Festivals & Lakefront

Festival streets, working lakefront

One of Florida's festival towns, with an arts festival that takes over downtown every February — and a freshwater lighthouse marking a real port on the Harris Chain.

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Live water data

Apopka-Beauclair Canal (feeds Lake Dora's chain)

—ft above NAVD 1988

Source: U.S. Geological Survey real-time gauge 02237700.

The local angle

A town that runs on its calendar

Mount Dora's historic downtown was built for gathering: the Mount Dora Arts Festival each February and the fall craft fair are the giants, with markets, parades, and seasonal events filling the rest of the year. The streets themselves climb real hills — rare in peninsular Florida — down to a working lakefront on Lake Dora.

At Grantham Point, the 35-foot lighthouse built in 1988 marks the entrance to the city's freshwater port, and from the marina you can boat the entire Harris Chain of Lakes, including the cypress-lined Dora Canal.

Mount Dora Arts FestivalThe signature February fine-arts festival, produced by the Mount Dora Center for the Arts Mount Dora Craft FairThe annual fall craft fair that takes over the downtown streets City Special EventsThe city's own special-events page covering downtown festivals and seasonal events Grantham Point Park (Lighthouse)City park at the Port of Mount Dora with the 1988 freshwater lighthouse