PITTSTON — After more than 30 years, the Pittston Tomato Festival has taken on a life of its own.
From its original location on Kennedy Boulevard to its current spot in the Upper Tomato Festival Lot on Main Street, the event draws tens of thousands of spectators, food testers and tomato fighters to the downtown.
With the addition of a special Tomato Festival Committee building to last year’s event, you never know what surprises are in store.
Lori Nocito, chairperson of the Tomato Festival committee, said, while the event itself is celebrating its 34th year, the committee is celebrating a milestone of its own.
“This year is our committee’s 20th year of running the festival,” she said. “What we decided to do to celebrate our 20th year as the committee that took over, we are getting new committee shirts that are a hunter green color because that was the color when we first took over to differentiate ourselves and be new.
“Out of respect for our history, we’re going back to our color. It means a lot that we’re together for 20 years.”
More than 50,000 people are expected in Pittston this week as the 34th Annual Pittston Tomato Festival gets underway on Thursday. During the four days of tomato fun, the Quality Tomato Capital of the World offers something for everyone.
The festival runs from Thursday, Aug. 17 to Sunday, Aug. 20 and is considered one of the best and tastiest festivals in Northeast Pennsylvania.
The festival features a plethora of homemade American and ethnic food, live entertainment, a parade, a 5K run and fun walk, games, rides, beer — which will be served at the Pittston City Fire Department Headquarters — and, of course, home-grown Pittston tomatoes.
The festival officially opens at 5 p.m. Thursday with an opening ceremony set for 6 p.m. at the city’s bandstand, followed by live entertainment by Windfall, Fab 3 and The Banana Hammocks.
The festival continues Friday with performances by the Phyllis Hopkins Electric Trio, The Sperazza Band, and The Idol Kings: A Tribute to Journey and John Cougar.
Saturday, however, is when the big stuff happens.
The 5K Race and Fun Walk will begin at 10 a.m. through the streets of downtown. Registration for the 19th annual Miles for Michael/Pittston Tomato Festival 5K Run is set for 8:30 a.m. at the Greater Pittston YMCA. The awards ceremony for the race will be at 11:30 a.m.
Following the race, at approximately 10:30 a.m., the parade will begin on South Main Street and swing around to Kennedy Boulevard. The parade will be televised live on Fox 56. The parade will start at the A-Plus Mini Mart, continue through South Main Street and down Kennedy Boulevard, ending at the Cooper’s Co-op building.
This year’s grand marshals are none other than Jimmy Cefalo, former Pittston Area High School football standout and professional football player with the Miami Dolphins and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.
Saturday also features the Tomato Festival Queen Scholarship Pageant from 1 to 2 p.m. and live entertainment in the bandshell throughout the evening.
The biggest of all, however, just might be the Tomato Fights in Cooper’s parking lot. Hundreds of willing, and unwilling, participants will line up on either side of the parking lot and bombard each other with tomatoes. That starts at 1:30 p.m.
The tradition of the Tomato Fights began in 1944 in Bunol, Spain. Every year, truckloads of tomatoes are dumped into the town square and everyone is fair game as they crush and throw tomatoes at each other. The Pittston Tomato Fights will be a bit more organized, albeit still chaotic, and truckloads of fun.
Danny Argo and Friends begin the entertainment at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. They will be followed by Kindred Souls and Jump the Train featuring Billy Knowles.
The Tomato Contest begins at 7 p.m. in the committee building. The largest, smallest, ugliest and most perfect tomatoes will be judged.
Jeanne Zano Band followed by Sweet Pepper and the Long Hots will round out the entertainment on Saturday.
The Little Miss and Little Mister Tomato Contest will be held from 10:45 a.m. to noon on Sunday. Entertainment will be another highlight of the day on Sunday. Until the festival closes at 10 p.m., local musicians will be at the bandshell.
Sauce Wars is back and better than ever. Last year’s champ was Crisnics of Wilkes-Barre. Taste-testers can vote for the best sauce throughout the weekend at the Tomato Festival Committee stand.
With another festival on the horizon, Nocito is looking forward to seeing Pittston residents past and present soak in the culture.
“We would love to see new faces come to the festival and people who haven’t come in a long tome to reconnect to the festival,” she said. “We encourage people to come to enjoy. Every year when people come to Pittston, they see new revitalizations in the downtown and now the neighborhoods.
“We’ve noticed a lot of people are now living in the city and walking to the venues that we have. It’s nice to see our town as a walkable, livable city. We think that can only get better.”
