PITTSTON, Pa -- All year long, it's evident just how seriously Pittston takes its title as Quality Tomato Capital of the World.
But for one weekend each year, community members paint the town tomato red and celebrate with a parade, food, and even a food fight.
"It's just the last thing of summer. It's just like the last blow out. People like going to the parade, seeing all the different floats and everything, and seeing the great food at the end of it," said Maureen Salley of Forty Fort.
Some spectators drove over an hour just to spend the day in Pittston.
"See these people up here are used to this because they have a lot of these festivals. Where I come from, they don't do this stuff, so it's worth the drive," said Steve Krum of Danville. He and his wife have been making the drive to Pittston for the Tomato Fest for the last few years.
While the staples such as the food stay the same year to year, the Tomato Festival committee says it's always looking for new ways to grow.
"This year we have the art walk, up at the top level at Cosgroves behind the library. There's so many things to look forward to as we grow older," explained Rosie Fasciana, a member of the Tomato Festival committee for the past 10 years.
The art walk addition allows vendors to show off and sell their work.
One of the most popular traditions at the festival is the big tomato fight. This year, one bride took her wedding dress, some goggles, and got out some aggression.
"One of my girlfriends said, 'Well I already had the day off, maybe I'll go to the tomato festival.' And I said, 'Well I never went.' And then we said well we see those wreck the dress things all the time, and I had an extra laying around," said Katlin Evans.
While Katlin Evans of Harveys Lake may not have found the fairy tale ending she was expecting, she didn't let that stop her from making it a memorable day. She and her family and friends decided to celebrate Katlin by joining Pittston's favorite food fight.
"My girlfriend's and my family rallied and said let's go do something fun because I was supposed to get married today, so what better way to have fun than throw tomatoes at strangers?" explained Evans.
Evans didn't provide details about the called-off nuptials but did say the dress was her backup dress that she didn't really like. She said she didn't want to sell it and decided this was the perfect use for the dress.
A day of food and fun, and perhaps new traditions as well.