WILLISTON, FL (352today.com) – The weather forecast, threatening clouds and a bit of pre-lunch drizzle didn’t keep the crowd away from Williston’s Tree Line Farm on Saturday, May 30, 2026; it just made some folks a bit late for the first Donkey Daze festival while they waited and watched the skies for a bit before deciding to risk it.
They did show up, however, to show off their donkeys, mules, mammoths and minis, enter them in the day’s various competitions or just pay homage to the sturdy–and, some say, underappreciated–sentinel of the stables.
“I was honestly just fed up with seeing how many opportunities there are for people to get out with their donkeys out in the western United States and not in Florida,” said Danielle Phillips, the event’s creator and admin for the Donkey daze Florida Facebook group. “There’s a lot of opportunity for horses and horse owners, but not for donkeys. So, we just see donkeys sitting in pastures, not really doing much, and I just felt that’s not fun–it’s not fun for them, it’s not fun for the owners…