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On a crisp autumn Saturday in October, six miles west of Auburn, Alabama, the town of Loachapoka's population increases by 100 times. The event is Syrup Soppin' day. Close to 20,000 visitors come from all over Alabama and the surrounding states to watch cane syrup being made at the real sugar cane mill powered by drafts and mules. They watch as the juice is actually squeezed out of the sugar cane and cooked over an open fire and eventually becomes syrup. Close to 12,000 pounds of syrup are made each year. The syrup is really good over soft butter, then take a biscuit in hand and drag it thru the syrup. That's called "sopping" the syrup.
. Visitors also tour the vendors of arts and crafts and dine on assorted food and snacks. The best meal of the day is sausage and homemade biscuit from Hardee's with syrup on the side. The biscuit breakfast has been a
part of the festival since 1993. Hardee's gives all of the morning profits to
the town of Loachapoka as a part of their community involvement. Hardee's
managers from several southeast restaurants gather for the annual festival. The Syrup Soppin' is held on one
of the Saturdays in October that Auburn Unversity has an away football
game. In 2008 that means October 4 and October 23. Most likely the Syrup Soppin
will be held on October 23. Confirmation and other details will be posted here
as soon as they are available to our club.
The Syrup Soppin' is HODARS main public service project each year. Our participation is how we "pay the rent" so to speak. It is always fun to help run the booths, help with vendor set-up, or assist any way we can. The vendors, visitors and especially the Sop staff are grateful for our assistance, plus we feel like a real part of the community. It is the least we can do to help repay the kindness and support shown to our amateur radio organization each year. W4HOD will once again have our special event staion in 2008, operating from the Syrup Soppin'. We will mail out a commerative QSL card to each station that contacts our station and submits a QSL card to us. Loachapoka, Alabama on Wikipedia
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