April 8, 2026 • 18 mins
The only festival celebrating the loquat tree in the entire nation takes place Saturday (April 11th) in New Port Richey in Pasco County. Florida is one of the few U.S. locations where loquat trees grow successfully. But it's not run as a huge business like the harvesting of oranges or other citrus fruits. In fact, much of the fruit for the festival comes from trees in people's backyards. We speak with Dell Dechant and Amanda Zborek from Farmnet, a group that promotes local food production.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here beyond the News. We have a lot
of festivals that celebrate various fruits and agricultural products around
the state of Florida. One of them is somewhat unique.
The Florida Low Quat Festival is happening Saturday, April eleventh
in Newport Richie and it's the culmination of a week
(00:20):
of events. And here to tell us about that event
and that week leading up to it, our Dell Deschant,
he is a director of the Newport Richie farm Net,
and Amanda zu Borek, who is the regional outreach director
from farm Net. They're going to talk about the low
Quat Festival and about the tree and the fruit. And
(00:40):
thank you both for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hi Gordon, thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Happy to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Gordon. Now, first of all, people, if you've lived in
Florida for any length of time, or if you've lived
in any tropical or subtropical tropical place, there's a good
chance you've seen this tree. Maybe you didn't know what
it was called, or maybe you confused it with a
kumquat tree. What is a low quat tree and why
is there a festival for it?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
The Low quat tree is tree that produces a delicious
fruit like you mentioned, similar to the kumquat. Is actually
part of the apple pear family and also produces a
very fragrant rose like blossom before producing the fruit.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
And the low quat tree was originally domesticated in East Asia, China,
and Japan. My understanding of the history of it is
is that the Japanese and the Chinese argue over who
first domesticated it, but the tree's domestication goes back thousands
of years. As a matter of fact, the Chinese poet
leap Hoo writes about writes about low quats and his
(01:53):
poetry from centuries ago, so the history of the low
quat goes back millennia. Really, it's not very well known
in the United States of America, though, in part because
the tree has a relatively narrow growing band in the
United States, and Florida just happens to be right in
the middle of that growing band, that area where the
(02:13):
tree produces a lot of fruit and thrives. So if
you go much further north in the United States, they
don't do very well, but they do really well in Florida,
just as they do in many other parts of the world.
So the Florida Low Quant Festival is the only low
quant festival in the United States, the only fruit festival
dedicated completely to the low quant, and we celebrate both
(02:38):
the wonderful fresh fruit that will have an abundance at
the festival, but also all the products that can be
made from from jams and jellies, preserves. I understand we're
going to have a barbecue sauce this year, right, Amanda,
Hot sauce. We're gonna have hot sauce, barbecue sauce, We're
going to have scones, We're gonna have baked goods. But
it's also to tell the story about local agriculture and
(02:59):
local food production and what can be done if folks
become aware of what grows here as a man to
point it out and correctly. So, the low quant is
part of the apple, pear and plum family. It's not
a citrus. It's not like the cumquad or orange or lemons.
It's a woody fruit and will have a nice pit
(03:19):
in it, or maybe a couple pits. A small fruit
with a big pit, we always like to say. But
it's in the apple, pear and plum family and will
have a very distinctive flavor that folks say is similar.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
To what I've heard a lot of different things.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, sometimes a lot of plums.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Plums, sometimes yeah, candy. It's sometimes called a Japanese plum,
or a Chinese plumb, or an Asian plum, and I
guess maybe a plum would be the closest case, But
we always say it's unique. It's a distinct flavor all
of its own. We find also that folks from other
parts of the world, immigrants and the children of immigrants
(03:57):
that are familiar with it in other parts of the world,
from China to Japan, to India to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria.
I can go across the world and folks that are
immigrants or descendants of immigrants that are familiar with the
Low Quad and other parts of the world come to
our festival. And it's surprising how many people from other
parts of the world are at this festival.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And the fact that it does grow here means possibly
there are a lot of people who have this tree
in their yards perhaps and don't even know about it,
which kind of ties in with I understand what the
mission of farm Net is as far as tying together
people and food and resources and urban agriculture in ways
(04:42):
that people might not be readily obvious at first glance.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, that's right. Amanda has been tracking the trees that
are available for harvest in our community. We do have
this food Sovereign and Tea program in which folks who
have trees fruit trees of all sorts when they come
into season and they're producing fruit, they often will produce
so much fruit that the property owner can eat at all,
(05:12):
and it often goes to waste or we have a
strong commitment to harvesting it, and we do it with avocados,
we do it with mangoes, we do it with cherries,
I think the Barbados cherries, starfruit also. But the tree
that we get the most calls on are the low
quat tree. So Amanda can maybe shared about how many
(05:35):
we have and where they are located around the town.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, that's absolutely right. We've got tons of community members
that have reached out. Some of them we've already gone
to their trees to harvest, and so as we coordinate
the harvesting, we're also giving that fruit to all of
the makers that are coming to the festival, so anyone
(06:01):
can participate. You don't need to have a tree or
have access to purchase the fruit somewhere. We harvest it
and provide it for you, and we focus on the
trees that have the fruit ready. They ripen at different stages,
so we harvest throughout the entire month.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's a beautiful tree too. A point that Amanda makes
is really cool and often overlooked by folks, is that
the ripening of the fruit on individual trees will extend
over a period of months. They'll start ripening as early
as January and they'll ripen all the way into May
e and in some cases, but they don't all ripen
(06:43):
at the same time, so it really gives this continuous
harvest over a period of months, which is really just terrific.
Another point that Amanda made that I just really want
to underscore is is that most of the trees that
we're harvesting from are trees that belong to individuals in
the community that are donating the fruit from their tree
to us. Now, we do have a large grove with
(07:05):
about fifty is that with the count is about fifty trees,
which probably is the largest grove dedicated exclusively to low
quats in Florida. We're not sure about that, but we
don't think a lot of other people are growing it
in quantity. We do have that right in the middle
of Newport Richie in a residential area. But besides that,
all over town there are these trees that folks are
donating the fruit to us to use in the harvest.
(07:27):
And then we have a whole network of makers that
are cottage industry folks that are making jam, jellies and
preserves on their own. So the point that I underscore
on this, which was great that Amanda brought it up,
is that this is not a corporate enterprise. This is
not an event that's being sponsored or promoted by large
(07:48):
scale nurseries or gigantic growers. This is something that's really
down to earth and extremely local in its emphasis, which
we believe is absolutely necessary. If we're going to go
forward and create a sustainable food system, it needs to
begin locally with local folks that are committed to the
local environment, to their neighbors, their friends, and that really
(08:09):
have their heart in the game, not just their economic interests,
but their heart, their soul, their whole being is committed
to this, and you'll see that reflected in the people
that are at the festival that are celebrating it. Both
the folks that are putting it on like us, but
also the folks that are coming to it as well.
There's a real love that's associated with this tree and
what we do. Now.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
There are a number of events that are happening leading
up to the festival. It seems there's a whole week
of activity that's going on, So kind of tell us
about the timetable for what's going to be going on
starting around I guess April the sixth, and then lay
eating right up to the festival on the eleventh.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, that's right. April sixth. Monday, we partner up with
Tory Lad at the new Port Richie Public Library for
their weekly Walk and Talk where they will meet up
and be guided by Dell to the low Quat Grove
over in the heart and Newport Richie and on that
(09:12):
walk he'll get to share about some of the trees
along the way and when you get there, we'll have
some tea made from our local partner, the White Heron
some low Quat tea award winning tea, and then we
get to tour the grove and later on that week,
on the Wednesday, the let's see. The eighth, April eighth,
(09:37):
will be the beer tapping at Cody River Brewery where
the owner there, Brian, works with the low Quats every
year and makes a low quat brew.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, so we're gonna have a couple of the other
events that that Amanda referred to are unique. Indeed, because
of the use that we make of the Lobo. We
do have the low quat tea, which is from the
white here and as Amanda mentioned, and that's done by
a local tea maker and it's an award winner. I
(10:14):
believe it's won international awards for teas in general. And
it's made again from the leaves of the low quat
tree right in town. And my understanding is correct me
if I'm wrong, Amanda. My understanding is is that this
is the only low quant tea that is made in
the United States of America.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
That's my understanding.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
In past years, when we first began the festival, now
what almost fifteen years ago, we wanted to have low
quant tea because it's a medicinal it's an herbal medicinal tea.
It heals the throat. I think there's so many other
uses for it. But as seen as a medicinal, and
the only teas that we could find were ones that
were imported, that came from China and Japan, and so
(10:55):
we imported them. We brought in boxes of tea from
those other countries. But then our enterprising a teamaker in town,
Kelly Hackman at the White Hair and Tea Shop, it
figured out the way to make the tea from the leaves,
and now she and others harvest the leaves of the
tree right here in town and she makes the tea
(11:17):
as well. And then the brewery also, I think has
the only certainly is the only locally brewed low quot beer,
but it may be the only low quot beer that's
made with local low quats here in the Tampa Bay region.
So if you want a delicious, locally brewed low cought beer,
come on the eighth to Newport Richie for that beer tapping.
(11:40):
And we're else going to have on display some of
the local local art, which is going to be another
feature of the celebration. So yes, there's a lot going
on and associated with the festival. And I do want
folks to know that this is not the Strawberry Festival.
This is not some gigantic blowout with ferrest wheels and
clowns and and acts on the side. It's all about
(12:02):
the local fruit and the local artisans that work with
the fruit.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah. I don't know if we could stand another event
the size of the Strawberry Festival that would be. That
would be quite the footprint the on the on the
eighth of Aprils when the low Quat beer tapping is
taking place. And back to the main event now on
Saturday the eleventh, you have some presentations going on and
that's happening at Simms Park and I believe at Peace
(12:27):
Hall and Newport Ritchie and you have some presentations going
on at that event on Saturday. What kind of topics
do you cover when it comes to low Quat?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
That's great, Gordon, Well, just about everything under the sun.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
We're uh in.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Just as a quick note, we have a proclamation of
the Loquaw Festival that will be done in Newport Richie
at City Hall in March, and I guess it's going
to be man, it's going to help me. I'm not
sure what day of proclamation is going to be. I'm
thinking it's that it's all right, all right, right, okay,
it's going to be one of those days. So there'll
(13:07):
be a proclamation at the at the City Hall announcing
the low Quat Festival as important of in the history
of the city and the like. But as far as
what's going on, we'll have there'll be an educational program
that's part of what is going to be presented at
It's called Peace Hall, which is in Sims Park and
(13:27):
that's also where the art show is going to be.
We're going to have a presentation on the history of
the low Quat, both in terms of its global history,
where it came from, how it got here, and then
what we can what you can do with the low
quant here in terms of the uses for the fruit.
In addition, we're going to have a grafting demonstration which
will be how anyone can learn how to graft low
(13:50):
quat trees and how essentially can make your own. We're
going to have a demonstration on how to make jams
preserves and again, don't get me wrong, we're not going
to be making jams and preserves that day, but we
will have an artisan that will be explaining how you
make jams, jams and preserves. We're going to have, we believe,
and this is not quite sure yet, but we may
(14:11):
have a performance by the famous low quat singer doctor
Roy Kaplan, and he's probably going to do his low
quat songs via a internet connection. I'm not sure about
that if that's going to work or not. We're going
to have a presentation about how to start low quat
(14:33):
seeds so that you can grow your own and we
do encourage folks to go ahead and get a grafted
tree if they want, but we're going to have a
demonstration on how you would curate the seeds so that
you can grow your own low quat trees. And then
finally we're going to wrap it up with presentations from
children in the community that are working with low quats,
including our own Lily Are I think, is that right?
(14:58):
Lily R is going to have a presentation on her
relationship with the low quat trees as well, and we'll
have some dignitaries that will be there that will talk
about the city and its relationship to urban agriculture, and
then we're and finally we're going to wrap it up
with a very robust and interesting children's program as well.
So there'll be a lot going on, but again I
(15:18):
don't want folks coming to the to the event and
thinking there's going to be something like the Strawberry Festival
or blueberry Festival that's going to be about a lot
of other things other than the fruit. This is all
about the fruit and the celebration of the fruit. So
it's low Quats from start to end, and a lot
not a lot of other activities will have will have
(15:39):
We will have event t shirts by the way, if
folks want to get, you know, an event T shirt,
and we will have. I think that we're going to
have one of our artisans is going to be making
low quat handbag. There's just a lot of stuff that
will be going on. There'll be more, there'll be jewelry there,
there'll be more, probably more derivatives low quats and people
(16:01):
could ever imagine. But you're not going to find it
too much other than the low quat. You probably won't
find like a hot dog vendor there. You're not going
to find the typical fair food that you see cotton
candy and the like. It's whatever foods are going to
be there, always be healthy food, and all of it
will be local too, from the honey, from the honey
(16:22):
to the cakes to the pastries to the fruit.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
All right, and let's sum it up quickly to wrap
it up, the what, the where, the admission charge if
there is any, and what people need to know if
they want to go to the Low Quat Festival in
Newport Ritchie.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Okay, a man, They'll start it off and I'll finish it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Up, all right. The thirteenth annual Florida Low Quat Festival
at the SIMS Park near Peace Hall in Newport Richie.
There is absolutely no fee. Everyone is invited to attend
and consider participating with us in the following year.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Beautiful, and we're going to have nursery trees available for sale.
We're going to have low quat seeds available for sale.
We're going to have fruit available, We're going to have jams, jellies, preserves, pastries,
and cakes and everything that you can possibly make with it,
as well as an educational program. And we're also going
to have shirts that eat loquat shirts and various other
(17:23):
promotional activities promotional items available as well. So it's going
to be from ten in the morning till two in
the afternoon on April eleventh, the one and only low
Coat Festival in the United States of America. Everyone's welcome
to come, no charge, bring your family, bring your friends,
and bring folks at don't know about low quants and
bring folks that do. Everyone's welcome.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Amanda Zuboric and Dell Deschant with Newport Richie farm Nett
talking about the Florida Low Quat Festival. Thank you both
for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Thank you Gordon, Thank you Gordon,
Gordon Bird here beyond the News. We have a lot
of festivals that celebrate various fruits and agricultural products around
the state of Florida. One of them is somewhat unique.
The Florida Low Quat Festival is happening Saturday, April eleventh
in Newport Richie and it's the culmination of a week
(00:20):
of events. And here to tell us about that event
and that week leading up to it, our Dell Deschant,
he is a director of the Newport Richie farm Net,
and Amanda zu Borek, who is the regional outreach director
from farm Net. They're going to talk about the low
Quat Festival and about the tree and the fruit. And
(00:40):
thank you both for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hi Gordon, thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Happy to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Gordon. Now, first of all, people, if you've lived in
Florida for any length of time, or if you've lived
in any tropical or subtropical tropical place, there's a good
chance you've seen this tree. Maybe you didn't know what
it was called, or maybe you confused it with a
kumquat tree. What is a low quat tree and why
is there a festival for it?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
The Low quat tree is tree that produces a delicious
fruit like you mentioned, similar to the kumquat. Is actually
part of the apple pear family and also produces a
very fragrant rose like blossom before producing the fruit.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
And the low quat tree was originally domesticated in East Asia, China,
and Japan. My understanding of the history of it is
is that the Japanese and the Chinese argue over who
first domesticated it, but the tree's domestication goes back thousands
of years. As a matter of fact, the Chinese poet
leap Hoo writes about writes about low quats and his
(01:53):
poetry from centuries ago, so the history of the low
quat goes back millennia. Really, it's not very well known
in the United States of America, though, in part because
the tree has a relatively narrow growing band in the
United States, and Florida just happens to be right in
the middle of that growing band, that area where the
(02:13):
tree produces a lot of fruit and thrives. So if
you go much further north in the United States, they
don't do very well, but they do really well in Florida,
just as they do in many other parts of the world.
So the Florida Low Quant Festival is the only low
quant festival in the United States, the only fruit festival
dedicated completely to the low quant, and we celebrate both
(02:38):
the wonderful fresh fruit that will have an abundance at
the festival, but also all the products that can be
made from from jams and jellies, preserves. I understand we're
going to have a barbecue sauce this year, right, Amanda,
Hot sauce. We're gonna have hot sauce, barbecue sauce, We're
going to have scones, We're gonna have baked goods. But
it's also to tell the story about local agriculture and
(02:59):
local food production and what can be done if folks
become aware of what grows here as a man to
point it out and correctly. So, the low quant is
part of the apple, pear and plum family. It's not
a citrus. It's not like the cumquad or orange or lemons.
It's a woody fruit and will have a nice pit
(03:19):
in it, or maybe a couple pits. A small fruit
with a big pit, we always like to say. But
it's in the apple, pear and plum family and will
have a very distinctive flavor that folks say is similar.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
To what I've heard a lot of different things.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, sometimes a lot of plums.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Plums, sometimes yeah, candy. It's sometimes called a Japanese plum,
or a Chinese plumb, or an Asian plum, and I
guess maybe a plum would be the closest case, But
we always say it's unique. It's a distinct flavor all
of its own. We find also that folks from other
parts of the world, immigrants and the children of immigrants
(03:57):
that are familiar with it in other parts of the world,
from China to Japan, to India to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria.
I can go across the world and folks that are
immigrants or descendants of immigrants that are familiar with the
Low Quad and other parts of the world come to
our festival. And it's surprising how many people from other
parts of the world are at this festival.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And the fact that it does grow here means possibly
there are a lot of people who have this tree
in their yards perhaps and don't even know about it,
which kind of ties in with I understand what the
mission of farm Net is as far as tying together
people and food and resources and urban agriculture in ways
(04:42):
that people might not be readily obvious at first glance.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, that's right. Amanda has been tracking the trees that
are available for harvest in our community. We do have
this food Sovereign and Tea program in which folks who
have trees fruit trees of all sorts when they come
into season and they're producing fruit, they often will produce
so much fruit that the property owner can eat at all,
(05:12):
and it often goes to waste or we have a
strong commitment to harvesting it, and we do it with avocados,
we do it with mangoes, we do it with cherries,
I think the Barbados cherries, starfruit also. But the tree
that we get the most calls on are the low
quat tree. So Amanda can maybe shared about how many
(05:35):
we have and where they are located around the town.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, that's absolutely right. We've got tons of community members
that have reached out. Some of them we've already gone
to their trees to harvest, and so as we coordinate
the harvesting, we're also giving that fruit to all of
the makers that are coming to the festival, so anyone
(06:01):
can participate. You don't need to have a tree or
have access to purchase the fruit somewhere. We harvest it
and provide it for you, and we focus on the
trees that have the fruit ready. They ripen at different stages,
so we harvest throughout the entire month.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's a beautiful tree too. A point that Amanda makes
is really cool and often overlooked by folks, is that
the ripening of the fruit on individual trees will extend
over a period of months. They'll start ripening as early
as January and they'll ripen all the way into May
e and in some cases, but they don't all ripen
(06:43):
at the same time, so it really gives this continuous
harvest over a period of months, which is really just terrific.
Another point that Amanda made that I just really want
to underscore is is that most of the trees that
we're harvesting from are trees that belong to individuals in
the community that are donating the fruit from their tree
to us. Now, we do have a large grove with
(07:05):
about fifty is that with the count is about fifty trees,
which probably is the largest grove dedicated exclusively to low
quats in Florida. We're not sure about that, but we
don't think a lot of other people are growing it
in quantity. We do have that right in the middle
of Newport Richie in a residential area. But besides that,
all over town there are these trees that folks are
donating the fruit to us to use in the harvest.
(07:27):
And then we have a whole network of makers that
are cottage industry folks that are making jam, jellies and
preserves on their own. So the point that I underscore
on this, which was great that Amanda brought it up,
is that this is not a corporate enterprise. This is
not an event that's being sponsored or promoted by large
(07:48):
scale nurseries or gigantic growers. This is something that's really
down to earth and extremely local in its emphasis, which
we believe is absolutely necessary. If we're going to go
forward and create a sustainable food system, it needs to
begin locally with local folks that are committed to the
local environment, to their neighbors, their friends, and that really
(08:09):
have their heart in the game, not just their economic interests,
but their heart, their soul, their whole being is committed
to this, and you'll see that reflected in the people
that are at the festival that are celebrating it. Both
the folks that are putting it on like us, but
also the folks that are coming to it as well.
There's a real love that's associated with this tree and
what we do. Now.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
There are a number of events that are happening leading
up to the festival. It seems there's a whole week
of activity that's going on, So kind of tell us
about the timetable for what's going to be going on
starting around I guess April the sixth, and then lay
eating right up to the festival on the eleventh.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, that's right. April sixth. Monday, we partner up with
Tory Lad at the new Port Richie Public Library for
their weekly Walk and Talk where they will meet up
and be guided by Dell to the low Quat Grove
over in the heart and Newport Richie and on that
(09:12):
walk he'll get to share about some of the trees
along the way and when you get there, we'll have
some tea made from our local partner, the White Heron
some low Quat tea award winning tea, and then we
get to tour the grove and later on that week,
on the Wednesday, the let's see. The eighth, April eighth,
(09:37):
will be the beer tapping at Cody River Brewery where
the owner there, Brian, works with the low Quats every
year and makes a low quat brew.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, so we're gonna have a couple of the other
events that that Amanda referred to are unique. Indeed, because
of the use that we make of the Lobo. We
do have the low quat tea, which is from the
white here and as Amanda mentioned, and that's done by
a local tea maker and it's an award winner. I
(10:14):
believe it's won international awards for teas in general. And
it's made again from the leaves of the low quat
tree right in town. And my understanding is correct me
if I'm wrong, Amanda. My understanding is is that this
is the only low quant tea that is made in
the United States of America.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
That's my understanding.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
In past years, when we first began the festival, now
what almost fifteen years ago, we wanted to have low
quant tea because it's a medicinal it's an herbal medicinal tea.
It heals the throat. I think there's so many other
uses for it. But as seen as a medicinal, and
the only teas that we could find were ones that
were imported, that came from China and Japan, and so
(10:55):
we imported them. We brought in boxes of tea from
those other countries. But then our enterprising a teamaker in town,
Kelly Hackman at the White Hair and Tea Shop, it
figured out the way to make the tea from the leaves,
and now she and others harvest the leaves of the
tree right here in town and she makes the tea
(11:17):
as well. And then the brewery also, I think has
the only certainly is the only locally brewed low quot beer,
but it may be the only low quot beer that's
made with local low quats here in the Tampa Bay region.
So if you want a delicious, locally brewed low cought beer,
come on the eighth to Newport Richie for that beer tapping.
(11:40):
And we're else going to have on display some of
the local local art, which is going to be another
feature of the celebration. So yes, there's a lot going
on and associated with the festival. And I do want
folks to know that this is not the Strawberry Festival.
This is not some gigantic blowout with ferrest wheels and
clowns and and acts on the side. It's all about
(12:02):
the local fruit and the local artisans that work with
the fruit.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah. I don't know if we could stand another event
the size of the Strawberry Festival that would be. That
would be quite the footprint the on the on the
eighth of Aprils when the low Quat beer tapping is
taking place. And back to the main event now on
Saturday the eleventh, you have some presentations going on and
that's happening at Simms Park and I believe at Peace
(12:27):
Hall and Newport Ritchie and you have some presentations going
on at that event on Saturday. What kind of topics
do you cover when it comes to low Quat?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
That's great, Gordon, Well, just about everything under the sun.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
We're uh in.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Just as a quick note, we have a proclamation of
the Loquaw Festival that will be done in Newport Richie
at City Hall in March, and I guess it's going
to be man, it's going to help me. I'm not
sure what day of proclamation is going to be. I'm
thinking it's that it's all right, all right, right, okay,
it's going to be one of those days. So there'll
(13:07):
be a proclamation at the at the City Hall announcing
the low Quat Festival as important of in the history
of the city and the like. But as far as
what's going on, we'll have there'll be an educational program
that's part of what is going to be presented at
It's called Peace Hall, which is in Sims Park and
(13:27):
that's also where the art show is going to be.
We're going to have a presentation on the history of
the low Quat, both in terms of its global history,
where it came from, how it got here, and then
what we can what you can do with the low
quant here in terms of the uses for the fruit.
In addition, we're going to have a grafting demonstration which
will be how anyone can learn how to graft low
(13:50):
quat trees and how essentially can make your own. We're
going to have a demonstration on how to make jams
preserves and again, don't get me wrong, we're not going
to be making jams and preserves that day, but we
will have an artisan that will be explaining how you
make jams, jams and preserves. We're going to have, we believe,
and this is not quite sure yet, but we may
(14:11):
have a performance by the famous low quat singer doctor
Roy Kaplan, and he's probably going to do his low
quat songs via a internet connection. I'm not sure about
that if that's going to work or not. We're going
to have a presentation about how to start low quat
(14:33):
seeds so that you can grow your own and we
do encourage folks to go ahead and get a grafted
tree if they want, but we're going to have a
demonstration on how you would curate the seeds so that
you can grow your own low quat trees. And then
finally we're going to wrap it up with presentations from
children in the community that are working with low quats,
including our own Lily Are I think, is that right?
(14:58):
Lily R is going to have a presentation on her
relationship with the low quat trees as well, and we'll
have some dignitaries that will be there that will talk
about the city and its relationship to urban agriculture, and
then we're and finally we're going to wrap it up
with a very robust and interesting children's program as well.
So there'll be a lot going on, but again I
(15:18):
don't want folks coming to the to the event and
thinking there's going to be something like the Strawberry Festival
or blueberry Festival that's going to be about a lot
of other things other than the fruit. This is all
about the fruit and the celebration of the fruit. So
it's low Quats from start to end, and a lot
not a lot of other activities will have will have
(15:39):
We will have event t shirts by the way, if
folks want to get, you know, an event T shirt,
and we will have. I think that we're going to
have one of our artisans is going to be making
low quat handbag. There's just a lot of stuff that
will be going on. There'll be more, there'll be jewelry there,
there'll be more, probably more derivatives low quats and people
(16:01):
could ever imagine. But you're not going to find it
too much other than the low quat. You probably won't
find like a hot dog vendor there. You're not going
to find the typical fair food that you see cotton
candy and the like. It's whatever foods are going to
be there, always be healthy food, and all of it
will be local too, from the honey, from the honey
(16:22):
to the cakes to the pastries to the fruit.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
All right, and let's sum it up quickly to wrap
it up, the what, the where, the admission charge if
there is any, and what people need to know if
they want to go to the Low Quat Festival in
Newport Ritchie.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Okay, a man, They'll start it off and I'll finish it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Up, all right. The thirteenth annual Florida Low Quat Festival
at the SIMS Park near Peace Hall in Newport Richie.
There is absolutely no fee. Everyone is invited to attend
and consider participating with us in the following year.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Beautiful, and we're going to have nursery trees available for sale.
We're going to have low quat seeds available for sale.
We're going to have fruit available, We're going to have jams, jellies, preserves, pastries,
and cakes and everything that you can possibly make with it,
as well as an educational program. And we're also going
to have shirts that eat loquat shirts and various other
(17:23):
promotional activities promotional items available as well. So it's going
to be from ten in the morning till two in
the afternoon on April eleventh, the one and only low
Coat Festival in the United States of America. Everyone's welcome
to come, no charge, bring your family, bring your friends,
and bring folks at don't know about low quants and
bring folks that do. Everyone's welcome.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Amanda Zuboric and Dell Deschant with Newport Richie farm Nett
talking about the Florida Low Quat Festival. Thank you both
for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Thank you Gordon, Thank you Gordon,
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