Mangoes are so popular in Southwest Florida. They even have their own festival!
The 2022 Mango Mania Festival will take place Saturday, July 16th from 9 am to 4 pm and celebrates the area’s abundance of mangoes and other tropical fruit. It’s one of the most popular mango festivals in Florida.
You can thank the region’s climate for that stroke of luck. The climate here is similar to that of the mangoes’ native climates of India and Southeast Asia.
The Mango Mania and Tropical Fruit Festival will be held at Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Catholic Church at 12175 Stringfellow Road in Bokeelia. Check for ticket prices. It’s fitting because Pine Island is especially suited to grow the sweet, tropical fruit.
Mango season in the Sunshine State is at its peak in the summer. It runs from May through October. There are about 50 types of mangoes grown on the island. There are usually more than 20 mangoes available to try.
Several cooling tents, air-conditioned portable toilets and misters spread throughout the festival will also help keep attendees cool.
There will be a tasting tent and places to buy whole mangoes, jam, smoothies, chutney, ice cream, tea and bread.
Home cooks and amateur chefs can enter a food and recipe contest. There will also be mango and tropical fruit-based beverages and food for sale. After all, it wouldn’t be Mango Mania without it. Don’t miss the free mango tasting table.
If you want to learn more about mangoes at the festival, you can attend educational talks about tropical plants, palms, art and more. Tropical plants and trees will also be for sale.
Don’t forget to say hi to the Mango Queen either!
If you’re not into mangoes, that’s ok, too. While your friends and family gorge on nature’s sweet nectar, there are options for you as well.
Vendors will be there to offer everything from mango trees to Native American jewelry.
There will also be an area for family-friendly games and mango-themed activities.
You’ll be able to participate in:
- Mango cornhole
- Mango pie-eating contests
- Hat parade
- Hat-decorating contest
- Mango juggling
- “World’s Largest Mango” contest
- Mango Head contest (where you decorate mangoes like a Mr. Potato Head)
- Mango limbo (where you hold mangoes in both hands while trying to go under the limbo pole)
- Face painting.
There is always live music to help keep you energized!
Enjoy Mangoes from Pine Island Whenever You Want
If you love mangoes so much, you can get them whenever you want from “The Mango Factory” or any other Pine Island mango farm. They’ll ship fresh mangoes to your door and all fruit is guaranteed to arrive in good condition and ripen properly, or you’ll get your money back on the damaged portion. More information can be found here: https://www.themangofactory.com.
If you’re local or don’t mind a bit of a drive, Pine Island Tropicals and Fruitscapes Nursery in Bokeelia on Pine Island are known for their mangoes and other tropical fruit. Have you ever tried a Barbados cherry, jujube fruit or black sapote? You can also try Seminole pumpkin or guava bread.
When Did Mango Mania Start?
Mango Mania is the brainchild of former Chamber President, Jerry Myers. Normally for locals, Mango Mania and Pine Island go hand-in-hand. It started there, but it’s since grown and expanded into Cape Coral.
The idea for the original festival came out of desperation. Myers needed to pay the bills and he was desperate to raise money. The Chamber didn’t even have enough funds in their bank account to cover the electric bill. Myers had a field full of Pine Island mangoes and at a board meeting, he proposed the idea to hold a festival and sell them.
The festival started at Bokeelia’s Our Lady of The Miraculous Medal Church in 1996. It then moved to an empty field on Stringfellow Road and a KOA Kampground in St. James City, which the event soon outgrew. It lasted three years in St. James City before moving to the German American Social Club in unincorporated Lee County. According to an article from a local newspaper, no other venue on the island could handle the traffic and parking from Mango Mania’s thousands of attendees.
How to Cut a Mango
Mangoes are downright delicious, but cutting them can be tricky. Instead of leaving this page and searching YouTube for a video, we’ve provided one for you—so you can start enjoying your fruity treasure a little more quickly.
This is what you’ll need:
- Paper towel
- Cutting board
- Chef’s knife
- Y-shaped peeler
- Wash the mango and remove the skin with the Y-shaped peeler. As you begin to expose more pulp, use the paper towel to hold the mango so it doesn’t slip out of your hand.
- Place the mango on a cutting board and slice it in half, avoiding the pit. Using the chef’s knife, aim it at the center and slice the sides, still avoiding the pit.
- Hold the mango upright and cut the rest of the flesh off of the pit.
- Slice that cut horizontally in halves and then into smaller wedges.
- Enjoy!
Royal Shell Vacation Rentals near Mango Mania Pine Island
One of the best things about vacationing in Cape Coral is that it’s situated in the middle of everything. Naples and Fort Myers are both about a 30-minute drive away. Sanibel and Captiva Islands are about the same distance. Cape Coral also has a vibrant downtown and boating scene. You’ll have plenty to do when you’re not at Pine Island Mango Mania.
Let us know if you’re wondering where to find Southwest Florida boat rentals. After all, it’s not a Florida vacation if you don’t get to go out on the boat at least once. Royal Shell vacation rental guests get to take advantage of 30% off boat rentals from Port Sanibel Marina.
Whether you’re in Southwest Florida or not, let us know how you enjoyed your trip! We love helping our guests create memories that will stick with them forever.
