The Lake Placid Annual August Caladium Festival

Lake placid is one of those small Florida towns that have a lot of special qualities. Known as the Town of Murals, home of The Rose Man, Lake Placid also has the dubious honor of being the Caladium Capitol of the World. The caladium is a hardy plant that resembles a faded, splotched poinsettia. Its leaves have a rubbery texture, with pink and light green coloring, that make it the "substitute" during the hot spring and summer months, to the Christmas and winter months of the poinsettia plant.

The Caladium plant is grown all over the world, mainly in hot climates. This plant was cultivated in Lake Placid during the mid twentieth century, and since then Lake Placid has become the world's leader in Caladium growth, due to Florida's near perfect year-round sunny weather, sporadic rainfalls and healthy soil. Floridians love this plant, for it is attractive, and easy to maintain. The caladium plant is one of the choice adornments to many residential and commercial Floridian landscapes, because it doesn't require insecticide, for the plant leaves, if eaten by insects, are toxic. The plant is also a favorite for people who suffer from debilitating seasonal allergies, for the Caladium leaves have no perfume odors, unlike the heady, tropical flowering trees abundant throughout parts of Florida, that release lots of pollen spores in central Florida during the spring months.

Small-town pride seems to resonate from the citizens of Lake Placid when it comes to not just the Caladium Festival, but their town in general. The festival is in its seventeenth year and grows more popular, as thousands of people come from all over the country, and international tourists as well to buy bulbs, explore Lake Placid and enjoy the various artist and craft-maker's booths, along with other activities.

The coordinators of the festival make life easy for attendees, for there are some great alternatives to driving one's own car or walking in the late August heat. Some things to enjoy at the festival include the Caladium Co-op, where vendors sell hand-made arts and crafts inside a large, air-conditioned building. There is also local entertainment, where one can park themselves and enjoy fattening festival treats from nearby vendors, and the kids can keep busy with contests, which are also geared for artistic adults, who may want to submit original artwork. There are bus tours to the Caladium Fields as well. You may feel as if you are in a remake of the Wizard of Oz, for instead of fields of poppies, there are fields of Caladium's, with plants that blanket the surrounding landscape in a pastel pink and green hue for miles. The festival runs on August 24, 25, and the last day is the 26^th.