Open Houses 2023

[Bruce L]

Well,made the four hour trek to the open houses,hardly worth the trip. Started at Leader,no evaporator running for demonstration,that’s what sold me when I first saw the vortex in operation.Went inside,everything moved around,hard to find stuff,and as a note for all dealers,would be nice if prices were displayed or at least in the catalogs to save you from sticker shock at the checkout. Caught a helpful dealer from Ohio to help me find what I was looking for,checkout painfully slow,saw a number of people putting their stuff down and leaving,no hotdogs being served until 12 sharp,done shopping so headed to Lapierre. Again no evaporator running,cold meat sandwich,look around at the prices and suffered sticker shock. Marty good thing you’ve got your Force 5, there was a 3x12 Force 5 extreme there,gentleman beside me stated no smoke stacks or steam stacks included,$64,000 !!!!!!!!! Then onto DSD at roadway into Lapierre,chatted a bit with them,told him I have gone to exclusively DSD saddles,over 500 installed,said he was happy to hear that. Next onto CDL,they had an evaporator running,oil fired,not a tremendous boil or steam. Looking at various evaporators in the tent,saw a huge and tall unit,was their steam fired version,dealer told me didn’t know the price,they are all custom built for the customer. Looked inside,lots of people shopping. Next onto Dominion and Grimm,new airtight evaporator set up,but long done firing at 2, open house until 4. Couldn’t see or find out a lot about the evaporator. Went inside,pretty quiet,got a rod for cleaning out the tube on the butter machine,time I went outside already draining water from the evaporator. Stopped back by Leader again on way home,picked up new gasket for steam away,got to visit with Bruce Gillilan. All in all I have to say not really worth the trip

[VTnewguy]

Also made the trip. It might not have been as extravagant as previous years but I enjoyed a chance to see different equipment and talk to people about sugaring. We were at D&G when they were shutting down the airtight because of the heavy rain in forecast.

[TapTapTap]

Definitely well worth the trip for me - of course I only traveled 45 minutes from home.

But I could have traveled multiple hours and felt satisfied. Where else could you go to see all the major manufacturers with their technical experts having open houses on one weekend and all within about 10 mile radius? And, if you came all the way to VT for a free meal, then you get what you paid for.


Ken

[DMF]

We made the 4 hour trip and were happy with it. I was also frustrated about the prices not being on the items. CDL had one of those scanner guns that you could check the price, but the gun was a hard-wired gun so you had to drag whatever you wanted a price on to the gun. Lapierre prices were wild but I was impressed with the quality of their work. I was in the market for an RO and possibly a cream machine. I ended up getting a Memprotec 200H, which wasn't even one of the ones we were originally looking at so going to the show was worth it. We also bought a Leader cream machine. Leader had free local beer which my buddy loved.

The worst thing for us was finding a hotel. We had to drive to Plattsburg to stay at a Super 8...

[ecp]

I didn't even bother with it this year. It's getting kinda like the logging expo and farmers show where every year they tend to get cheaper and cheaper with what they are doing. I'll probably need to go in the coming years for the kids but I'm hoping they start showing more equipment and have classes going on throughout the day. Disappointing to hear leader didn't have better food options because that was the only reason I ever went there.

[DrTimPerkins]

The Bascomb Open House and Spring Equipment Sale is Friday/Saturday, May 5-6. https://bascommaple.com/pages/open-h...ment-sale-2023

Hope to see and chat with some of you there.

[DMF]

The Bascomb Open House and Spring Equipment Sale is Friday/Saturday, May 5-6. https://bascommaple.com/pages/open-h...ment-sale-2023

Hope to see and chat with some of you there.

We will be there! I am looking forward to meeting you!

[ennismaple]

Marty good thing you’ve got your Force 5, there was a 3x12 Force 5 extreme there,gentleman beside me stated no smoke stacks or steam stacks included,$64,000 !!!!!!!!!

Yikes! It has been 14 years since we ordered ours so i was curious how much pricing had increased.

[Andy VT]

Dang, wish I could be there! Ironically, I probably could if I hadn't made maple syrup this year. Now too far behind on other projects to get to any open houses! Hope many people make it.

The Bascomb Open House and Spring Equipment Sale is Friday/Saturday, May 5-6. https://bascommaple.com/pages/open-h...ment-sale-2023

Hope to see and chat with some of you there.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

I thought Abby from Proctor gave a great presentation on tree size and a second tap -- well worth the trip right there. Also, the tour of the Branson operation was simply amazing -- they really thought it through and it shows.