The third annual Florida Citrus Day was held at the Volusia County Farm Bureau farmers market in Deland on December 2. University of Florida Extension in Volusia County and Volusia County Farm Bureau partnered together along with the Florida Department of Citrus, Florida Citrus Mutual and the Miss Florida Scholarship Pageant Inc. to host the event.
Florida Citrus Day celebrated citrus from Volusia County with growers Steve Crump and his mother, Sylvia Crump, from Vo-Lasalle Farms in DeLeon Springs, and Janette Pell from Pell’s Nursery and Groves in Osteen. The highlight of the day was the delicious diversity of citrus fruit from Volusia County.
Miss Florida 2015, Mary Katherine Fechtel, helped to promote the citrus industry. As Miss Florida in the 2016 Miss America Pageant, she was named as a top 10 finalist and preliminary swimsuit winner. A senior at the University of Florida, she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in family, youth and community sciences with a minor in nonprofit organizational leadership. She plans to continue her education, obtain a juris doctorate degree and practice in the field of international human rights law.
About 200 attendees stopped by the display, which included fresh fruit samples of eight different citrus selections; a healthy, frothy orange creamsicle drink; free educational materials; balloons and children’s activity sheets featuring Captain Citrus.
For information on upcoming Florida agriculture commodity days, contact Karen Stauderman, UF/IFAS commercial horticulture Extension agent, at the Volusia County Extension office at (386) 822-5775.