The 2026 Kumquat Festival took place on March 8 in Dade City, Florida, after being rescheduled from January due to freezing temperatures and high winds. Despite the change in date, the festival drew strong community support, featuring a wide variety of kumquat-themed products.
The festival, which typically showcases fresh kumquats, had limited availability of the fruit due to the earlier freeze. However, Kumquat Growers Inc. sold kumquat pies made from frozen purée, along with kumquat marmalade, kumquat jelly, kumquat pepper jelly, kumquat marinade, kumquat salsa, and kumquat vinaigrette. Other vendors offered items such as kumquat ice cream and kumquat lemonade. The Catholic Women’s Club, which has been volunteering at the event for about 26 years, baked between 750 and 800 pies for the festival and had sold about 600 by noon.
Food trucks and vendors serving different cuisines, including Thai, Greek, and Caribbean, lined the festival grounds, drawing the attention of many festivalgoers. However, the rescheduled date seemed to impact attendance, with fewer people than usual attending the event. Volunteer Betty Schambeau noted that “Normally, the line is out to the road, but with it being rescheduled, I think it changed a lot for a lot of people.”
Originally reported by Hernando Sun
Sources: Hernando Sun
