About Me & The Story Behind the Maple Leaf

Welcome to the Hebron Harvester blog. My name is Adam Phelps (shown next to Maple Leaf on the right). I originally created this blog as a Hebron resident, under the persona of the Hebron Maple Leaf.

I created the image of the Hebron Maple Leaf. Since attending the Hebron Maple Festival, I wanted to bring more joy to the event. Helping out with the Church of the Holy Family, I originally help sell brownies in a bear costume called "Brownie the Bear" to help support Lobo Insurance. This was probably around 2007 and 2008.

After my participation in the Maple Festival, I joined the Knights of Columbus at the Church of the Holy Family. The Knights used to host a pancake breakfast to kick off the event. I bought the Maple Leaf costume with my own money, because I wanted to continue the joy that Brownie the Bear started, and to get people to come to our event. I stood outside the Church of the Holy Family waving for traffic to come into the pancake breakfast that would open up the festival. This was around 2010.

Many of my fellow Knights told me I should go uptown and walk around the festival. I decided I would give it a try and I did this on my own, giving kids high fives, dancing with music, and providing entertainment. I stood with many others who were selling products during the festival to help them fund raise. I continued this tradition yearly and even replaced the original costume with my own money, putting on the "Mr. Maple Leaf" logo. I even got on several tractor parades and tried to get in the local paper every year.

One year, a few people wanted to kick me out and I had people protesting for me to stay in the Festival. They said I needed "insurance" like most fund raising groups, but I wasn’t a for profit group. I was simply a Hebronian trying to spread festival cheer. Eventually, Diane Nadeau came over from the Windham Chamber of Commerce, took over the event and allowed me to stay.

Fast forward to 2022. I moved to Florida because of a job in the summer of this year and I didn't want my tradition to end. Now, the Town Center Project has taken over the event. I reached out to see if anyone was willing to take over my tradition. Thankfully, Michelle Nicholson at the Flower Girl Cafe has taken over this tradition for me. I have lended her the costume and her staff has been at the Hebron Maple Festival ever since. I can’t appreciate her efforts enough for stepping up and taking over this wonderful tradition.

We are in the process of obtaining a new Maple Leaf costume. I have received donations from several different individuals and groups and we are almost at the finish line. So far, the donations have paid for the production of the costume. This costume will be donated to Michelle at the Flour Girl Cafe. It will have logos for her business and the Town Center Project. We hope to have this costume ready for the 2027 festival and for many more years to come!

So, the mascot did not originally come from the Maple Festival itself. I created the concept, bought the costume and made the tradition. Now I hope the Maple Festival takes it and claims it as their own. I hope the Hebron Maple Leaf will reign for years to come.