It’s cold this morning, and looking outside, you’d almost think winter would never end. The windows are frosted over, the sky is clear and orange. Perhaps it’s because of the seemingly endless winter in Quebec that Quebecers are so good at celebrating the arrival of spring.
The melting snow and return of warm days herald one of Canada’s most enjoyable seasons: maple syrup season. This is the season when sap is collected from maple trees (the country’s iconic tree, and rightly so), boiled down and transformed into syrup and delicious maple taffy. The season lasts from mid-March to mid-April, depending on the weather and the melting of the water under the bark of the maple trees.
It takes place in sugar shacks, in forests and in the countryside, and it’s also an opportunity to get together with family and play in the snow for the last time of the year. If you don’t have time to visit one of the many sugar shacks in the region, you can at least celebrate at the nostalgic Cabane Panache festival.
Sugar high and Quebec spring traditions
The Cabane Panache festival, which takes place every year along Wellington Street in Verdun, combines sugar shack traditions with a touch of folklore and a dash of modernity.
We can eat pea soup, bacon, anything with maple in it, and we want the wooden taffy sticks from our childhood to cover the inside of our mouths with sugar. The event is co-sponsored by Brasserie Benelux, so there will be beer and everything that goes with it too!
For children, there will be hockey, entertainment, face painting…
It’s also a farmers’ market, an outdoor concert—and a swing dance class in the Quebec tradition for those who want to bring spring in faster by dancing.
Practical Information
Where? Wellington Street, in Verdun (De l’Église metro station)
When? March 19-22, 2026
How? Free admission
Happy Maple Season!