Serendipitously, it is also French for "the beautiful."  Even today cattle, citrus, and other crops form the mainstay of the economy of Hendry County, and in a nod to these industries weather and market reports are still posted on a blackboard on the front veranda of the courthouse.

     The Hendry County Courthouse, starting point for the annual Swamp Cabbage Festival parade, was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by E. C. Hosford and built in 1926. Local legend states that the clock in the tower does not tell time, having been struck by lightning shortly after the building was completed. Other versions hold that the clock was removed lest it become a lightning hazard, still others that its mechanism was improperly wound and burned itself out. In any event, for decades the clock tower stood without hands, leading to inevitable comments that "time stands still " in drowsy LaBelle.  We have been assured, however, that the clock has been fixed so that the Swamp Cabbage Parade can start on time. :-)