Nicknamed the "Cité des Citrons" (City of Lemons), every year the city of Menton in the Alpes-Maritimes celebrates its citrus products in a very artistic way. The Fête du Citron is an event unique in the world, featuring giant designs made exclusively from citrus fruits and floats decorated with oranges and lemons. The Lemon Festival usually takes place between mid-February until March, in Menton, France. This is one of the largest festivals in the South of France attracting over 250,000 visitors and around 145 tons of lemons and orange sculptures.

Ever since the 15^th century, Menton has been a major producer of lemons. At the beginning of the 20^thcentury, this Mediterranean city became the biggest producer of this fruit on the continent. In 1929, an hotelier came up with the idea of organizing a flower and citrus fruit exhibition. It proved so successful that the following year, the festival spilled out into the streets with carts carrying orange and lemon trees. It became increasingly successful over the following few years and so in 1934, the municipality decided to create the Fête du Citron.

It has now evolved into and artistic competition of giant sculptures of animals, buildings and other beautiful scenes created using lemons and oranges. The theme for the 80^th edition of the event is "Around the world in 80 days: Menton, the secret port of call" and will therefore be the idea behind all of the creations in the Corsos de Fruits d’Or (parades with floats), the Corsos Nocturnes (night parades), and the Jardins de Lumières found inside theJardins Biovès(Biovès gardens) in the center of the city. Visitors will be able to take on the role of modern-day explorers, visiting India, Egypt, New York and Hong Kon where they will lay eyes on the most wonderful sights.

Too see examples of these fascinating and enormous citrus sculptures click here.