It’s to Pie For
Florida seems to have a never-ending supply of winter festivals and I have attended and written about many. The Manatee Festival, Brooksville Pow Wow, Gasparilla, and others.
When I hear an advertisement for the Kumquat Festival, it piques my interest. Mainly because I ask myself, “What the heck is a kumquat?” When they announce kumquat pie and kumquat ice cream will be available, it becomes a must-see event.
The annual festival is held the last Saturday in January in Dade City, Florida. As a regular watcher of the live cop drama show, LivePD, I often see the ner do wells in the county seat of Pasco county highlighted. Puzzling, I wonder why so much crime happens here in what appears to be a quaint and charming old Florida town of 6,500 people.
The festival starts at 10 and I arrive at 9:30. Already, the downtown area is buzzing. Blocks and blocks of vendor tents are visible upon entering downtown. I find I am a bit apprehensive due to my ignorance of the taste, eating protocol, and the overall significance of the Kumquat.
I am relieved to see the Florida Citrus Growers tent with a sign inviting me to come and learn about the tiny citrus fruit. A proud and pleasant grower hands me a plum size orange fruit and instructs me to just pop it in my mouth whole. Now, I’ve fallen for this trick before with some hillbilly mountain oysters and am a little hesitant to just blindly put anything in my mouth. My reciprocal challenge of “You do it first!” is eagerly accepted.
It’s sweet, it’s sour, it’s a Kumquat
I follow along and find the taste is acceptable. It has a sour, citrus tang, and strangely the edible peel of the kumquat is sweet, delicious and adds a little crunch. The bite-size fruit creates a surprising clash of flavor when it is eaten whole.
After my kumquat immersion session, I feel obligated to buy a bag of fruits without any idea of what I’ll do with them all.
Oh Kumquat May
Now, with a newly found confidence, I stroll right to the Kumquat Pie booth hosted by the Catholic Women’s Club of St. Anthony Church. Of the many events and festivals I have attended, one truth prevails. At the risk of being politically incorrect, for good food, laughs, and camaraderie, look for little ol church ladies.
The booth has a maze of ropes that look like they are expecting a huge line, but since the festival is just starting no one is in line.
The mood is light, if not a bit hurried, but the gals are jovial and ready to sell some pies. At $3 per slice or $20 for a whole pie, I start with just a slice. I slip away to the side and proceed to devour the thing in about a minute. I have to have another slice of this addicting deliciousness! Returning with $3 already in hand, I do the math and wonder if I shouldn’t just plop down $20 for a whole pie. I joke that I dropped the last piece. They graciously offered to replace the pie at no charge.
Figuring lying to church ladies is bad karma, I fess up and admit I am just hiding my shame for eating the first piece so fast. I jest that I have already bought a bag of kumquats and if only I knew how to make a pie. Upon which, I am provided with the super-secret church recipe. Did I mention that church ladies are the best! (Never one to be good with secrets, I added the recipe below, shhhh!)
As if two slices of pie weren’t enough, I justify getting a cone of kumquat ice cream as research for this blog, yeah right. The ice cream is churned on-site in a wooden churn powered by a little antique tractor engine. As a self-described ice cream connoisseur, I find the ice cream as just okay. It was more icy than creamy. Not to my particular liking, but then again this was no church lady tent. With my appetite for kumquat temporarily sated, I proceed around the event.
Let them eat pie!
Estimates put attendance at over 30,000 with 400+ vendors. The venue spreads over several square blocks around the downtown courthouse. I peruse a few tents of local artists and then am distracted by another pie tent. Katy’s Corner Kumquat pie. For strictly research purposes, I must sample her pie too. While good, it was no St. Anthony pie.
The festival hosts local musicians, a car show, and a quilt challenge. Having once unsuccessfully attempting to make a quilt I can only imagine the atrocities of a quilt “challenge”.
The sheer number of vendors is impressive. It’s your regular cast of event characters: jewelry makers, junk peddlers, exotic plant farmers, and alligator jerky makers. The kumquat is prominent in many treat maker’s tents. An endless assortment of kumquat cookies, tarts and cakes can be found. I am a sucker for local jams and jellies and purchase a couple of jars of Gingers’ kumquat marmalade. Always looking for a unique gift, I even found some kumquat wine.
After a couple of hours, I’m convinced I’ve seen all there is to see. I loop back past my little church ladies. The maze of ropes is now filled with a mob of pie seekers. Getting anywhere near the place is next to impossible. My preconceived notion of Dade City was a bit suspect. However, I found the city, charming, well maintained, clean and the residents friendly. The only crime I witness today is the block-long line to my favorite pie stand preventing me from getting my 4th slice of pie.
When not on the road, he helps others fulfill their yearning to travel as a Membership Specialist for Thousand Trails.
When I was in Junior High school, (yep waaay back then when it was called that) our championship football bowl game was the Kumquat Bowl at what is now known as Camping World Stadium in Orlando, having undergone name changes from Tangerine Bowl, Citrus Bowl to now the one that pays the most $$$ to put their name on it. Miss the old days with history and charm. As always, you charmed the ladies…sure they loved the attention 🙂
I remember those bowl game names. I much prefer the classics, I miss those days too.