Syrup Soppin'

Highway 14 looked like a 4-lane highway on Saturday morning.  Cars were parked on either side of the road and traffic was bumper to bumper in both directions for miles.  The Syrup Soppin' Festival made Loachapoka, Alabama the destination of choice all day on Saturday.  I arrived at about 7:45 and had to walk 1/2 mile to reach the festivities.  Hardee's biscuits and cane syrup were the breakfast of choice with fried peach pies taking a close second.

Cane syrup is made from sugar cane and in the early years the juice was extracted from the cane by squishing it between two metal drums.  The drums were connected to one end of a pole and a mule walking in a circle was connected to the other end of the pole.  The canes were manually fed through the drums; the cane juice collected in an iron cask and periodically emptied into a larger cask.  To turn the cane juice into cane syrup it was heated in a shallow pan over a wood fire.  Periodically, the syrup was tasted until it reached the "right" consistency and flavor.  On Saturday children (with big grins on their faces) rode the mule around the circle.

There was wonderful blue grass music, crafts and "fair" food--funnel cakes, kettlecorn, cotton candy and lemonade.  Hands-on exhibits let children use a wooden pestle to pound corn into a stone mortar and turn the handle to grind apples into cider.  I toured a blacksmith's shop, a doctor's office and pharmacy, a barn with old farm tools and an herb garden.

It was a glorious fall day and my two hours in Loachapoka were well-spent.