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BLUE Plump, juicy, and sweet blueberries are proof that good things do come in small packages. STORY: THERESA CAMPBELL // PHOTOS: FRED LOPEZ
Long hailed as a powerful antioxidant super food, blueberries will be celebrated in all their glory at the third annual Mount Dora Blueberry Festival. Freshpicked blueberries from local fi elds will take center stage, along with vendors showcasing blueberry baked goods, blueberry-themed crafts, and blueberry wine and beer.
One vendor even plans to bring blueberry barbecue sauce.
“All of the food vendors will offer something that involves blueberries,” says Joseph Steed, festival organizer with the nonprofi t Festivals of Florida Inc., who notes every vendor was asked to bring at least one blueberry product to the event.
The admission-free festival runs 9am-5pm April 29-30 on the shores of Lake Dora at Elizabeth Evans Park, 100 N. Donnelly St. Visitors will be able to partake in a wide range of activities, including a blueberry pancake breakfast, a blueberry baking contest, judging, and sales, a blueberry pie-eating contest, and music by the Judy Family Bluegrass Band and Bobby Blackmon.
A variety of fun things will be offered for kids to enjoy at the festival, while blueberry growers will be selling fresh blueberries picked from their farms. After all, fresh raw berries can be a delight to savor on breakfast cereal, folded in yogurt, topped on ice cream, or enjoyed naturally by the handfuls for maximum nutritional benefi t.
“Local, fresh blueberries are always best; you can tell a difference,” says Janet Gamache, event coordinator. “There will be jars of goodies and blueberry baked goods that people will be selling to take home, too. It will be a nice, eclectic mix.”
The current blueberry crop totals about 17 million pounds, organizers say, and the main focus of the Mount Dora Blueberry Festival is to showcase the agricultural signifi cance of blueberries to the local economy.
“A lot of people have no idea that blueberries are the new citrus,” Janet says. “Everybody thinks we are all about oranges, but we are not. Blueberries are really growing in popularity here in Lake County.”
The blueberry boom began after the 1989 freeze wiped out orange groves, and growers replaced citrus trees with blueberry bushes. Two types of blueberries grow well in Florida: the rabbiteye, in areas where winters are as cold or colder than in Ocala, and the southern highbush adapts well in Lake County and areas south of Ocala and north of Sebring, according to the University of Florida.
“Blueberries are popping up everywhere we once had citrus,” adds Joseph, who notes
—JANET GAMACHE
