Submitted by Clermont Historic Society
The first People’s Choice Dessert Challenge was held on Saturday, August 10th at Clermont’s Historic Village. Over 200 people came to sample complimentary ice cream, smoothies, cookies, and cake offered by participating vendors.
After tasting all the delicious treats, everyone had a chance to vote for their favorite. Though it was extremely difficult to choose, the winners were:
First Place: Ritter’s Frozen Custard – offering two different mini-sundaes.
Second Place: Bruster’s – providing hot fudge brownie sundaes and
Third Place: Corelli’s – offering samplings of Italian rum cake.
In spite of the high temperatures, everyone managed to enjoy themselves and even find a bit of shade. The event was such a success that plans are already being made for next year when, hopefully, there will be even more vendors.
The Historic Village is located at 490 West Avenue on the shores of beautiful Lake Minneola, not far from Clermont’s historic shopping district. The Village is open every Friday from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and every Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 to 4:00 pm for tours of the five historic buildings. There is also a reproduction of the city’s first one-room schoolhouse. Admission to the Village is always free but a donation of $3.00 per person is requested.
The Village is home to two 100+-year-old houses, a train depot, a World War II Quonset hut, and the original Cooper Memorial Library. There are also two replicas at the Village one is of the city’s first one-room schoolhouse and the other is of an outhouse. Each building (except the outhouse!) can be toured and is full of beautiful antiques that have been generously donated for your enjoyment.
If you are interested in history in general or the history of Lake County in particular, contact the South Lake County Historical Society by going to our website, ClermontVillage.org; by calling our manager, Roxanne Brown, at 352-432-3496 or by attending our membership meetings which are held on the second Monday of every month at 7:00 pm in the Train Depot in the Historic Village. The next meeting is September 9th.
