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.
HomeFestivals & Lakefront
Live water data
Apopka-Beauclair Canal (feeds Lake Dora's chain)
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.