Around southern Florida, if the name Okeechobee is tossed about it, could mean the city or the county, although since Okeechobee is the only city in Okeechobee County they could be interchangeable. If the topic is water-related, however, then you are talking about Lake Okeechobee. Tagged as such by the Hitichi tribe of the Muscogee peoples, the word means “big water” and the early settlers chose well—it is the second largest freshwater lake in the continental United States.
Planning a visit? Consult Okeechobee Co. Tourism.
Okeechobee is Florida cracker country, a name given to cowboys for the sound of their whips as they drove cattle. Even today you will find more cattle than people around Okeechobee. The Okeechobee Livestock Market has been a tradition on Mondays and Tuesdays since the 1930s. The public is invited to watch the action in the rings of Florida’s biggest beef auction, and entry is free.
The city’s heritage can be examined at the Okeechobee Historical Museum that is contained in a one-room schoolhouse standing next to the Mediterranean Revival-style courthouse built in the 1920s.
Servicing the fishermen on the lake has become the biggest industry after cattle. Every March for the past fifty years the town gathers in Flagler Park for the Speckled Perch Festival to celebrate Okeechobee’s most prized game fish. Perch will not be on the menu, however; as a sportfish it can not be sold for eating.
Land-based recreation takes place on more than 100 miles of dirt road trails through Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, immersing hikers and cyclists in cracker cow country. The lake is in play for hikers as well—the 109-mile Okeechobee Scenic Trail circumnavigates the water on a wide dike that is ideal for hiking, bicycling, rollerblading or horseback riding. During Thanksgiving Week, celebrants gather for the Big O Hike, a nine-day challenge to walk all the way around Florida’s “inland sea.” The hiking normally wraps up by noon to leave time to explore Okeechobee’s neighboring towns on the lakeshore.
