PITTSTON — It’s a wrap!
The 36th Annual Pittston Tomato Festival is now in the books and organizers are very happy with the results of the four-day celebration honoring the fruit.
Yes, this year did have its share of rain as most years have had a rain episode or two. Not many can remember the entire four days being rain free.
Even though the rains came in heavy on two occasions, Pittston City police, Tomato Festival committee members and city street department workers moved swiftly and quietly through the crowds to assure everyone’s safety from eminent storms.
The supercharged storms followed the same pattern, coming from the northwest with high winds and driving rain. Again, crews moved in to secure the site without incident.
The biggest news of the festival was adding a third tier and Pittston’s Main Street coordinator Mary Kroptavich was happy with the success of the top tier right out of the box.
The third level had entertainment, food vendors and plenty of artwork for sale.
The festival incorporated the city’s 2nd Friday Art Walk into its line-up instead of having the walk for the month of August on Main Street.
It was a logical move for organizers and, if you were frequent attendee of the monthly art walk, chances are you made your way to the top tier behind the Pittston Memorial Library.
“I’m extremely happy with the third tier,” Kroptavich said. “Friday, we were just packed up there.”
Kroptavich admits the first night was slow with traffic but picked up steam as the event moved forward.
“Thursday was slow because, I believe, it was new and people had to get used to having an upper tier,” Kroptavich admits. “But the music was great, even though we had a glitch with the sound system. Next year, it will be better.”
“So yes, the upper tier was an absolute success,” she added. “The wine people sold out of their stock, the cheese guy sold out by mid-day Saturday and couldn’t return Sunday. One artist selling his art sold out, as well, and some of his pieces were selling for up to $300. So, everybody did well.”
Saturday has always been a big day at the festival with the Miles for Michael 5K & 1.5-mile Fun Walk taking place at 10 a.m., followed by the 90-minute festival parade before a brief break until one of the highlights of the weekend – the tomato fights.
Thirty-year-old Katlin Evans, of Harveys Lake, was to be married Aug. 17. But when the wedding was called off, she decided to make better use of the wedding dress by participating in the tomato fight and gained much media attention.
Evans’ commented, “I only hope he’s going to see this in the paper,” referring to her former fiancée.
Festival chairperson Lori Nocito overseeing her final festival after chairing the event for 22 years, also believed the festival was a success.
“Overall, the festival was a success,” Nocito said. “All the planning the committee did was instrumental in making sure that every detail was take care of, including during the stormy weather.”
Nocito went on to thank the committee and police for being on top of weather conditions over the four days.
“When it became apparent we needed to evacuate for safety, everybody cooperated,” Nocito said, tipping her hat to the committee, police and the thousands who attended.
Sunday evening saw another powerful storm come through the festival grounds in the early evening and many of the vendors packed up and left.
The last band The Wine Cellar Jam Band was to close out the festival, but it was apparent by 7:30 p.m., the band would not play.
Eventually, the sun came out and, even though many vendors had left, a number of food vendors stayed.
“A lot of people came back out after the rain on Sunday and I was happy for the vendors they came back and the vendors were able to recoup some of the loss,” Nocito added.
The weekend closed out Nocito’s reign as she passes the baton to Pittston Mayor Michael Lombardo.
“I was touched by the kind words of so many people as well as the kindness and generosity of our committee for the flowers and cake,” Nocito said. “I was touched by the special words from the mayor. It was very touching and I was completely surprised.”
With Lombardo taking over the reins, you will probably see more changes and additions for 2020.
