When you winter in the warmer areas of our country, you can pretty much expect some type of festival every weekend. Festivals in our area range from ethnic festivals to art-and-craft fairs to wine extravaganzas, to name a few. They are quite a popular activity, as thousands of people attend. Entertaining for us, it is a concessionaire's dream.

Some festivals highlight the beautiful produce and crops for which the area is famous — strawberry, orange, key lime and even sugar cane. Others highlight the fish caught locally, like the ever-popular Shrimp Festival in Florida. With most festivals, you pretty much know what to expect — booths selling wares, musical entertainment and food from the aptly-named festival.

In our small town of LaBelle, Florida, we celebrate something unique. The last full weekend of February, we have our annual Swamp Cabbage Festival. Though the name is quite intriguing, the swamp cabbage delicacies are actually quite tasty.

Swamp cabbage comes from the heart of the Sabal palm tree, which grows abundantly throughout our area. In fact, the Sabal palm is the state tree of Florida. I once watched a demonstration of how the outer "boots" and bark of the Sabal palm are stripped away, using a hatchet, layer by layer until the innermost part of the trunk is reached. This is the swamp cabbage.

(Incidentally, the palm fronds from these trees are used to decorate the festival booths, parade floats, entertainment stage, park gazebo as well as some buildings in town.)

The Swamp Cabbage Festival offers something for everyone. It opens with a parade highlighting numerous entries: floats, wagons, horses and even swamp buggies. Each year we have a grand marshal, honor a local pioneer family, and select a queen and princess with their courts to reign over the various activities.

Entertainment consists of talented cloggers, musicians, singers and dancers. There are several carnival rides, various booths selling a variety of items including jewelry, T-shirts, woodworks and other wares, and armadillo races. Because we are located along the banks of the Caloosahatchee River, we even have a fishing contest.

Even though most of the festival activities are located at our beautiful park on the river, the entire town celebrates. Restaurants and service organizations (VFW, American Legion, Moose, etc.) offer special menus and entertainment. Side roads are closed to traffic offering the perfect venue for displaying the "Legends of the Road" car show.

Our local Humane Society holds a Swamp Stomp 5K Run/Walk to benefit our animals. Our civic center hosts an adult country western dance. And our Rodeo Grounds have the two-day Swamp Cabbage Festival Ranch Rodeo competitions, including calf branding, cowhide drag, bronco riding, as well as the youth rodeo.

A variety of food booths offer all types of food, but let's face it — you have to try the swamp cabbage. Often a side dish served with meat (buttered Hearts of Palm), it can also be deep-fried into fritters, canned into a relish, mixed into a fruit salad and even served hot in a stew. Unlike anything you've ever eaten, it is sure to be a memorable experience.

Where else can you say you ate a tree?

The Swamp Cabbage Festival has become a not-to-be-missed tradition. It has withstood the duration of time, and next year (2016) will mark its 50th year.