Festivals

Florida harvest festivals and farm tours demonstrate that you can soak up a little autumn spirit, even in Florida. All across Florida, farms create family fun with traditional harvest activities like pumpkin patches and corn mazes.

Like Cedar Key itself, the Cedar Key Art Festival is a slice of authentic Old Florida. This historic small town is located on an island on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Sebring, a small town along the lovely Lake Wales Ridge in Central Florida, is staking a claim for something new — Florida’s first (and only) craft soda festival, the Sebring Soda Festival. Local small-batch sodas made with real sugar are making a comeback, partly as an outgrowth of the craft beer phenomenon. This Sebring festival is a good opportunity to taste what it’s all about.

The St. Augustine Lions Club Spring Festival has reimagined its seafood festival past.

Florida loves a good festival. Here are 75 hand-picked festivals around the state that range from funky local bashes to huge nationally known cultural events.

Guide to Florida pirate festivals, kicking off with January’s colorful Gasparilla Pirate Invasion in Tampa.

Our annual guide includes campground and lodging links with a full menu of things to do at the fair and nearby.

This tiny fishing village wedged between Bradenton and Anna Marie Island celebrates its rich heritage as a commercial fishing hub.

The Everglades Seafood Festival in Everglades City brings fresh local seafood, country music, carnival rides and arts and crafts to this historic outpost on the edge of the Everglades.

Nothing says Florida like a seafood festival, and the peak season kicks off in January.

Like a state fair, the Strawberry Festival has agricultural displays, livestock shows, arts and crafts, local food and a stunning carnival midway. The entertainment line-up is extraordinary year after year.

You can get gator tail and swamp cabbage at this festival. But the real reason to go is to revel in a last corner of small town America in Florida — beauty pageants, high school bands, armadillo races and a rodeo.

Manatee festivals celebrate Florida’s beloved manatee in January in Crystal River and Orange City. The family events include good spots to view manatees.

Florida Rambler’s comprehensive Holiday Boat Parades calendar provides dates and links to boat parades around the state.

Due to Hurricane Ian, the annual Naples Stone Crab Festival has been postponed. A new date has not been announced.

Micanopy is right off I-75 near Gainesville, but it feels far away — like a small town in a Florida long gone. The Micanopy Fall Festival is Oct. 29-30, and in that part of Florida, it looks and feels a little like fall.