Touted as one of the “super foods”
Lowers risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer
Contains phytonutrients called polyphenols
Improves brain health
Fights urinary infections
POWERFRURLY BLUEBETH HEAL S BENEFIT blueberries grow well in Florida’s central ridge from Lake City to Lake Wales, where there are more hills, and high and dry land, rather than swampy areas. “We are blueberry central,” he says. After visiting the state festival in Brooksville, Joseph felt a local festival was needed to celebrate the agricultural and economic impact of blueberries in Lake County and Central Florida. Mount Dora city officials welcomed the idea, and Joseph credits Janet and fellow team members Brian Young and Sandy Farnsworth with having the necessary festival expertise to make it happen. The Mount Dora Blueberry Festival kicked off in 2015 with
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about 8,000 people attending. It grew to an estimated 35,000 attendance in 2016, and Joseph predicts 50,000 will be at this month’s event. “The whole blueberry festival really has been a phenomenon. It is the first one, the biggest, and growing the fastest,” he says of the Festivals of Florida venue. “Every grower that was at the event last year sold out of everything they brought. In five years, I think we will have the most attendance of any blueberry festival in Florida, and that is my goal. Once they get that new connector [road] from Orlando coming right to Mount Dora, it is going to open it up to a lot more people. They can get into Mount Dora much quicker,
