SHELBURNE, VA. (CBS) –A celebration of sugar in the first week of spring brings one Vermont community together.

David Palmer – owner of Palmer’s Sugarhouse – is excited he can still hold Maple Open House Weekend at his sugarhouse in Shelburne after this harsh winter. “We got a little bit of sap this week that we’ve held in our collection tank so that we’re able to do some demonstrating here today of making some maple syrup. But it has had an impact on whether we can be boiling all weekend,” Palmer says.

Maple Open House Weekend is held every year to celebrate the sugar makers who provide the region with real maple syrup. Along with boiling reserves, Palmer’s family owned sugar house was also making maple candy and providing customers with all kinds of maple goodies. “Come here every year to get sugar on snow and it’s just a good sense of community. I’ve seen a lot of familiar faces here from my town, and the live music – it’s a great atmosphere,” says Shelburne resident Sierra Williams

Sugar houses in New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont are taking part in Maple Open House Weekend. However, conditions this year for producing maple syrup have been less than ideal.  But, producers say they are making the best of it, opening their doors across the region. “It’s really close to our heart, it’s something that we really as a family come together and friends have joined us,” Palmer says “And as you can see there’s a lot of people who leave here feeling really happy and it makes us happy to see that.”

Maple syrup, celebrated in a sweet way the first weekend of spring.