In 1948, the idea of a big town festival was conceptualized by a group of men to promote their maple syrup. Since then, it has gained a name and is known all over as the ?Sweetest Festival On Earth?.

The Pennsylvania Maple Festival is held annually every last week of March to the first week of April. This year, they will be celebrating their 64th year starting on March 26 to April 3, 2011. It will be held at the internationally recognized ?Maple City? in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.

Meyersdale welcomes spring with the maple sugaring rites, a culture they inherited from the Monongahela Indians whom they considered to be the first ones who used the maple tree sap and turned it into sugar. But, it was only in the 1940s when it earned a celebrity endorsement from singer/radio broadcaster Kate Smith, saying that it was the sweetest maple syrup she ever tasted.

In the festival, aside from tasting as much maple syrup treats as you want, visitors can enjoy a pageant, quilt show, parades, lessons about the process of maple syrup making, arts and crafts, and an antique auto show.