Braggin’ rights
Montpelier, VT – Like the elves in the North Pole, there were a number of late nights for Doug Bragg and his cohorts at Bragg Farm this holiday season.
“The last two weeks, it’s really gangbusters,” said Bragg earlier this month about the holiday frenzy at the Bragg Farm Sugarhouse and Gift Shop. “As a result we’re staying here late at night, getting our packing done… Mail orders are up some. Everything’s up a little bit.”
For seven generations, Bragg’s family has been maple sugaring in Vermont, but its expansion into the tourist trade is more recent. The farm he runs with his wife, Barb, is located on Route 14, about a mile north from the intersection with Route 2. To showcase their wares, the couple built a gift shop in 1991 and added onto it three years later. Now, there is a canning room, and a handsome post and beam barn was recently added at the 50-acre farm.
“We don’t depend on the tour buses,” said Bragg, adding that about 35,000 people visit the farm each year. “We depend a lot on the people driving by.”
Once people have visited the farm and been shown how 2,500 maple trees are tapped and the sap is boiled down to maple syrup, they are hooked, according to Bragg.
