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Felker Award Contest Winners
submitted by Brenda Noiseux of the NHMPA
The New Hampshire Maple Producers Association (NHM
PA) is proud to announce the winners of
this year's Walter A. Felker Memorial Award. Top honors in the school division have been awarded to Crotched Mountain School in Greenfield, NH; top honors in the individual category have been awarded to sisters Madison and Olivia Dunne of Newton, NH.
The awards are the culmination of an annual program which encourages K-12 schools and students across the state to take a hands-on approach to learning about NH's maple tradition. Earlier this spring, students tapped trees, collected sap and boiled it down to make "liquid gold." At the end of the maple season, contestants submitted a maple syrup sample that was judged at the annual NHMPA summer meeting in July.
For Madison and Olivia Dunne, the process was "a
lot of work but very rewarding because it taste so good." The young women were originally inspired by their dad to take up the syr
u
p challenge.
For Crotched Mountain School, it took a commun
ity effort to produce their award-winning syrup with both form
er Crotched Mountain student, Richard Siebert and NHMPA mentor, Chris Pfeil, owner of The Maple Guys in Wilton, NH lending a hand.
Commonly referred to as the Felker Award, the program and the monetary prize aim to encourage interest by New Hampshire youth in the production of the Granite State's great maple sugaring tradition. No prior knowledge of maple sugaring is necessary to compete. Details for the 2018 program will be announced shortly.
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