PITTSTON, Pa. — The city of Pittston takes the saying "painting the town red" to a whole 'nother level. With murals of tomatoes on buildings, and tomatoes adorning the street signs, Pittston calls itself the "Quality Tomato Capital of the World," and for good reason!
Sarah Donahue, the Parade Chairperson of the Tomato Festival, explained, "The soil is very good, very rich, because of the coal mines and the Susquehanna River that the combination of those two just provides a really good soil for a really good tasting tomato. And people say it's the best one in the world, so we decided to have a festival in honor of that great-tasting tomato."
For 40 years, the annual Tomato Festival has been held here, and tens of thousands thronged to Pittston this August to be involved in the tomato-related festivities. The festival kicked off with the Ultimate Tomato 5K run, with hundreds of local runners taking part.
Gretchen Ott, a first-time vendor at the festival, selling her knives for cutting tomatoes and donning tomato earrings, told Jeremy that she was "hoping to see some tomatoes running on the 5K." And there were!
Erin Kosisky of Wilkes-Barre, an experienced 5K runner, was fully dressed up as a tomato, and she explained her experience running her first 5K in costume: "I was passing a corner, and someone said that I was the first tomato to the finish line. So I'm assuming he meant there were more tomatoes—whether they were small tomatoes on shirts or what—but I'm sure there's a ton of tomatoes here today. All tasty tomatoes!"
A lavish parade followed the run, featuring a collection of 80 different floats, musicians, performing groups, and mascots, with lots of candy handed out to the kids. The festival itself featured a dunk tank, dozens of whirling carnival rides, and, of course, live music. Some of the performers even paused their act to say hello to Jeremy.
About 70 merchants dotted the festival grounds, including a wide variety of Italian-based food vendors who emphasized the use of tomato sauce in their dishes.
One of the vendors was Drip Coffee Company, selling special themed products, including tomato cake pops and "Tomato Fest Tea"—made with green tea, strawberry syrup, and lemonade.
Jeremy also tried the famous Tomato Pie from Carmella's. Danielle Padula, married to the grandson of Carmella, for whom the family business is named, walked Jeremy through the key elements that set apart tomato pie from pizza.
It's served at room temperature, not hot; it has a thinner, focaccia-like crust; it has no cheese except for a sprinkling of parmesan on top; and the sauce is made using their exclusive Carmella's homemade sweet tomato sauce.
The festival was also accepting submissions for their competition for the biggest, smallest, ugliest, and most perfect tomatoes. John Davis from Pittston Township hoped he had the best entry for both the biggest and ugliest tomato at the Pittston Tomato Festival.
But after wandering through the entire festival, Jeremy had the same question as many others, including Paula Kerney of Pittston: "Where are the tomatoes?"
Donahue admitted that there was a stark lack of the very item for which the festival is named, but she clarified that not a single farmer was able to commit to coming to the festival this year. In previous years, there were several farmers who sold tomatoes, as well as other fruits and vegetables, at the festival.
Possibly even more controversial than the lack of tomatoes at the tomato festival are the tomato fights of years past.
Talkback callers have had strong reactions to the event in the past, and many speculated that they may have stopped the fights this year because of the criticism. But Donahue told Jeremy that the tomato fights are just on pause. "The location of where we had it was Cooper's—the parking lot. And they were great with it, but now it's a wedding venue, and they just don't want tomatoes in their lot," she said.
Another popular misconception is that perfectly good tomatoes were wasted in the fights.
One talkback caller lamented, "The Pittston Tomato battle with the tomatoes—why are these tomatoes not cooked up and sent to the Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, for food for these people, instead of wasting them and throwing them at each other across the street?"
But Donahue confirmed that the tomatoes were actually donated and were just going to be trashed otherwise.
In lieu of the tomato fights, the first Spaghetti Eating Contest was held for the first year ever, where competitors had to courageously consume a full pound of freshly cooked pasta in just 3 minutes. Anthony Angeli of Moosic was the first person to finish, and he was crowned the "Mangia Master."