The parking lots were overflowing at Beaver Lake Nature Center this past Saturday as visitors enjoyed pancake breakfasts, tours of the sugarbush and sunshine on a beautiful March day.

The Beaver Lake staff has prepared extensive programming centered around the year’s “first harvest” including a demonstration sugarbush with six different stations to introduce visitors to the heritage of maple sugaring as well as an opportunity to sample the fruits of photosynthesis. The sugarbush will be open to the public and staffed with knowledgeable interpreters from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday in March and from 1 to 4 p.m. every Sunday in March. Pancake breakfasts are also offered from 9 a.m. to noon each Saturday in March. Breakfast costs range from $2.50 to $4.50, depending on the appetite, for a meal featuring pancakes, sausage, juice and a hot beverage. The Friends of Beaver Lake Maple are also selling goodies such as maple cream, maple candy, sapsuckers and syrup during March. Beaver Lake Nature Center is an Onondaga County Park located at 8477 East Mud Lake Road.