FORT SIMPSON - For a few hours on April 15, a slice of the Fort Simpson Territorial Park was transformed into a piece of rural Quebec.

The campground hut in the park became a Cabane a Sucre, or sugar shack, under the guidance of the Fort Simpson speed skaters.

Dolly Cazon uses a Popsicle stick to roll up some thickened maple syrup into the sugary treat of maple taffy. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Residents of the village were treated to a meal of homemade pea soup and baked beans, pancakes, ham, sausage and eggs while they listened to the musical stylings of members of the Kole Crook Fiddlers.

A sugar shack is a springtime ritual in Quebec, said Anyes Fabre-Dimsdale, who came up with the idea for the event with Val Gendron. The speed skaters' sugar shack was organized as a fundraiser

The skaters went in search of an interesting way to raise the $4,500 that they needed to buy 10 new pairs of skates. A sugar shack was decided on because it's something that hasn't been tried before in the village.

"We just thought it would be fun and a good way to fundraise," said Fabre-Dimsdale.

The novelty had an appeal. Approximately 90 tickets were sold for the four sittings that ran every hour starting at 10 a.m.

All the food that was served were items that you would find offered at a sugar shack when the sap is being gathered in the spring to make syrup, said Val Gendron. Staying true to the French tradition the soup was made of yellow peas and not green.

Ticket holders were served by speed skaters and their families and seated at tables covered in brightly coloured tablecloths and decorated with vases of artificial flowers.

All that was missing to make the experience complete were the maple trees.

To make up for the lack of real maple trees, store-bought maple syrup was used to make the after meal dessert - maple taffy.

To make maple taffy you have to boil the syrup until it reaches the right consistency, said Fabre-Dimsdale. If you have two inches of syrup in the bottom of a pot it requires about 20 minutes of boiling.

When it's ready, small dollops of syrup are poured onto snow and the thickened substance can be rolled onto a stick and eaten.

"Everyone seems happy and pretty fascinated by the whole maple taffy thing," she said.

The taffy proved popular with some people stopping at the outdoor station for an advance taste before their meal. Many came back for second or third helpings.

Eating maple taffy brought back memories for Dolly Cazon.

Cazon said she hasn't had maple taffy since she was five-years-old living at the Sacred Heart residential school. The nuns used to make something similar with pure sugar, said Cazon.

"It reminded me of it very much," she said.

The whole sugar shack experience was "fantastic," said Cazon. This was the first time she'd been to an event like this.

"I'm enjoying it," Cazon said.