If you have never spent a July Saturday on Pine Island chasing down a tray of mango ice cream, this is the year to fix that. The MangoMania Tropical Fruit Festival returns to 9940 Stringfellow Road in St. James City on Saturday, July 11, 2026, hosted by the Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce. It runs 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and is the kind of small-island summer festival that, once you’ve been, becomes a yearly tradition.
Pine Island is the largest of the barrier islands off Cape Coral and Fort Myers, and it’s one of the last working agricultural islands in the state. The soil here grows mangoes that locals will tell you are better than anything you’ve had in your life. For one weekend each July, growers, home cooks, and food artisans gather to prove it.
What’s on the schedule
- Tropical plants, trees, and fruit for sale — bring a cooler
- Live music all day on the main stage
- Mango recipe contests (you can enter — categories include desserts, savories, and salsas)
- The Biggest Mango Contest — a perennial favorite
- Mango games for kids of every age
- Food and beverages built around mango and tropical fruit
- Planting seminars from working Pine Island growers
- A long row of arts, crafts, and island business booths
It’s family-friendly, dog-friendly on a leash, and a fraction of the price of any big mainland festival.
Why we love it
MangoMania is the kind of event you don’t really come for the mangoes — you come for the island. The drive across the Matlacha Bridge with the windows down, the salt air, the old Florida fishing-town pace of Bokeelia. It’s a forty-five-minute escape from the world that feels like four hours.
Stay close
The festival is twenty minutes from most of our Cape Coral villas, and a slightly longer (but prettier) drive from Fort Myers Beach. A pool day on either side of MangoMania makes for a perfect July weekend.
Browse Cape Coral & Fort Myers Beach Homes →
See you on Pine Island.
