The Fête du Citron, also referred to as the Lemon Festival, is an annual Carnival event put on by the city of Menton.
It's held every year in the month of February and is the second largest winter festival in the Riviera. This is of course after the Nice Carnival.
The parade draws in approximately 200 thousand people each year and takes place at night on a street down by the water. Keep in mind that ike the festival in Nice, this is a paid event that requires a ticket for admission.
During the day though people can view the floats for free in the Jardin Biovès. Its located along Avenue de Verdun right in front of the tourism office building. The floats are unique in that they are made out of lemons and other citrus fruits.
The location is quite fitting too because its perimeter is almost completely surrounded by orange trees.
It makes you almost want to reach up and pick one, though I very much doubt that it's allowed.
The floates are large and colorful and are really quite impressive considering they are completely covered on the outside by oranges and lemons.
I thought it was a little wasteful when I thought about it but apparently the citrus is sold afterwards for a low price. Nobody likes food waste.
Each year has a new theme for the parade and floats and this year's was Operas and Dances.
Big dresses and musical instruments were sort of the name of the game this year, though I don't really know how a sphinx fits into this particular theme (recall photo at the beginning).
I know that I just wrote about Menton in my last travel post but I really think that the event should be kept separate from a post about the city itself.
Plus I always have a lot to say about a place and I'm sure that no one wants to read more than 1000 words of someone else's vacation.
Brief History of the Event
Spain is currently the largest producer of lemons and citrus fruit in the continent of Europe, but in the 1920's that title actually belonged to the city Menton.
In 1934, to showcase its citrus to the world, the city hosted a private event in the gardens of Riviera Hotel called the Fête du Citron. There they displayed elaborate exhibitions of flowers and citrus plants and fruit.
The event ended up being a huge success so the city decided to put on the event each year as a way of bringing in tourists during the colder months of winter.
Today Menton and the surrounding area produces around 150-200 tons of lemons, which is actually quite low compared to other parts of Europe.
But what it lacks in quantity it certainly makes up for in quality as it produces a particular kind of lemon that are sought after by chefs of exclusive restaurants across the region. Menton is also a large jam and marmalade producer, as well as a maker of the sweet and tangy liqueur, limoncello.
We of course bought a small bottle of Mentons limoncello from a vendor at the festival. They also had mandarin flavor and orange and the woman gave us samples of each to try. We bought both lemon and mandarin flavors.
We took shots of it down by the water and I thought it was quite good.
I hate to say it, but we actually preferred the mandarin flavor. Admittedly, it feels slightly wrong to not prefer the lemon.
After touring the lemon floats we walked along the water to the spot where we sampled the limoncello. Then we wandered around the old town before heading back to the train to go to our next location. Though we didnt see the more elaborate celebration of the night parade, I generally thought that the lemon festival was a fun activity for part of the day. It was sort of a bonus to the town itself. Just one more reason to visit a great destination along the French Riviera.
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