March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 49 F

Got Tomatos Tomatoes?

The sun finally came out of hiding just prior to the 3rd Annual Tomato Festival at Homestead Gardens. The event, held Saturday from noon to 6pm, was a rousing success and a lot of fun.

OK, so a Tomato Festival may not sound terribly exciting; and if you had that impression, you would be mistaken. About 1500 people came out to sample about a dozen different entries in the Chili Cookoff and an equal number in the Salsa Competition.  Both events had entries from mild (bland?) to “OMG what the hell did I just put in my mouth?”

There were about 20 vendors selling salsas, pasta sauces, and yes, even tomatoes. The kids were entertained with a moon bounce and face painting and of course there was plenty of food for purchase.

In terms of entertainment, local musical phenom Andy Poxen kept the crowd entertained with his bluesy-jazzy guitar licks.

But the highlight had to be the Ledo Pizza eating contest with this year’s winner (a returning champion) shaving ten seconds off of his best time. He ate a large Ledo Pizza in two minutes and nine seconds leaving the other competitors wallowing in tomato paste!

This was my first year, and I will be back. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon and my pantry is now stocked with some new favorite salsas!

Here’s my first attempt at iMovie (cut me some slack). And if you are interested in the rest of the photos (Exuberantly taken by my daughter–all 300 of them) from the afternoon, they are online in our gallery!

 

Previous Article

Regional Recap, September 12, 2011

Next Article

Free Root Beer Floats

You might be interested in …