http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/kumquat-festival-is-on-but-freeze-cuts-pascos-kumquat-crop-in-half/1064973

Kumquat Festival is on, but freeze cuts Pasco's kumquat crop in half

By Helen Anne Travis, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

DADE CITY — The recent cold snap wiped out east Pasco's kumquat crop, but the 13th annual celebration of the peculiar orange fruit is still on for Jan. 30.

Kumquat Growers Inc., the festival's fruit provider since its inception, harvested about 220 bushels before this weekend's freeze.

A little more than half of the bushels, each weighing about 40 pounds, will be shipped to buyers. The rest are stored in coolers, reserved for the festival.

"We're going to have to be stingy with them," said Frank Gude, co-owner of Kumquat Growers, the nation's largest producer and shipper of the tiny, tangy fruit.

"Certainly don't want to have a kumquat festival without kumquats."

Each year, about 30,000 to 40,000 people descend on Dade City to honor the small sour citrus that is grown in the area and shipped all over the world.

Organizers say the event is growing in popularity. In 2008, a couple wed during the festival. Kumquat and Dade City queens and their courts were bridesmaids, a local bakery made a kumquat wedding pie. Last year, the festival was advertised on Tampa's Super Bowl Web site.

This year, representatives of Walt Disney World's horticulture division at Epcot will bring in Mickey and Minnie Mouse topiaries.

The Dade City Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the festival, has received multiple calls inquiring whether the freeze would cancel the event.

"The festival is on. It's on rain or shine, cold, hot, whatever the weather is," said Nita Beckwith, the chamber's executive director. "We're not canceling it for any reason."

The festival, held every year on the last Saturday in January, sometimes conflicts with the Gasparilla pirate invasion in Tampa. That's kind of the point.

"Gasparilla has its own age group and we have ours," said Joey Wubbena, the event's general manager.

Kumquat season traditionally lasts from mid November to mid March. Kumquat Growers brings about $500,000 to the area each season, mostly paid out in payroll and supplies, Gude said. This year's freeze cut the season painfully short.

"We're going to do about half the business we normally do," he said.

Gude has laid off his 40 pickers for the season. His other 10 employees are packing up the last orders, and then they'll be done for the season, too.

"They only worked about eight weeks, so they're not even eligible for unemployment," Gude said.

The last time a freeze wreaked this much havoc on the kumquat was in 1985.

The big difference, though, is in 1985 Kumquat Growers lost their trees; this year they haven't seen any tree damage.

"It's devastating to us, but we learn to live with it," Gude said. "We just feel kind of helpless. We have to depend on nature and see what it does for us."

The 13th annual Kumquat Festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 30 in downtown Dade City.

Times staff writer Bridget Hall Grumet contributed to this report. Helen Anne Travis can be reached at htravis@sptimes.com or (813) 435-7312.

That is odd--my kumquat tree was left totally unprotected (I ran out of cover material)--I picked about half of the fruit, but left the rest. I sampled the fruit several times and never found it frozen (the limequat I have grafted on it did freeze). My tree show no sign of damage. The lowest temp at the airport was 19 and it is just a mile from me.

Your partial tree cover may have helped you there. It was the nineteen degree freeze last year that we got last year that partially defolianted the Meiwa I had planted in the driveway flowerbed. It was completely exposed.

.....Alan.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/30/301354/kumquats-rule-fest-pasco-county/news-breaking/

Kumquats rule at fest in Pasco County


Staff photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ
Roger Swain passes out Kumquats for people to sample Saturday
at the Annual Kumquat Festival Saturday in downtown Dade City.

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 30, 2010
Updated: 01/30/2010 01:54 pm

DADE CITY - Tired of pirates? East Pasco County is offering an event today for those seeking a more sedate Saturday.

The city's annual kumquat Festival is filling Dade City's shop-lined streets.

Freezing temperatures earlier this month took a heavy toll on the local growers of the tiny, tangy citrus fruit. In many cases, fruit left on the trees during the freeze was lost, growers said.

Florida Kumquat Growers, the company hit hardest by the freeze, was forced to cancel its wholesale orders so it could supply kumquats for this weekend's festival.

Those kumquats were in abundance this morning, tempting browsers.

Along with the usual assortment of crafters and festival vendors, the Kumquat Festival includes homemade goods featuring the fruit.

The festival runs through 5 p.m. today. More information is available online at http://www.kumquatfestival.org.

I was over in AL on Sat. and looked at my sisters citrus trees--she saw lows in the mid to low teens. Her Miewa fruit was frozen, but no defoliation. Her satsuma fruit was also frozen, but no damage to the trees. The orange tree grafts I put on her small satsuma did defoliate and drop fruit.

I am still picking Miewa fruit from my tree--it is fine. I am seeing where some of the small green fruit froze and it is dropping as did all of the limequat fruit. The tree cover in the yard is the only protection it had and even that was not directly over the tree. There is a good wind break from the azaleas around the yard.