100,000 Square Feet of Mangoes! The 2026 Florida Mango Festival

Alright, this is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com. Today we have another exciting episode for you. I'm coming from my backyard garden here in Las Vegas, Nevada, growing all my cool summer heat-loving veggies, but coming soon, later in June, I'll be in South Florida once again for mango season. Guys, don't miss South Florida for mango season. There are so many more mangoes than you've ever tasted in your life, and the ones you buy at the store are not mangoes. They are hot water dipped, they're treated, some of them are even irradiated, they're not pick-ripe, and they're just nothing like the ones you could get right off the tree in South Florida. And the reason why my trip to South Florida, this trip, is because of the Florida Mango Festival that is once again happening. I went last year, it was an amazing time, it was so crowded, so packed, and they're making it even better this year. So I guess without further ado, let's go ahead and bring in my good friend Paul Nisan, standing in front of his mango trees in South Florida, he's going to give us an update on the mango season this year, as well as the mango festival that I want to see you guys at, because I'll be there walking around. Hey everybody, welcome, John, thanks for having me on here. Check this out. These are sweet tart mangoes, and mango season here is very interesting because we had a freeze this year, a historic freeze that happens maybe once every 15 to 20 years in South Florida. So the mango trees aren't as abundant as they've been years past, but for Florida, that just means we still have more mangoes than anywhere else in the United States. South Florida is the best place in the world, possibly, to grow mangoes. We have over 300 to 400 different varieties growing down here in South Florida, and when I say we're not as abundant as we usually are, that doesn't mean we're low, that means most years we're like soaking in mangoes, and this year's just a normal year. But look at this, these are sweet tart mangoes, and there's so many different ones, and we are in the heart of the beginning of mango season right now, which is a little late because of the freeze, but we're perfectly right on schedule for the 2026 Florida Mango Festival, which is going to be happening here in about three weeks in West Palm Beach, Florida at the Palm Beach Convention Center. Last year, John was there, and we had half of the center rented 50,000 square feet. This year, we're doing the whole center, 100,000 square feet, and it is going to be an epic event. Now, this year, there's a lot of mango festivals going on in South Florida, but still, we're the only one that's inside, we're the only one that figured out people don't want to stand in the heat and do anything in the heat in the middle of the summer, and then we don't have to worry about the rain either. So we're going to have a great lineup of speakers, we're going to have such an amazing mango display of different varieties of mangoes. Last year, I think you recorded it, John, we had over 200 varieties in the recording of the display, and we're going to do our best to get as many varieties as possible for people to taste, and just vendors from all over selling mango trees, and just different varieties of mangoes. So it's really exciting, and then even more exciting is, the next day, we're doing a full weekend out of this at the Botanical Gardens here, Mounts Botanical Gardens, we're having a grower's summit, the first annual mango grower's summit, we're going to have the experts of growing mangoes here in the United States. Jonathan Crane, who recently retired from the IFAS, is going to be there speaking, coming out of retirement to speak, plus many other growers that are speaking, you've been to many of the farms, Matt Reeves on the West Coast, and then there's Alex at Tropical Acres, and Chris from Truly Tropical, who is the person that turned you on to these lemon meringue mangoes that I have, that you told me about, and now here I am, me, Chris, and my friend Vince, and Alex, running the 2026 Florida Mango Festival. Wonderful, Paul, so what date is it? Saturday, June 27th is the festival, and the tickets you can get at www.FloridaMangoFestival.com, and then the 28th is when the grower's summit, and you can still get tickets for the grower's summit on there as well, there's different levels of tickets, so go on the website, check it out, there's parking, it's free, and it's an amazing time, we're going to have so many food vendors, that was one of the things last year, people were like, you know, I wish they had more food, so we're going to have a lot of food vendors there, and food trucks, and I'm just into eating the mangoes, like you, and it's going to be absolutely amazing. Mango season has started, and yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing you, John. Yeah, me too, Paul, so I guess another question I have, Paul, is, you know, when somebody gets to the mango festival, what are they going to do there, you know, like, from my, you know, opinion, you know, the main thing is the exhibit hall, where you can buy mangoes from local growers, no imported mangoes at this festival, they're only going to be Florida grown, and then also you can buy trees, not only different kinds of grafted mango trees, but other kinds of tropical trees, and then they have basically two different areas with speakers going on, where they're going to teach a variety of classes and share information about mangoes, is this correct? Yes, we learned a lot from last year, we definitely had more people and less space, so this year we got more space, we rented out the ballrooms, which is part of the convention center, so we got more than enough space for the main speakers, everybody's going to be able to get a seat and enjoy the speakers, we also have, again, the return of the identify your mango booth, so people are bringing mangoes that they don't know what they are. Last year, this lady brought a mango that was absolutely out of this world, and we did a video on that recently, and she didn't know it was a 100-year-old mango tree, and it tasted like lemon, and back then they didn't have the profile of lemon meringue, so it was amazing, so people are going to be able to get and bring their mangoes to be identified, we're going to have a grafting exchange, so people can bring grafts of trees they want and exchange those, you're going to get to meet all these people that have been making YouTube videos, and so many influences that are going to be there, and then we're going to have a whole kids station this year, kids are going to be doing things there, it's going to be amazing, and it's a full-day event, it's not something you come in and out, so many different vendors, not just selling mango trees, we're going to have a dragon fruit company, they were there last year, they'll be back, and it's going to be just overwhelming like it was last year, but it was so satisfying, and I'm so glad we got those videos, and you were there, John. Yeah, so once again guys, you'll watch my video link down below, so you guys can see what happened last year, I'm really looking forward to going again this year, and another thing I wanted to ask you Paul real quick, was about what's the best time to get there? Well, there's an early ticket you can buy, where you can get in a little bit earlier, but we're going to have enough for people that don't get that early ticket, but the mango diehards are getting there on the early ticket, so they can get in there as soon as possible, and just get there, I mean it's 9 to 5, the whole event, there's two tickets on there, an early ticket, which you get in like an hour earlier, and then the main ticket, we're going to have mangoes and trees for everyone, and food for everyone, so definitely just get there, whatever ticket you're going to get, like I said, the parking is part of the event, we are encouraging people to take local transportation, or you know, you can park across the street too, because it's going to be just a big event, and a lot of people, so yeah, just get there, and the Growers Summit is going to be special, but that's very limited to a small amount of diehards the next day, I know you got to be there John, because you're going to learn a lot about growing, and asking people things, so I got, this is my Sweet Tart Mango, the first mango that's in season now, and I'm going to hopefully one day get out to Uganda and Puerto Rico, and help you get set with the tropical trees, but there's the Angees, and they were the first ones this year, on my trees at least, and Nambuc Mayas in season, I just picked one of John's favorite mangoes, Pimxamun, and it's not ready yet, but I picked it off the tree, but they're good to eat when they're firm, you can eat them when they're green, yes, you can eat them when they're green, you know, it's mango season in South Florida, it's really special, and if you haven't, if you're interested in just growing trees, and it's not one variety, like you mentioned earlier, what you get in the store is, you know, compare what you're getting from the farms here, and everything here is going to be locally grown inside the state of Florida, nothing shipped from another country or another state, everything's going to be locally grown, and I know just about every vendor there, and these are the nicest people, and, you know, it's going to be worth every penny, and everyone that went last year, they know that, you know, it was an experience that they never forgot, will forget, and it's going to be bigger this year. Alright Paul, so probably the one thing I want to let people know about is that, you know, if you even like eating mangoes from the store, but you've never had a good one, I mean, maybe you thought you had a good one from the store, but you haven't had a good one from the store, I mean, my mind is blown every time I go to South Florida mango season, which hasn't been too many times in my life, unfortunately, because there's so many different new varieties, Paul will have a tasting of all these different kinds of varieties, and that's what you're going to get when you go to the event, you're going to see all different kinds of mangoes available for sale, and if you get the VIP ticket, I think you'll get a tasting in there too, Paul's shown us around his garden, and of course you can pick up your own trees, and this is a place to go to buy your mango trees, I mean, I've been to other mango festivals in South Florida, and they'll sell imported mangoes that are not grown in Florida, that have been irradiated, you know, and it's just not been as good, so I really like the caliber of the Florida mango festival that's happening in West Palm Beach on the 27th, because they have a lot of growers selling trees that are established that are legit, and a lot of fruit being sold, and my one tip for you guys out there is get there early, if you don't hear anything else, get there as early as your ticket will let you get in, stand in line, get there early, because last year they sold out of mangoes and better fruit trees more quickly than later, and so yeah, get there early, any tips you want to give people, Paul, before we sign off today? Yeah, it's good, yeah, there's another mango here, but it's going to be a little different this last year, we're not having these tasting events, there's going to be tasting tickets that are going to be for sale throughout the event, so people can get a tasting ticket and taste different varieties, so it's going to be a little bit different from that aspect, and also it's not a VIP ticket, it's an early entry ticket, but if you're early entry, or if you're late entry, you still get the opportunity to buy a tasting ticket, you can buy more than one tasting ticket, these people know when to pick them, so you know, you're not going to get stuff that's not ripe, everything's going to be great, it's going to be really exciting, and yeah, come on down, and again, it's okay if you get there early, but if you get there a little later, we learned from last year, so we got more space, and we're going to have enough for people, unless it goes crazy again, but we expect, we're prepared for the crowd this year, I'll put it that way. Wonderful, so yeah, to learn more, buy your tickets, floridamangofestival.com, I would encourage you to get the early entry tickets myself, I'll be there, so look out for me there, and say hi if you see me, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing you again, Paul. Thank you, John, I'm looking forward to seeing you again, we'll do another mango tasting at my house, and everybody, look forward to seeing you if you're there, if you can make it, until then, everybody, keep growing. Alright, so I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, learning about the 2026 Mango Festival, have it happening in West Palm Beach, Florida, my thanks out to Paul, who I had special guest in this episode, you want to check out his YouTube channel, wealth of information on mango trees and all other kinds of tropical fruit trees you guys can grow in South Florida as well as in other tropical countries, Fruitful Trees on YouTube, link down below to that in the description, if you guys enjoyed this episode, be sure to give this video a big thumbs up, more importantly, share this with other people that are in South Florida so that they can be aware of the Florida Mango Festival, bigger and better than last year, and I'm really looking forward to it. Also be sure to click that subscribe button right down below so you don't miss out on new and upcoming episodes, I'm giving away 5-7 days, you can remember where I'll show up, what you'll be learning on my YouTube channel, make sure you click the little bell to get notified as many of those come out, and finally be sure to check out past episodes, past episodes are wealth of knowledge, over 1,700 videos at this time on this channel dedicated to teach you guys about how to grow your own food at home, and once again, link down below to the episode on last year's Florida Mango Festival that I enjoyed so much. So with that, my name is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com, we'll see you next time, and until then remember, keep on growing.