Tree-tapping ceremony set for Saturday at Hillegas Sugar Camp

FAIRHOPE ― The annual tree-tapping celebration of the Somerset County Maple Producers Association to officially kick off the maple season will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Hillegas Sugar Camp, 455 Dividing Ridge Road.

Local maple producers as well as Pennsylvania Maple Festival representatives, elected officials and other community members will be in attendance. Outgoing Queen Maple LXXVI Laura Boyce and Maple King Cody Lynch will officially tap a tree to herald in the season.

The three Somerset County commissioners, Pam Tokar-Ickes, Brian Fochtman and Irvin Kimmel Jr., will serve as this year's guest speakers.

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The current princesses vying for this year's 2024 Queen Maple LXXVII title will introduce themselves at the ceremony.

"Tree tapping is one of those events that marks a special time in Somerset County, not only for producers but for the economy as well," said Everett Sechler, president of the Somerset County Maple Producers Association. "It brings together many different people to convey support for the maple industry."

Kyle Hillegas, 39, owner of Hillegas Sugar Camp on Dividing Ridge in Allegheny Township, has actually been in the maple production business since he was 8 years old. He describes himself as a "backyarder" who had a curiosity about making maple syrup. His camp is far from "backyarder" status now and he and his wife, Rebecca, and their family will welcome everyone to Saturday's ceremony.

Unlike most maple producers who learned the trade from older relatives, Hillegas didn't start out that way. Instead, at about the age of 8, Kyle's curiosity and persistence about the long-forgotten keelers in the basement caused his father, Russ, and grandfather, Richard, to get a few of those keelers out, dust them off and hang them up around the yard up so the family could boil a batch of syrup.

His family had dabbled in maple production but mostly owned and operated a beef farm at that point. But, young Kyle was going to change all that.

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The son of Russ and Jeanne (Paul) Hillegas, Kyle is now a major maple producer in Somerset County and treasurer of the Somerset County Maple Producers Association. Even Kyle can't specify where his passion for maple originated. He just knows that it is now in his blood.

"We only had a few keelers in the basement but that was enough to get started that year," Hillegas said. "We tapped in the yard and boiled on the stove. The next year, we went to a few auctions and bought more keelers and got a kettle to boil in the backyard. We just kept going from there. I guess it got into my blood."

Oftentimes, maple producing is a business that people grow into gradually and Hillegas is a good example of a slow and steady growth into the industry. By the time he turned 14 years old, he put small tubing runs out into the woodlot with about 100 taps. Then, during his senior year at Berlin Brothersvalley High School in 2003, he started to go to different farms in the area and rent trees.

"It grew gradually – a little bit here and a little bit there. When I first took over all financial responsibility by myself without my parents' help, I decided to put everything I made from the business back into the business," Hillegas said.

After high school, Hillegas graduated from Penn College in Williamsport in 2005 with a degree in masonry. He enjoyed masonry, but decided to take a job on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and now works there full-time in maintenance.

His parents and grandparents helped to build the first sugar camp in the wooded area of their farm. In those early years, both Kyle and his older brother, Brandon, helped with all aspects of the sugar business. Brandon and his family are still actively involved at the camp.

And, his father, who retired from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, does most of the gathering in sugar season, while Kyle does the boiling and wood work.

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"Dad and I say that when we look back on it, we should have gotten an evaporator first instead of using pans, but we eventually did buy a used evaporator in 2002 and things worked out from there," Hillegas said.

In 2010, Hillegas and his family decided it was time for another improvement – a new sugar camp. The old camp served its purpose but was more difficult to access and didn't have modern conveniences.

Aaron Kinsley, a fellow maple producer who lives near Berlin and operates a portable saw mill, came out to the Hillegas farm and sawed out the lumber from trees on the family farm. The only wood purchased for the building were posts and trusses. The board and batten construction is impressive and comes complete with a Leader Evaporator, full-size kitchen and reverse osmosis (ROs). The late Henry Brenneman, an Amishman who specialized in maple production, helped with the design.

When the camp was built, the Hillegas operation was at about 2,500 taps, but now has about 9,000 taps on their home farm and rented trees.

In 2016, Hillegas married the former Rebecca Emert, and they have three children, Syrus Witt, 14, Brennen, 5, and Anna, 2. They make syrup and other unique products, such as maple peanut butter, maple-coated nuts, maple barbecue sauce and maple mustard. Last year, the family put on an addition and added a store, where they sell products and maple creemees (ice cream) and host monthly food days.

"I am not really sure where I caught the maple bug," Hillegas said with a laugh. "I learned a lot from books in high school and my teacher Ron Pritts knew I would read when it was about maple production, so I was always reading about that subject. It has been a learning experience the whole way through and now my family can enjoy the season and look for ways to improve as we keep producing."

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Tree-tapping ceremony to be held Saturday at Hillegas Sugar Camp