Always the third full weekend of October, is the annual Maple Leaf Festival. It is entering its 57th year in Baldwin City, and for long time resident Paul Ellis, he has not missed a single one.

Ellis has always been to the Maple Leaf Festivals, and he is always excited for it to start.

“In the earlier years of Maple Leaf, it used to just be the residents of Baldwin,” Ellis said. “Now its a huge event that people from all around Kansas come.”

Also, Paul’s oldest son Shawn Ellis has never missed a Maple Leaf since he was born.

“I would even come home from college to come to the festival,” Shawn said. “Sometimes I would only get to spend Sunday at Maple Leaf, because of work but I still made it, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Ellis also said that there used to be beautiful floats at the parade.

“Maple Leaf used to coincide with Baker’s Homecoming, so the there used to be huge floats with moving parts and tons of color,” Ellis said.

The Ellis family is always at the festival: The oldest son Shawn and his family, youngest son Jason and his family, and middle son Ryan.

“I used to be great friends with Ivan Boyd, who helped start Maple Leaf, this festival would not have been possible without him,” Ellis said.

Paul Ellis used to be very involved with Boy Scouts because his sons were involved in it.

“One of my favorite memories at Maple Leaf would be helping out with the Boy Scouts in the early years selling Maple trees to people,” Ellis said. “It is just amazing seeing the youth of the city getting involved with the festival.”

Maple Leaf has changed a lot since the beginning, its going on its 57th year.

“The number of booths have changed so much,” said Ellis. “There used to be just a few, now the whole town is covered in them.”

Ellis also wants his grandchildren to keep coming back for Maple Leaf.

“I want all three of my granddaughters to keep coming to Maple Leaf, I know my oldest granddaughter is applying for a Maple Leaf scholarship (Margaret Boyd Scholarship) and that just makes me so happy,” Ellis said.