Grainger Tomato Festival

Grainger County, Tennessee, has branded itself the "Tomato Capitol." The Grainger County brand is widely recognized in a 250-mile radius for vine-ripened flavor and quality. Grainger tomatoes have even made their way to Canada and Mexico. For each of the past 20 years Grainger County has celebrated, and promoted, its premier product with a Tomato Festival. This year we finally attended one.

At first glance it looked pretty much like any fair.

There was a midway with lots of opportunities to later say "Man, I can't believe I ate that!"

There were lots of activities to keep the young ones busy.

 

There were lawn tractors souped up for racing.

and a display of vintage farm tractors.

There were artists and crafters,

and a long table of writers selling and signing their books.

There were line dancers,

and cloggers.

Even the local blood bank followed the crowd here.

But it was really all about the tomatoes.

Everywhere farmers were selling tomatoes; by the pound, by the peck, and by the bushel. We watched vans fill with bushel boxes of tomatoes heading home to be canned or rendered into tomato juice and pasta sauce. There was another tomato attraction beyond the chance to buy premium tomatoes in quantity at bargain prices, however - the famous Tomato War!