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Going back six-seven years ago if you were in Taylors Falls on West Street at this time of the year, you might be curious about groups of teens dashing into and out of the neighborhood yards, lugging buckets to a garden tractor crawling along West Street, hauling a 250 gallon tank. Now this is a rutal in T.F. every spring.

The youngsters began collecting sap in 2001. Boiled and reduced into syrup, the syrup is sold to raise funds for First Lutheran Evangelical Church youth or FLY.

While changes have taken place in the youth programs and in how the sap is processed you will still see the "sappers" annually.

Over the years First Evangelical Lutheran Church developed a website where you can order the pure maple syrup. The garden tractor has been supplanted by a pickup truck. The old cooker unit has been much improved, one neighbor even called it "a beauty." Text messaging is used now to mobilize volunteers.

But, one thing that remains constant is the primal passion that makes this whole fundraiser tick-- the need for sweets.

Godfather of the church youth effort, Don Hansen, was in grade school when he first learned in schoolbooks about New England children turning hot syrupy sap into a candy treat, dropping it onto the frozen snow. Not until about 10 years ago, though, did Hansen pursue his childhood fascination when he rigged a home sap cooker and made his first few pints of syrup.

Hansen gradually added taps and buckets and soon he had more chores at sapping time than he could handle alone.

He heeded advice to find some help and chose the Youth of First Evangelical Lutheran Church located nearby his house. And so was born the FLY Maple Syrup Project.

There are now about 1,000 taps set into trees overseen by Project members, on sites ranging from Taylors Falls to Center City. Over the years friends of the effort, Don and Sydney Paredes, offered the use of a shed and small barn on their property north of Taylors Falls elementary school as a syruping base, and that's where the youth congregate. You'll also find several "retired" adults helping out with the ferrying of sap buckets and with cooking and bottling.

The report on the sap flow for spring 2009 is positive.

A journal kept by project members mentions that syrup out of New England and Canada retails for as high as $27.99 a quart because of a dismal season in those areas last year. FLY syrup, on the other hand, was produced on the heels of a great local harvest and their maple syrup is still $13 a quart.

The March 30 journal entry reported over 1,300 gallons delivered to the "sugar shack" for just that day.

Syruping got underway March 6.

So, how do you get your hands on this special syrup?

The youth group sells on mainstreet during the Leaf Spectacular in Taylors Falls and during First Evangelical Lutheran's fall fest in the churchyard (Chestnut Street).

Also go to www.tflutheran.org for ordering information.

The group uses the proceeds to pay for church camp, retreat scholarships and other expenses. The youth also decided to donate 10 percent of net sales to the Hazelden Youth Fund, aiding teens in recovery from addiction. (Some of the trees they tap are on the Hazelden campus.)

Editor's note: Many thanks to West St. resident Marian Anderson.

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