Started in 1980, the parade was previously known as the Florida Power (Progress Energy) Super Holiday Parade, the Orlando Citrus Parade, and most recently the Fresh From Florida Parade. In 2005, Delta Air Lines sponsored the parade, calling it The Orlando Citrus Parade, presented by Delta Air Lines. Since 2007, Spherion was a major sponsor of the parade along with Delta Air Lines as co-sponsor, being called The Spherion Orlando Citrus Parade, presented by Delta Air Lines. In 2011, the parade was sponsored by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, being renamed as the Fresh From Florida Parade for one year. Now it is known as the Florida Citrus Parade. In 2018 the parade was televised in the Orlando market as the "All New Orlando Citrus Parade" in a star studded celebration to benefit the Give Kids The World Village.
In 2019 the Orlando Citrus Parade organizers choose not to stage the event citing the cost of planning and producing the event.
The Florida Citrus Parade was an event which was planned and produced by The Florida Citrus Sports Foundation, as part of the annual Orlando Bowl Week. The event was placed in between the college football games during the last week in December.
The parade was previously videotaped and syndicated to over 100 television stations for broadcast during the New Year's Day Holiday; TVS Television Network handles distribution. Visitors to the parade can number over 50,000 along the parade route.
The citrus floats were prepared and filled by over 600 volunteers who gave their time during the 4 days between December 26th and 29th. Then, generally on the last week of December of every year (In rare occasions, the parade was done on the 29th, because December 30 was a Sunday, or 31st of December, if the Citrus Bowl football game comes on January 2), the streets of Downtown Orlando were packed with visitors from other places who came to see their high school marching band and the marching bands for the two universities which would have a match up at the Citrus Bowl that year.