DADE CITY, Fla. — Gasparilla isn’t the only festival taking place in the Tampa Bay area this weekend.

While the pirate-themed spectacle take over Tampa, another festival will take place celebrating a certain fruit.

Dade City will be celebrating its 28th annual Kumquat Festival, a significant event that plays a large role in the local economy.

On a chilly Friday afternoon, a special open house took shape at the farm of Kumquat Growers Inc., with general manager and kumquat grower Greg Gude leading the tour.

“It’s a unique fruit, because you do eat the peeling and all,” he said. “Normally, because the citric acid is down, this would normally have sprayed out. But you can see how it brings the sweetness to the peel, and then all you do is pop that in your mouth and chew it up.”

Gude said the fruit has been made sweeter thanks to chilly temps. A universal fruit, he said it can be made into just about anything.

“There’s kumquat jelly — we have kumquat strawberry marmalade," he said. "We have kumquat barbecue sauce, kumquat vinaigrette, we have kumquat honey.”

Right now, kumquats are in their peak season.

“You’ll come and visit to go to the festival and you’ll see some of the shops," said Vicki Wiggins, president and CEO of the East Pasco Chamber of Commerce. "They might be super busy, so, a lot of times, people will come back so that they can go through the shops and really explore what we have to offer.”

Gude said his farm managed to avoid losing any crops from this past hurricane season. He said disease has been a minor setback for the growers, but things have started to rebound.

“The trees are getting better," Gude said. "We’re making some headway with disease. Hopefully, next year we’ll have more of the Meiwa round kumquat to take to the festival.”

Dade City’s 28th Annual Kumquat Festival is free to attend, with festivities getting underway at 9 a.m. Saturday.