Doing what city government does best — making maple syrup!

The business of local government is to look after the common good for the people living in or visiting the municipality.

Road maintenance, school administration, emergency services, public parks, and of course, making maple syrup.

The city of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada may be the only city in the world with a municipally owned sugar camp.

It only makes sense. The city owns large tracts of undeveloped land with stands of sugar maples. So an enterprising city employee came up with the bright idea of capitalizing on the natural resources that the city already owns and tapping the trees to make syrup. (They also make maple candy and other maple sugar based products.)

These get sold at a profit, but the city only makes a very small income from sales of maple products. Far more important is the public relations value that comes from operating the world’s only municipally owned maple syrup factory.

Every bottle of syrup that goes out proudly carries a label prominently identifying it as Moncton syrup. There are also description cards attached which tell the story of the Moncton maple sugar camp and of the city itself.

Poster promoting Moncton maple syrup

Heather Fraser, the genius behind the Moncton sugar camp, was only too happy to show me around the city’s operation. Having been to a handful of sugar camps before, I have to admit to being impressed by what I saw there. The building and everything in it were clean and well-kept.

The two bottles of Moncton syrup I couldn’t help but take home with me after my visit to the city’s sugar camp were light in color and delicate in flavor. There is nothing quite like real maple syrup and Moncton’s syrup is as Canadian as it gets!

(For more information about the Moncton maple sugar camp, visit their website.)

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