HIGHGATE, Vt.—An ocean of sap came out of the trees in Vermont Sunday and Monday.

“I don’t think I've ever had a 24 hour run bigger than this,” Jeff Disorda of Benson, Vt. told The Maple News on Monday, March 9.

Disorda said he got 4,000 gallons of sap in less than 24 hours off his 1,500 taps.

Nearby in Shoreham, Vt. 2,500-tap sugarmaker Tim Hescock and his sap hauler Ken Vanhazinga were scrambling to keep up with the deluge.

“It started late last night and ran all night,” Hescock said.

He said an app on his phone told him the sap dumping pace on his releaser was churning so fast that he got up and ran to the sugarbush at 3 a.m. to get an extra tank in place to collect sap.

“We had one bush that was going at about 275 gallons per hour,” he said.

Meanwhile, at the tree tapping ceremony Monday to kick off the Vermont maple season with Gov. Phil Scott at Gagne Maple Farm in Highgate, Vt., sugarmakers were comparing notes on the season so far.

“This week looks really good and we’re getting the maple season when we’re supposed to get it…in March,” said Pierre Parent of Sheldon, Vt.

Harold Howrigan who sugars off of 25,000 taps around Enosburg Falls, Vt. was cautiously optimistic.

“We got a nice start and the next 10 days looks great,” Howrigan said. “But maple can be finicky.”

In St. Albans, Vt. sugarmaker Joe St. Pierre was boiling 19 percent concentrate Monday afternoon, clearing storage space for a sap run that wouldn't quit.

"We've hauled five 1000 gallon sap loads in since last night," St. Pierre said.  "It's gonna be a good day."

Joe Orzell of Hubbardton, Vt. was also rushing to collect sap as fast as it was coming in, boiling twice in one day with son Brian Orzell to keep up. 

Back in Highgate, Vt. Jason Gagne of 25,000-tap Gagne Maple Farm and host of the governor’s tree tapping ceremony was also impressed with the forecast.

“The next two weeks looks real good,” Gagne said.  “We can make a lot of syrup in two weeks, even a whole crop.”

At the tree tapping ceremony, there was much talk about the coronavirus and its possible impact on the maple industry and the statewide Maple Open House Weekend, scheduled for March 21-22.

“It’s on,” Allison Hope, executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association said of the event.

Hope said she has been in discussions with her board of directors about the situation and that there were no calls to cancel the event but expected participating sugarhouses to do “what’s comfortable for them."

“Our event sees a lot of people coming and going, but not a lot of concentration of people gathered at one time,” Hope said.

Later, Gov. Scott himself told The Maple News that visitors should have confidence in coming to Vermont.

“We are one of the safest states to visit in the country,” said Scott, who was visably avoiding handshakes at the tree tapping event, instead bumping fists or elbows with attendees.