Blue Spring is the winter home of the Florida Manatee, or sea cow, a unique species of water mammal which migrates here each year to escape the chilly St. Johns River in the constant 72-degree waters of the Blue Spring run. The coming of the Manatee to Blue Spring State Park each winter is reason for celebration at the Manatee Festival, held in late January at Orange City's Valentine Park, near the entrance to Blue Spring Park. At DeLeon Springs State Park, just north of DeLand at the community of DeLeon Springs, retrace the route taken by Spanish explorer Ponce DeLeon when he discovered what he believed to be the legendary Fountain of Youth. Here, too, you will find ancient cypress and oak trees, native birds, Indian burial grounds, and an old Spanish sugar mill which has been converted into a most unusual restaurant where you may cook delicious pancakes on a griddle built right into your table. A natural spring swimming area, picnic grounds, fishing, rental canoes and paddle boats are also available.
Spring is welcomed each year with a variety of popular community events.
The DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce Business and Home Show in mid-March offers more than a hundred businesses and professions who showcase products and services at Stetson University's Edmunds Activities Center. March also brings the season opener of the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus which winters in DeLand, the annual DeBary Hall Barbecue and Orange City Frontier Days with entertainment, arts and crafts, historic exhibits, parades, kids' games and lots of good things to eat. The last weekend in March the DeLand Outdoor Art Festival features more than 200 artists and crafters who gather from around the nation for the popular two-day event at Fort Brown Park in DeLand. That same weekend, 'gentle giants of the skies' return to DeLand for the Central Florida Hot Air Balloon Rally, coupled with the festival and the downtown 'Athens of Florida' Festival. In April, Volusia County Cracker Day is celebrated with a rodeo, barbecue and lots more fun at the county fairgrounds.