Best Towns to Add to a Clermont Florida Trip

Clermont's Citrus History and What It Means Today

Clermont was established in 1884 and incorporated as a town on 9 June 1891. But its real identity was forged in the first half of the twentieth century, when orange groves dominated the economy. The city is named for the French hometown of A.F. Wrotnowski, who managed the Clermont Improvement Company—a fitting origin for a place that was always more about potential than permanence. By mid-century, the groves were still thriving, and the Florida Citrus Tower, built in 1956, was the roadside landmark that celebrated them.

Then came the freezes. Repeated hard freezes, followed by suburban development, killed the citrus economy faster than anyone could replant. Today, the tower still stands over a landscape of subdivisions, golf courses, and chain retail. The census data tells the story: 44,984 people, 18,718 housing units, and a median home value of $368,600. This is a bedroom community, not an agricultural one. The groves that gave Clermont its reason to exist are gone, and the town has leaned into what replaced them—the National Training Center, established in 2001, which inspired the slogan "Choice of Champions" in 2014.

For visitors, that means the local flavor is hills and lake views, not orchard rows. But within a short drive, you can find towns that still hold onto the agricultural and small-town identity Clermont traded away.

Mount Dora: Old Florida Charm and Craft Fairs

Mount Dora sits 21 miles away, and it’s the closest thing to a time capsule for old Florida lake country. The Mount Dora Arts Festival and the Mount Dora Craft Fair draw crowds precisely because the town has kept its pre-sprawl character: walkable streets, a real downtown, and a pace that doesn’t revolve around commuter traffic. The festivals are the draw, but the point is the atmosphere—Mount Dora feels like a town that grew around a lake and a train station, not a highway interchange. If you want the lake-country charm without the subdivisions, this is the day trip.

Dade City's Kumquat Festival: A Living Citrus Heritage

Thirty-five miles south, Dade City offers the closest thing to a living citrus heritage. The Kumquat Festival is a whole event built around a crop that Clermont’s groves never bothered with—kumquats are hardier, more tolerant of cold, and still commercially viable. It’s a direct contrast to the dead orange groves around Clermont: here, the citrus is not a relic but a reason to gather. You can’t tour a working orange grove near Clermont anymore, but you can stand in Dade City and watch a town celebrate a fruit that survived the freezes that wiped out its neighbors.

Sanford's Porchfest: Front-Yard Music in a Historic River Town

Sanford, 36 miles away, doesn’t lean on agriculture at all—it leans on porches. Porchfest turns residential front yards into stages, with local musicians playing sets while neighbors and visitors wander the streets. It’s a community event that Clermont’s newer, hilltop neighborhoods simply can’t replicate, because the architecture and the street layout don’t support it. Sanford is a river town with a historic core and a laid-back vibe that feels a world away from the strip malls along Clermont’s main arteries.

Oviedo and Altamonte Springs: Nearby Suburban Festivals

Oviedo’s Great Day in the Country and Altamonte Springs’ Red Hot & Boom are closer to Clermont’s own Pig on the Pond in spirit—suburban festivals with food, music, and crowds. Oviedo’s event leans into its rural past, despite the sprawl that has swallowed the town; Altamonte’s Red Hot & Boom is a Fourth of July fireworks-and-concert affair centered on Cranes Roost Park. Neither will give you the historical weight of Mount Dora or Dade City, but they’re solid family outings with their own local spins, and they’re within a 25- to 38-mile radius of Clermont, which makes them easy to slot into a longer weekend.

How to Plan a Clermont-Area Road Trip

The distances work out cleanly for a loop. Start in Clermont, head to Mount Dora (21 miles) for a morning craft fair, then cut south to Dade City (35 miles) for the Kumquat Festival if it’s January. On a different weekend, pair Sanford’s Porchfest (36 miles) with a stop in Oviedo (38 miles) for Great Day in the Country. Altamonte Springs (25 miles) is the easiest add-on, especially if you’re timing it around Red Hot & Boom in July. None of these are full-day drives, so you can comfortably hit two towns in a weekend—just don’t try to do all of them in one trip, or you’ll spend more time in the car than at the festivals.

The 2026 edition of Pig on the Pond was the 27th, and it remains the biggest event in south Lake County. If you’re using Clermont as a base, that’s your anchor event—but the real payoff is in the towns that still have what Clermont lost.

The takeaway: Clermont’s citrus history is a monument, not a working landscape. If you want to experience what the region once was—or just find a festival with more character than a parking lot—the best moves are 21 to 38 miles away.