Dade City Celebrates with a Kumquat Festival

Got kumquats? Dade City does. Thousands of kumquats will gather together in downtown Dade City on Saturday, January 30 from 9 to 5. The occasion? The annual Kumquat Festival

I confess it is not easy to love a kumquat.

A kumquat is a tiny citrus about the size of a walnut. It is the only citrus where you eat the whole thing, bright orange rind and all.

Dade City has an annual kumquat festival

Be brave. Roll the small fruit around in your hand to release the oils, then crunch down, The taste is bitter sweet but once past that sour shock, the sweet sensation kicks in.

Either you want another kumquat right away or you don’t want to ever do that again. Your call!

Dade City area and soil is perfect for growing kumquats

Eastern Pasco County has sandy soil just right for growing kumquats. The nearby town of St, Joseph carries the nickname Kumquat Capital.

Two days before the festival, January 28 and 29th, the Kumquat Growers at their Packing House will host a free Open House from 10 to 3 p.m. each day.

There will be packing house tours and also grove tours in a tram. See the Kumquat Growers website for tour times.

At the festival on Saturday, January 30 expect to find kumquats baked in to pies, cookies, made into marmalade, blended in smoothies.

Buy kumquats by the pound or purchase a kumquat tree, take it home and grow your own. I did that a few years back and two years after planting the tree – kumquats appeared! Exciting.

The festival takes over downtown Dade City with 425 vendors signed up. You can have your face painted, cruise past antique cars, and check out arts and crafts, a farmers market, live music and even a Kumquat Kids Korral.

Admission is free. Transportation from satellite parking areas is free. City owned parking downtown is free. Did I mention “free” enough times? Dade City really wants you to come to this festival.

Dade City has exciting eating choices

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t raise a hand here and say that downtown Dade City, with its old Courthouse as a centerpiece, is well worth a visit anytime, not just on festival day.

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Bring an appetite, and some friends, to enjoy different kinds of food experiences.

Like having Lunch on Limoges inside Williams Fashion Center, a small department store that has been around for over one hundred years. The lunch area takes up about a fourth of the store and cooking is done in the open.

Lunch is served fro 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Closed Sundays. Reservations recommended (352)-567-5685.

Skip Mize, the chef, built the kitchen himself. Phil Williams runs the department store that has been in his family since 1908.

The Lunch on Limoges name comes from first serving meals and then as the china dwindled, serving small muffins on Limoges china.

If the lunch special includes pecan-crusted grouper, get that. And save room for their huge desserts, so popular that there is a sign saying you can’t just order dessert by itself!

Dade City has Steph's Southern Soul Restaurant

At Steph’s Southern Soul Restaurant they put the soul into serious comfort food like fried chicken and mashed potatoes served cafeteria style with of course real southern iced tea on the side. Unpretentious and down home, Steph’s is ranked number 1 on Trip Advisor out of 47 restaurants in the Dade City area. Open every day but check hours anyway because times change for holidays.

Mallie kyle’s Café is open for lunch Monday through Saturday from 11-3 – a small town restaurant where everything is cooked from scratch every day. The café is attached to the American Eagle Antique Mall.

The Truly Mediterranean Grill is truly Greek, all Greek. There is a map of the Mediterranean Sea painted on an inside wall and the only country named is Greece. So this is the real deal. Their lunch combo specials are reasonable and delicious. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Sunday.

Dade City has the Truly Mediterranean Grill

Shawarma platter at Truly Mediterranean Grill

Just a mile out of town is the Pioneer Florida Museum open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 5. Admission is $8 adults. $6 seniors and children ages 5-18 pay $4. On Saturday, January 9 from 8-4 they’re having the sixth annual Raising Cane and Pancake Breakfast with a syrup-tasting contest and cane grinding. Regular admission prices apply. Pancake breakfast served from 8 a.m to 11 a.m. costs $3 then it is on to a fried chicken dinner served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $5 a plate.

Ready to go to Dade City?

I am. The festival on January 30 is calling my name. I moved three years ago and left my kumquat tree behind.

Time for a new one – and a kumquat smoothie to celebrate.

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