LaBelle Swamp Cabbage Festival

The Festival, honoring the Cabbage Palm in Hendry county Florida, is one of Southwest Florida's major events with some 25,000 people flooding the streets of LaBelle every year. The activities include a huge parade (see videos below) and Barron Park festivities, along the banks of the scenic Caloosahatchee River. The festival is always held the last full weekend of February in LaBelle, Florida, the county seat of Hendry county.

Hendry County's Swamp Cabbage Festival began in 1965 sponsored by the LaBelle Jaycees. The City of LaBelle, and Port LaBelle community and all of Hendry County extend a warm welcome each year to the many thousands of visitors to this annual event. The festival honors the delicacy gourmets call the "Heart of Palm," the meat of the cabbage palm tree. The cabbage palm is also called the Sabal Palm, the state tree of Florida. Local trees are chopped down to provide fronds for festival decorations and the heart of palms.