PITTSTON – The 2019 Little Mister and Little Miss Tomato contest got off to a delayed start on Aug. 18 due to power issues from the night before when a heavy thunder cell landed over the Pittston Tomato Festival site.
Once power was restored, the contest began under a blazing sky with nine boys and 17 girls vying for the title where the was the boy’s category saw a second-generation winner.
Mila Lispi, 2, of West Pittston, took the 2019 Little Miss Tomato crown while 4-year-old Franco Ramiza was crowned Little Mister Tomato’s top spot. Ramiza’s mother, the former Cathy Argenio, was named the very first Little Miss Tomato during the inaugural Pittston Tomato Festival 36 years ago.
“I thought it was a good idea to put him in the contest because I was the very first ever Miss Tomato,” Cathy Ramiza said. “So thought it would be cute to put him in and see what he says; he’s pretty witty.”
“He’s excited. He said he wants to be Mister Tomato because he wants to be in the newspaper and TV and he even asked if he was going to win money,” Ramiza said, laughingly. “I told him if he did a good job, he could go in the bounce house; that sealed the deal to get him in.”
Ramiza can’t recall who was crowned Mister Tomato along side of her, but she said her name comes up from time-to-time in the Sunday Dispatch’s Peeking in the Past weekly column.
Angel Noone, coordinator of the Little Tomato Contest, has been involved ever since she could remember.
“My parents started the contest 36 year ago,” Noone said. “It’s been here ever since the start of the festival.”
Noone is no stranger to pageants when she not only helped her parents, but was crowned the Tomato Festival Queen in 1996, a pageant no longer held at the festival.
“I love when the kids have an opportunity to get on stage and go in front of people,” Noone said. “I love doing this and I brought on Sarah (Donahue) a few years ago to help out.”
Donahue also performs as the contest’s mistress of ceremonies.
The most rememorable moment in all the years Noone has been involved was last year when, for the first time in the history of the contest, a co-winner was crowned.
In 2018, the contest crowned Mia Bartush, along with Violet Pantucci, who is currently hospitalized at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Pantucci, 7, of Pittston, was born with lissencephaly, a rare brain disorder where the surface of the brain is smooth rather than having ridges and folds. She is very susceptible to having seizures.
“Violet has been having a tough time down at CHOP,” Noone said. “Just seeing the appreciation of the family last year and making her a princess and seeing what a remarkable young little girl she is has been the most rewarding thing that’s ever happened to me here in all my years.”
Seven-year-old Dylan Mlaker, the 2018 Little Mister Tomato, was prepared to hand over his crown.
“I was happy and excited,” Mlaker said of when he won the crown. “I got to be in parades and it’s been fun. I waved to a lot of people after we ran out of candy.”
