It’s a sweet sign of spring.

The sap is running, and the Wargo Nature Center in Lino Lakes is ready to tap into it during Sunday’s Maple Syrup Madness festival.

“It started 13 years ago, actually as a maple full moon event,” said Deb Gallop, program supervisor at Wargo. “In 2004 we switched it to a day festival, and it’s been a wonderful family event.”

The event attracts an average of 100 participants, and it happens rain or shine.

But the conditions have to be perfect for maple syrup making.

“It has to be above 40 [degrees] during the day, and under 30 at night,” said Jennifer Fink, marketing and visitor services manager at Anoka County Parks and Recreation. “That’s what causes the sap to run. Some years are better than others, but it’s always fun to teach folks about it.”

All stages of the maple syrup process will be shown and demonstrated by the Nature Center’s naturalists. The history of maple syrup making will be covered, dating to the 19th century.

The actual process itself hasn’t changed much over the years. In the spirit of the old tradition, the sap will be collected from the maple trees, then cooked down over an open fire. But there also is an evaporator for use on-site, so participants can take in the modern-day maple syrup processes as well.

The Nature Center event incorporates many other activities along with the maple syrup making. Visitors can participate in a hike where they see tapped trees, learn about the process of making sap into syrup, as well as craft making.

“It’s a lot of families, from parents with young kids all the way up to empty nesters,” said Fink. “It really varies, and it’s a free-flowing event where people get to choose what they want to listen to, what interests them.”

Everyone’s favorite, especially the kids’, seems to be the taste-testing, Fink said.

All sorts of maple syrup treats are available, from maple syrup baked beans to log cabin sundaes, which are topped with maple syrup made at the center.

The syrup tasting is an education in itself, Fink said, with many people not believing the difference when they taste the product for the first time.

Fink and Gallop said it’s a treat to see the kids stick a finger under the spout and taste the sap.

“What they think is maple syrup from the store, and what true maple syrup is that gets made right in front of their eyes. … There’s definitely different grades of maple syrup,” said Fink. “Most of the stuff in the store is flavored with additives, to make it taste like maple. The actual stuff you’ll taste at our event is lighter in color, and it’s a much softer taste. … It’s just more subtle.”

Last week’s arctic blast gave an assist to one of those staples of Minnesota winters — the back-yard hockey rink — but even amid the mostly mild weather the tradition endured, as three hockey dads in the Centennial School District can attest.

This is Ben Peterson’s third year in the back-yard rink game. The Lino Lakes resident has two sons, ages 13 and 11, both hockey players. They went to skate on a buddy’s rink in Elk River a few years ago, and the idea took over. “I really wanted one,” Peterson said.

The first year didn’t come without problems. The ground wasn’t level, “so I ended up asking a neighbor who was a farmer, and we put it up in the old pasture behind his house.”

This year, the rink dimensions are 50 by 100 feet. The farmer helped level the ground with his Bobcat, and Peterson and some neighbors built the frame from old boards.

The rink attracts kids of all ages around the neighborhood. “The older guys slow the game down a little bit so that they can play with the younger guys. They all know the rules of the rink, and show respect,” Peterson said. “If they don’t, they aren’t going to be invited back.”

Rick Mathies lives nearby, and his 10-year-old son often can be found on Peterson’s rink — when he’s not on his own.

In Mathies’ case, Mother Nature gave a hand: When the family moved to the neighborhood in 2007, their property came complete with a small pond. Right away, Mathies went out and shoveled off the snow.

“People started coming out of the woodwork,” he said with a laugh. “Everybody showed up. Since it’s a pond, it does crack, and it’s exposed to the elements a lot, so I started running a hose off the water heater and flooding it once a week. It gives the kids a good skating surface. I added built-in nets, also.”

Mathies also says the neighborhood kids are respectful of the pond rink rules. “All the kids play on teams, and there’s always somebody out there,” he said. “All the neighbors got together and bought sets of 1,200-watt lights. … we have nine sets of lights up. I sometimes think a plane might land there!”

Both dads agree that the rinks have brought the neighborhood together. “We’ll keep this going,” said Peterson, “We’re making memories for the kids that they can remember for the rest of their life.”

Bob Sproull, another Lino Lakes dad with a 9-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, also is making memories. After tinkering with a 20-by-40 rink last year, he bought a kit last fall and put up a 30-by-62 sheet.

Sproull said the neighborhood kids have found his rink as well. “Everyone has liked it, it’s much smoother than some of the other rinks,” he said, “My rink holds 14,000 gallons of water right now.”

He has added some little touches, including LED lights mounted to trees, and has extra skates and dozens of extra pucks for the kids. He even has rigged up his own “PVC Pipe Zamboni” which hooks to his hose in the garage and helps smooth the ice.

So did the mild early winter cause any problems? “This year, it’s actually been really nice,” Peterson said before the deep freeze. “We got our rink set up and filled with water before that first cold snap, and it froze all the water in the rink…. Some days, the kids were out skating in their T-shirts, it’s been that warm.”

Mathies concurred that it hasn’t been “that bad” this winter. “I actually would like a little snow,” he said, “it’s so brown. Last year was a major task, there were three of us dads out there with our snowblowers getting the snow off the pond ice.”

Sproull said the warm weather has pros and cons. Pucks are easier to find without all the snow on the ground. However, all the leaves and seeds blow onto the ice on a windy day. He said he had to get on his knees and dig them out with a screwdriver.

“You definitely spend a lot more time preparing it and serving it than you actually use it,” said Sproull. “However maybe next year I’ll sell sponsorships!”

Kelly Jo McConnell is a freelance writer from Lino Lakes.

What do Stillwater prison and a K-12 Minnesota school have in common? One has inmates doing hard time, and the other is dealing with hard times from budget cuts.

But there is other common ground.

The Minnesota Computers for Schools (MCFS) program is a non-profit organization that trains Stillwater Correctional Facility inmates to refurbish computers donated by local businesses. The computers are then shipped to K-12 schools across the state for a nominal fee.

“I think a lot of these offenders want to work on computers because they know that’s what is happening in the world,” said Tamara Gillard, executive director of MCFS.

In 1997, Gov. Arne Carlson had heard about a computers-for-schools program at a governor’s conference in California. “The corrections there had been a wonderful partner, and it was a win-win,” Gillard said. “It kept the inmates busy, learning valuable skills, and it’s a good part of restorative justice.”

One of the 30 inmates working recently in the Minnesota program on the third floor of a prison industries building was Carlos Smith, who said he was unfamiliar with computers when he started.

“It’s kind of like living in the Stone Age,” he said of computer-free cellblocks. Smith, who has a daughter, said he takes pride in rebuilding computers to benefit schoolchildren.

“It gave me an opportunity to do something that’s giving back,” said Smith, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence. “To be in prison, it’s a chance to make something out of a negative situation.”

Another inmate, Alveto Rivera, has been in the program since April and said workers feel inspired. “All of us, we fix them to the best of our ability.”

Though the program has been around for years — and some marketing is sent to area superintendents — there is still a need to get the word out.

“MCFS can save schools a large amount of money in their technology purchases,” Gillard said. “Our equipment includes tech support and a three-year warranty on computers. Schools can take this savings and possibly put it into curriculum expenses.”

In some instances, schools can purchase two to three refurbished laptops for the price of one new one.

“Many schools are having to cut teachers, transportation, major class subjects. … Schools can’t afford to keep the attitude that new technology is the best and only solution,” Gillard said.

On average, 35 or 40 inmates work in the program.

“We work hard with mentoring the inmates,” she said. “They apply like a normal job. They will eventually test out and work side-by-side next to a senior technician [an inmate who has been refurbishing for a long time].

“We do quarterly reviews with them. They have job expectations, and if they reach their goals, they get a raise each quarter. The inmates are giving back to the community through their work.”

All the old data is wiped cleaned from hard drives outside the prison walls before the computers reach the workers. The inmates do not handle any sort of data, Gillard said, nor do they have access to the Internet.

Once refurbished, the computers are placed in public, private or charter schools in Minnesota, as well as in educationally based nonprofit organizations. MCFS has worked with 121 schools across the state.

Timothy Brockman, supervisor of information systems at Forest Lake Area Schools, is one such client. He learned about the MCFS program at a conference and was impressed. He said the Forest Lake schools have been purchasing almost all of their computers from MCFS for more than five years now.

“We are extremely happy with all aspects of what we get — the quality of the equipment, the cost savings, the fact that it is green,” he said. “Money was a huge factor. We needed newer equipment, and we could not afford to purchase brand new equipment.”

Gillard said MCFS makes sure it meets the specific needs of each school or nonprofit. “We’ll build to that order if they need additional memory or a larger hard drive,” she said.

Another inmate, Rhon Butler, has earned compliments from program managers for his dedication. Under Department of Corrections policy, each inmate can work a maximum of four years fixing the computers.

“Computers are the future now,” he said. “If I could finish the rest of my time [in prison] out, I’d do it right here.”

Kelly Jo McDonnell is a freelance writer from Lino Lakes.