American Food Festivals - This Ohio event celebrates the vegetable in almost every backyard garden
To be inclusive, organizers are also allotting two hours on Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for people with sensory sensitivities such as Autism. Special events will be held without light and sound.
So far, our Summer of '24 American Food Festival tour has taken us to places where you can sample everything from Wisconsin Cheese Curds to Michigan cherries. This week's tour stop is in a place that can lay claim to being home to a vegetable grown in almost every American state - tomatoes!
Reynoldsburg, Ohio, is the home of the 59th annual Tomato Festival. While tomatoes are grown all over the United States, this summertime crop, which is in almost every backyard garden, has special ties to Reynoldsburg in central Ohio.In the 1870s, Alexander Livingston of Reynoldsburg developed the Paragon, which was reputed by the Ohio Historical Society as the first commercially viable tomato.
Tossed salads, sandwiches and backyard gardens have never been the same since! It only took about 100 years, but the people of Reynoldsburg organized the first festival in 1965. Since then, the festival has grown, and it will be held between August 8 and 10 this year.
There are notable events along with the carnival rides, free live entertainment (including Billy Joey and Elton John tribute performers), a car show, a pageant, and food vendors. One event not for the faint of heart to participate in or watch is the spaghetti and sauce eating contest, where the participants in the timed event will see who can eat the most pasta and tomato sauce utensil-free!
For growers, there is also a tomato contest. Gardeners will compete for blue ribbons and cash prizes in categories such as Best Cherry Tomato, Biggest, Tallest Tomato Vine, Most Oddly Shaped, and Most Unique Shape. Organizers also hold what they call "the messiest, annual event that everyone is talking about at the Reynoldsburg Tomato Fest" -Tomato Wars. The contest is described as a five-team member dodgeball-type competition in which contestants hurl rotten tomatoes at each other.
To be inclusive, organizers are also allotting two hours on Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for people with sensory sensitivities such as Autism. Special events will be held without light and sound.
For those venturing to Reynoldsburg, there are several attractions in nearby Columbus. One significant attraction is the internationally renown Columbus Zoo. College football fans might be interested in checking out the Horseshoe. As fans and alums of the prevailing National College Football Champions University of Michigan Wolverines, we'll pass on the name of that other team, but college football fans know the reference.
