The French Fête du Citron in Menton

Image credit: Ville de Menton

When life gives you lemons…

…glue ‘em on a truck and call it a parade.

Because why not bring a little sunshine into the winter months, after all?

Back in the 1890s, the desire to add a little festivity into February (and, of course, to bring in some tourism) inspired the town of Menton in southern France to create a festival.

The early-days attempts involved ceremonies with candles and even a standard-issue, themeless parade (that the English Queen Victoria attended, nonetheless).

The town didn’t hit on its winning lemon idea until 1929, when a local hotel decided to celebrate the city’s status as the largest producer of lemons on the European continent with a lush, lemon-inspired garden display.

The citrus-filled February garden at the Hotel Riviera drew so many people that the celebration spread out into the street the year after, with lemons and oranges on trees carried by carts down the roads of Menton.

The city decided to designate an official Fête du Citron in 1934.

Today, the festival begins in mid-February and can extend into early March, spanning two weeks of everything lemons and oranges and attracting over 200,000 people to watch parades of citrus-bedecked floats, visit gardens filled with characters and forms made out of citrus, eat and drink everything citrus-themed, participate in citrus-themed arts and crafts, and beyond.

Sound over the top? It is! Mosey over to the official website to peep at what the town plans for each year’s festival.

I’ve always wanted to go to Menton for the Fete du Citron and haven’t made it quite yet. If you go, let me know—maybe we’ll even be there at the same time.

Oh, and a couple final fun facts: The lemon used in the festival is not the famous, protected-designation lemon of Menton, le “citron du Menton.” These special lemons are too rare for festival use. However, lest you think this means they don’t believe the lemons they do use have value, think again: During the festival, organizers swap out the fruits in the floats and décor before they spoil and sell them or turn them into juice and compost for other purposes.