The Kumquat Festival: Or how another industrial town maintains its identity despite a half century of economic challenges.

Dade City FL

January 30, 2010

A Florida Project Adventure

The Kumquat, a native of China and not quite a citrus fruit*, is about the size of a grape and packs a tart or sweet punch depending on your choice.(Nagami = tart, Marumi= sweet). After a not so long drive through Florida’s Green Swamp, we ate at the Kiwanis booth - hotdog or hamburger with all the fixings plus fries and a drink for 6 dollars. We were served by H.S. athletes, working under the Chief Cook/ Athletic Director, helping out their little brothers and sisters (all the money raised at the festival would go to the elementary school for playground equipment).
The streets were crowded with vendors – arts and crafts mostly - but we’d come for the kumquat jam so we headed straight to the Kumquat Growers Association Booth. Good thing too, as a downpour sent us to the car and, as it was early in the day, a trip to the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, a mile away.
We expected to see history from the 1800’s when the Homestead Act gave land to pioneers (We thought they all went West, too!) instead, we found what is left of a train station and the memory of a bustling company town of the 1950’s. While Art played engineer on the 1913 Porter-Steam Engine, we chatted with Tom, the volunteer Stationmaster and discovered the history of an area that centered on cattle and citrus. Trains that once ran 24/7 as 6 lines from Sanford to Tampa to Lakeland to Miami, criss-crossed an area as big as New England, mostly stopped In 1989 when a deep freeze sent the citrus industry south and the many packing plants in the area closed. In our two hour visit, two coal trains, one empty, one full, heading to and from the Tampa Power Plant, reminded us once again that the United States is not just the name of our country, but the reality of our lives. We also again realized how large the state is (The Green Swamp Preserve is 173,000 acres in only 5 of Florida’s 67 counties) and how rich its history. Hence – our Florida Project. Our goal – to visit at least one festival or state park monthly so that we will learn and love Florida’s history as much as we do our home here. We invite you to share our journey on Roots and Routes.
(Words don’t do the museum justice. Check out our pictures on http://therami.shutterfly.com/)

*The Kumquat was re-classified as a member of the fortunella genus – cousin to citrus – in 1915.