WATCH: Check out this super sweet event in Kelowna

After two consecutive years of not being able to embrace all that Franco sweetness, MapleFest weekend is back.

The 43rd annual event, which kicked off Saturday, saw families and residents at Stuart Park enjoying music, traditional food, artistic workshops, and other forms of entertainment.

Claudie Valque, Executive Director of Le Centre culturel francophone de l’Okanagan (The Okanagan Francophone Cultural Centre), told Kelowna10 this event has been around since the 70’s and its return is huge for the community.

“We did a virtual one last year, we did a big community concert with a lot of artists and all the restaurants who were also shut down,” she said. “It was sad not to have it, we couldn’t come together but we’re really excited to have it here today.”

Valque said the French community is growing in the Okanagan where about two per cent of Kelowna residents identify French as their first language.

She added it’s important to have events like these for everyone to get together and celebrate.

“I feel Canadian culture is from coast to coast to coast. In Kelowna we don’t have the chance to experience the French-Canadian culture as much,” she said. “It’s important to celebrate with everybody whatever your language is.”

One of the popular attractions of the day was the maple taffy tent, where they boil maple syrup, pour it on a bed of snow and roll it on a stick for consumption.

First time volunteer Claire Larose said she was happy to be part of the festivities and see the amount of people from the community it gathers.

“I’m a French-Canadian and I just wanted to share in the experience with other francophones,” she said. “It’s nice to see that it brings a lot of different cultures that can come and get to know what MapleFest all is about and participate in the events.”

MapleFest wraps up on Sunday with a Sugar Shack Brunch at Laurel Packinghouse.