MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 22, 2026
Making maple syrup from the sap that annually flows from Maine’s maple trees is a simple process but mistakes can happen. That seems appropriate considering Maine Maple Sunday, what is now one of the biggest days of the year for maple syrup lovers and producers and inspired other agricultural product-themed days across the country, grew out of a mistake. Alan Greene‘s family has tapped trees at Greene Maple Farm in Sebago for eight generations. Four decades ago, a reporter misquoted his father, Ted, saying the farm would serve pancakes the following Sunday. People showed up looking to have pancakes and maple syrup. That gave Greene’s father an idea. Greene and Arnold Luce, another maple sugarer in Anson, decided, through the maple producers association, to designate a day in 1983 as Maine Maple Sunday when they would open their sugarhouses to the public and share their process and sweet products.