so you are saying they picked a time when many mangoes they wish to promote are not in season...so change the date so the festival lives up to what it should be. I do not agree that the trees on the list year-in and year-out are bland...I will probably end up growing each of the mainstays. But, clay is right that it could be SO much better. My wife and I fork over $40 just for the opportunity to go inside and buy a tree or sample some fruit from PR or Mexico. Yes, it's cool that they sell the mangoes from the farm, but to pay money for that opportunity when Truly Tropical, Excalibur, Pine Island, and others have many varieties to purchase without admission fee. Yeah, there's an overpriced auction and a few seminars, but the least they could do is give you a "free" smoothie for the $20 admission.
I love Fairchild, but they disappoint me with the mango festival and their edible garden....I doubt David Fairchild would be happy with Bonnie plants from HD at his edible garden, just outside the Whitman Pavilion, no less. I have heard good things about F&S park, but have never been, so maybe their festivals will be more to my liking.
A place as significant as Fairchild should have a different triopical fruit festival each month of the wet season (Jackfruit, mango, annonas, jaboticaba, etc.).
Anyway, I will most-likely go and fight for one of the Colombian types....