lawn of the Maple Valley High School.  The race director and one other staff member were manning a table on the grass with filled plastic bags in front of them.  They had a few crates of office supplies on the table.  They gave us bib numbers as we checked in.  The two ladies were very helpful when I inquired about bathrooms after picking up our packet bags. 

 


Course:


The 5K course started at Maple Valley High School and took a northeast path to downtown Vermontville finishing near the intersection of Main Street and Second Street.  We started by taking an almost a complete circle around the high school before we veered off past the football stadium to the Thornapple Trail.  The Thornapple Trail is located behind Maple Valley High School.  The 42-mile trail from Grand Rapids ends in Vermontville. 

 



We were on the Thornapple Trail for half the course.  The trail had a nice wooden arch entrance with the trail name and was paved the entire section that we on it.  




The sun came through the trees in very photogenic ways while I was on the trail.  There was bright green moss on the ground until we got to the bridge over the Thornapple River, it disappeared for the most part past the bridge.  




Right before the bridge there were large sections of bright new grass that had sprung up next to the water.  I saw a lot of excess water in the trees due to the rain the night before.  The Thornapple River was high.  




The bridge was very slick as we had been warned.  Their first mile marker was .20 off which made me concerned that the entire course was short.  Past races that have had mile markers off have been shorter than 3.10 miles by quite a bit.  In the case of the Maple Syrup 5K, its second mile marker was 1.20 miles from the first, making up the difference. 

 




We exited the Thornapple Trail on Linden Street where the trail officially comes to an end near downtown Vermontville.  We went from a paved trail to a dirt road that was pretty muddy from rain.  The sun reflected off the puddles of water and made the dirt road quite beautiful.  The last mile of the course was a zigzag through paved Vermontville neighborhoods.  




There was an amazing home on Main Street with a huge red barn.   We passed the Vermontville water towers and baseball diamond right before the finish line. 




There was a beautiful house with a row of purple and yellow tulips near the road.  




The finish line was up hill on Second Street ending a block from downtown Vermontville with the bright yellow flags of the Michigan Fitness Foundation. 

 



The course had a few inclines and many bends and turns.  It was a great scenic tour of Vermontville showcasing Maple Valley High School, the Thornapple Trail and downtown. 

   



Swag:


Luke and I received soft cotton green t-shirts, stickers with the maple leaf man logo and instead of a finisher medals, we got sample size maple syrup containers from Benedict Family Maple Farm.  I missed not getting a finisher medal, but I also loved the mini maple syrup bottles.  It was the perfect thing to give out to finishers with the festival theme of the run.  I have never seen a maple syrup bottle so small at 1.36oz.  It looked just like a regular sized plastic maple syrup bottle.  Luke wanted to drink it.  We were given a second coupon for free maple candy that I discovered once we got home.  I wish I would have checked my bag more thoroughly before leaving. 

 


Whiling taking a break to eat on the grandstands after walking through the craft fair I pushed my empty maple syrup root beer bottle off the stands and it shattered on the ground.  A really nice man sitting in front of us walked down and started picking up the glass pieces.  We went down to help forgetting about our bag hanging on the grandstand pole with our finisher syrups and rainbow maple tree soap inside.  The bag got left behind and ultimately un-recovered to any lost and found.  It was unfortunate that someone didn’t turn it in.  By contacting the Maple Syrup Festival Office I was able to get a phone number of one of the owners of Benedict Family Maple Farm who was kind enough to mail out two new 1.36oz syrups the next day with one-day postage.  I offered to pay for postage and she told me not to worry about it.  I was so touched by her kindness.  We couldn’t get our soap back because they were sold out.  The maple syrups meant the most to us. 

 


 

Restrooms:

 


 

I asked the packet pick-up ladies where the restrooms were after Luke and I checked in.  They were in the back of the high school by the football field.  It was a decent walk back through gates to a small brick building.  The bathrooms were nice inside, much better than Porta-Johns.  The finish line was a block from the festival area which had multiple Porta-Johns locations.

 


Food:


There was a table at the finish line jammed packed with a box of apples, a box of tangerines, neat pile of bananas, bowl of cheese sticks, bowl of assorted granola bars, tub of large chocolate chip cookies made by “Good Time Pizza and More” in Nashville, MI.  There were full sized bottles of water for participants.  I loved the cheese sticks and cookies.  I have gotten cheese sticks at races before.  I don’t get them often enough. 

 


Awards:


There was an awards ceremony following the last 5K finisher in the epicenter of the Maple Syrup Festival.  Everyone sat comfortably in the festival grandstands that wanted to watch.  The race director and two helpers that may have been her children conducted the ceremony.  




Giant gallon jugs of maple syrup ($55 value) were given to overall female and male winners of the 5K.  



Unfortunately, the overall male winner was part of the Maple Valley Cross Country team and was not allowed to accept the gallon of maple syrup because it was over $25.00 in value per MHSAA rules.  The gallon of maple syrup was given to the second overall male instead and the race director said she would make sure to do something for the true overall male.  He still seemed really excited. I got a great photo of him with his hands in the air leaving with his medal.  I felt bad he was denied a great year supply of maple syrup.

 



Medals were given to age group winners three deep in ten-year age increments starting at “12 and under” and ending at “70 and up.”  Age group medals had the running maple leaf mascot with the run name and were on solid red lanyards.  There was no place identification on the age group medals.  They all looked identical.  My only suggestion for the future would be to put a sticker or engraving on the back of the age group medals showing place.  Stickers are a lot more cost-efficient. 

 


I read the awards information wrong on RunSignUp and thought it said, “Overall winners of each age group” would receive maple syrup.  I tried to run harder to be in the running for maple syrup.  Ironically, I did end up getting first place in a group of thirteen “30-39” year-old women.  That was really cool. 

 



Aide Stations:

 

There was one aide station positioned at the end of the Thornapple Trail where we exited onto Linden Street.  There were two men sitting in chairs in front of a truck.  They were behind a table with pre-poured water cups.  The water cups were huge 16oz plastic cups!  I don’t know how filled with water they were, but they were the biggest aide station cups I have seen at a race.  The two men smiled when I took their picture.  I didn’t take a glass of water, but it was nice to have an aide station upon leaving the trail at the two-mile mark of the 5K. 

 


Timing:

 

One of my favorite timing companies was setup at the finish line.  It was a gun timed race, not chip timed.  Michigan Running Foundation did the finish line timing with their classic yellow flags that could be seen from the bottom of the hill of the finishing stretch.  




I had a chance to talk with Luke from Michigan Fitness Foundation after we walked back through the last quarter mile of the course taking pictures I had missed.  I really wish I could be at his inaugural Spring Fling race at Sleepy Hollow State Park as a debut race director next week, but I am scheduled to be in Swartz Creek for my re-do on milestone city 175.  It will be a big day for me in Swartz Creek, as milestone cities always are.  After the disaster of Avoca falling through for city 175 a week ago, I am looking forward to hitting city 175. I will register for one of Luke’s future races.  I wish him an amazing first race as a race director.  He picked a great state park for a trail race.  Sleepy Hollow is huge, beautiful and has a great name. 

  


City Notes:

 

          Vermontville is a small village 30 miles southwest of Lansing in Eaton County.  It’s ironically a neighbor to Nashville, MI.  Both cities have a name of another state/capitol outside of Michigan.  Vermontville has a population under 1,000 but Michiganders that call it their hometown come back year after year for the oldest Maple Syrup Festival in the state of Michigan.  2022 was the festival’s 82nd year.  The festival came about after a handful of maple syrup makers gathered at a barber shop to discuss the best way to sell their syrup in 1940.  The festival has a craft show, tree tapping event, flea market, carnival, Grand Parade and fireworks.  Ten years ago the 5K event was added to the festival.   

 


Vermontville has a very cool downtown. Their post office and city park are feet away from one another.  Downtown businesses are very unique.  They are a mix of old and new construction and have different colors, heights, designs and materials that they are made of (wood, brick, stone etc.)  Vermontville’s downtown is an awesome hodge-podge of buildings.  I found an awesome Native American themed restaurant with lots of huge wooden sculptures and a great patio setup.  



The First Congregational Church of Vermontville is a staple in the town that’s steeple can be seen from a distance down Main Street.



 

The Citizens Elevator in Vermontville is one of the first things you see after you pass the first Vermontville city sign.  It was bought in 1988 and distributes soybeans, corn and wheat.  It has five sister facilities from Lansing to Battle Creek that serve over 300 farmers in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.  It’s a really cool elevator with a dozen silos of varying sizes. I was able to get a great picture of it after taking my second city sign picture.

 


Every city, village or corporation has something special about it.  Vermontville has the oldest running Maple Syrup Festival in Michigan that brings thousands of people to it each year.  Many that call Vermontville their home and a lot of other curious Michiganders come to taste the amazing maple syrup fresh out of Vermontville trees and enjoy the entertainment. 

 


City Sign:


The three Vermontville village signs that we found were all located on Main Street close to one another.  The first one was on the corner of Nashville Highway and Main Street and was in need of a makeover.  It was next to a really fun “Riverside Oak Furniture” sign that was made into a face with a flowering plant on top as hair.  




The second and third Vermontville village signs were across from one another by the Vermontville Citizens Elevator.  The sign next to the elevator highlighted the “Maple Syrup Festival.”  



The sign across the road was an upgraded stereotypical green city sign.  It was much larger with white posts, had maple leaves on either side of the words and said, “Home of the Original Maple Syrup Festival.”  There was an added smaller
“Sequicentennial Village 1936-1986” 
green sign next to the bigger sign.  There was also a shoutout to Ken Beardslee, the National High School Baseball Strikeout Champion.

 


Getting the picture of the first city sign was nice because it was next to an Amish bake sale under a big white tent.  The trouble came when Jason tried to drive the car over to take the picture and a truck blocked him talking to one of the bakery women for almost eight minutes.  The driver didn’t notice he was causing a major traffic jam after Jason left.  Three cars got stuck because of the oblivious man. 

 


Other Awesomeness:


Having the Maple Syrup Festival was wonderful in addition to the 5K.  After the 5K awards ceremony we hurried over to the Vermontville Fire Station for the pancake breakfast.  



We couldn’t miss a chance to try the famous maple syrup on some delicious pancakes from the Maple Valley Band Boosters.  Jason and I both wanted to know what brand the sausage was, it was amazing.  Maple syrup on sausage is delicious.  I tried the combination for the first time a few years ago. 

 


After eating a great breakfast we walked to the craft fair to check-out the vendors.  There were a lot of vendors.  There were also a handful of garage sales mixed in at surrounding houses.  We went from garage sale back to craft vendor.  An older man at a garage sale joked with the kids and was really nice to chat with.  I got a picture of him walking back to his house before we left his sale. 

 



There were a lot of vendors at the craft fair with all kinds of products.   We bought a deer fat candle to try.  We are fans of natural bees wax candles. 



 

The kids wanted to go on some of the carnival rides, but we had missed the sale on wristbands that ended Thursday.  Fifteen dollars for all three kids to ride on one ride was outrageous.  I always look forward to the Calhoun County Fair kid’s day where we can buy all day passes for $18.00 a kid.  It was worth it in 2021.  The kids rode on rides endlessly for hours.  Wristbands are the best way to go when it comes to carnivals.  We admired all the rides even though the kids didn’t go on any this time.    

 


Luke and I split a bun-less hamburger and baked beans from one of the food vendors.  Jason and I expanded our root beer tasting to maple syrup root beer from the Benedict Family Maple Farm.  We bought a gorgeous keepsake maple syrup bottle and rainbow maple syrup infused soap.  I went to buy two 1.36oz maple syrups in the cutest plastic jugs shaped just like regular maple syrup containers and was told by the farm owner they were “free” for participating in the race.   She saw the bibs Luke and I were still wearing.  I didn’t realize until we got home we both had free maple syrup coupons in our packet pickup bags for that specific vendor.  I am so glad the woman was awesome and said something.   Luke wanted to drink his maple syrup he liked it so much.  With how small it was, he could have.  It was about a shot of maple syrup.  The container was the ultimate keepsake. 



 

During our vendor walk we stopped at a tent with a woman dressed up as a duck to ask for a picture.  We discovered it was a duck race ticket booth for a river race happening in Nashville, MI on June 18th.  Tickets were only a dollar and being at the event was not required to win.  I would love to be at the event to watch the ducks race down the river.  




I will try to plan a run near Nashville that Saturday.  The other duck race woman at the booth (not in costume) inquired about my Mandy Runs Michigan shirt and took a picture of it.  I don’t know what will come of that, but I really appreciate the word of mouth it may bring.  I need that a lot right now. 

 


The kids played on the Vermontville City Park’s wooden train and we stopped at an Amish bake sale on the way home where we found two loafs of bread and….

 


“Pride of Michigan” cookies!

 

I asked what was in a Pride of Michigan cookie and the woman wasn’t completely sure.  They looked like oatmeal cookies.  They didn’t have raisins, which was awesome.  It turns out Pride of Michigan cookies are the world’s best oatmeal cookies with a new and improved name! 

 


In a very muddy area of the craft fair there was a booth with the friendliest artists.  An older man was sitting in front of an interesting looking machine.  The man was charging $1.00 to make horseshoe nail rings.  We each made our own ring with the press.  It was an awesome experience.  He gave us receipts that were a coloring sheet of himself.  He was very funny.  It was a very informative and great family activity for $5.00.

 


The last 5K finisher was an older woman that really struggled to get to the finish.  The race director and the woman’s daughter went to help her cross the finish line.  When she crossed the line she immediately started to fall to the ground and was grabbed by surrounding people.  Race staff got a car to take her back home so she didn’t have to walk anywhere else. I was glad we were at the finish line so we could cheer for her.   She may have not heard it in that moment of exhaustion and pain, but it still meant something to us.  I give her a lot of credit for continuing, but sometimes you have to be careful just how far you push yourself.  I hope she was okay after and got to enjoy the festival with her family.



 

The last story I have to tell about our experience in Vermontville is our stop at the Planks M-79 Grocery Store.  We went in for drinks and I very quickly knew it was unlike any rural grocery store I had ever been in.  I rushed to find Jason to tell him everything was insanely cheap and that I wish we lived in Vermontville.  I had grabbed a handful of items.  




They had expensive brands like Annie’s for 80% off retail price.  With the current price of groceries, it was shocking.  I walked around looking at everything.  I was in their cereal aisle when I saw an old Elf cereal box and it raised a red flag.  I knew the box was not from Christmas 2021.  I looked at the expiration date on top….

 

It had expired in Summer 2021…

 

I checked two more cereal boxes and they were expired by 3-6 months.  It suddenly dawned on me why everything was so cheap and I rushed back to Jason for the second time to tell him the news.  We still ended up getting a few things, but I had to put back our Jiffy muffins and Kodiak Cakes. 



 

I don’t know the whole store behind the M-79 grocery store.  They must get their food almost at expiration at extremely cheap prices, if not free.  It was still a really cool grocery store.  Going from the most reasonable grocery store to, “The food’s expired!” was hilarious.  I would still recommend the store as long as expiration labels are looked at.  The owners are very nice.  They had a lot of toilet trees, cleaners, household items (much longer shelf lives) and even handmade gifts.  I wanted to grab a Reese bar on the way out ….but it had expired in July 2021. 

 


We lit our deer fat “Jamaica Me Crazy” candle and made French Toast with the Amish bread from the bake sale tent to have with the Vermontville syrup Sunday morning.  Jason spent Saturday afternoon fixing some stone foundation.  It was a cool and very messy cement job and a great day to spend outside.  

 


Avoca was supposed to be milestone city 175 the week before the Maple Syrup 5K in Vermontville.  The Maple Syrup 5K became the first 5K I had done since Strides for Adam in the last weekend in March.  It was the longest non-injury related running break I have taken since the pandemic lockdown in Spring of 2022.  I was okay taking the first two weekends in April off because I had not registered for races.  The first weekend would have been a repeat city and the second weekend of April had two runs I was skeptical about.  Jason being the amazing man that he is, spent hours Thursday night trying to find a rental car when he discovered the closest electric car charger was 20 miles from Avoca.  He made a reservation with Avis at Detroit Metro Airport for $68.  We thought we had it all figured out and Avoca was a go until we got to the airport at 7:00am and they wanted an extra $300 hold on a credit card.  We couldn’t use our debit card.  We were stranded at the airport for and hour and a half without enough range to get to Avoca or back home.  It was a very sad day.  My only hope is that the Trestle Trek race comes back in 2023. Their email about lack of 10K and Half Marathon participants has me worried.  Running on an old trestle railway is one of those once in a lifetime courses.

 


Course Rating:  5 Stars

Post-Race Food Rating:  5 Stars

Swag Rating:  5 Stars

Awards Rating:  4.4 Stars

Race Execution:  5 Stars

Restroom Rating:  5 Stars

Aide Stations:   4.4 Stars

    Timing Company: 5 Stars

Post-Race Activities:  5 Stars

 

Maple Syrup 5K Quote:

“The greatness of a town can be found in its festivals.”

-         Siddharth Katragadda.




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