The Lemon as an Emblem
For the Town Hall: “The Lemon has become the symbol of the
town of Menton. We have chosen it as town emblem: it’s henceforth
in the heart of the geographic map of all our documents. Furthermore
it goes on very well with the motto associated to our logo, “Menton:
my town is a garden”.
The Fête du Citron®: the arrival
of capitals
The Town Hall measures the importance of the Lemon Festival
according to the impact it has on the economy of the town but
also on the basis of distinguished trade mark: “Thanks
to this event which involves all the media, the name of Menton
is well known in the whole world. It’s associated in a
nice way to the idea of festival, but also to a local product,
whose symbol is in the air. The lemon evokes at the same time
a colour, gustative feelings, the soil and ecology notion, the
perfume of the Mediterranean gardens … As regards the
economic value, lemons means money to Menton. We don’t
have to forget that this manifestation has to its credit the
fact that it is auto financed: for a global cost of more or
less 8 million francs, it usually has a surplus of over 1 million
francs. Furthermore, many are the profits obtained by the local
tourism agents: hotels, restaurants, tradesmen…”
A qualitative jump forward
The Town Hall is very happy to see that this popular event evolves
with time: “The collaboration with animation professionals
such as Disneyland Paris helped the Fête du Citron®
to make a qualitative jump forward. The municipal teams beat
themselves in order to create more and more elaborated and elegant
subjects. Some of our associates showed a real artistic talent.
So much so, that today their know-how concerns various partners:
some projects are studied together with the Disney World of
Orlando in Florida, with Tunisia… The Fête du Citron®
is a source of an innovating technological spreading and transfer!”
It is a justified label.
The achievement of a label for the Lemon of Menton is one of
its main aims: “The Municipal Team makes many efforts
to arrange the new burst of the Citrus fruits in the Menton
area. Thanks to the Crédit Agricole, we have subsidized
the buying of plants for the local citrus tree farmers. The
culture of the lemon will be an intelligent way to re-build
the landscape according to the spirit of the new development
laws, such as the Mountain and Littoral laws.”
A tourist argument
The lemon is an excellent tourist argument for Menton within
the framework of a tourist renovation, turning towards the concept
of “nature and culture”. Because it can be related
to several different themes: like the agricultural and landscape
ones, thanks to the plantation of lemon trees; the botanic theme,
thanks to the collection inside the Carnolès Palace;
and the gastronomic theme, developing products made of lemon,
recipes, drinks …
(source : dossier de presse de l'Office du
Tourisme de Menton)
