Tomato Festival Time

Every child has their favorite food. Its hard to pick a favorite for Ben because he really is happy eating anything.  Mari, on the other hand, definitely has a favorite and its tomatoes. The child would turn bright red if I let her. Yesterday she ate an entire container of cherry tomatoes in under an hour. I didn't mean to let her eat them all at once but she kept giving me her sweetest look and saying "More please". She is just starting to put two words together and it was so darn cute, I had to give in. What can I say, the girl loves her tomatoes.

This year we met out friends Michelle, Nick, and Brent at the Fairfield Tomato Festival.  This festival was new to me; a find from the Food Network. Luckily it happened to be in the next town over so drive time was next to nothing. Admission was even free, another great selling point in my book.  Our first stop was the tomato tent. They had a large tent set up for tasting. There were over 50 varieties of heirloom tomatoes to sample. It was amazing.

Nebraska Sweet, Miracle Sweet, Moonglow, Todd County Amish, and Banana Legs were among the crazy names for these beautiful tomatoes. The kids were shoving them in their faces as fast as I could pass the tiny plastic cups to them. Mari decided that she only trusted the red tomatoes. She passed her yellow or green tomatoes off to Ben who was happy to take on the extra munchies.

I expected to see alot of cool tomato food booths but I was really disappointed. There was one really cool  "tomato split sundae" They created their sundae using chocolate, strawberry, and pineapple tomatoes along with banana leg tomatoes. Very clever.

The rest of the fair was basically normal street fair stuff. There weren't a bunch of tomato based food stands like I was hoping for. The entire tomato theme was pretty much gone once you left the giant tent. Its a shame because I think the fair could be on par with the Gilroy Garlic Festival with the right setup. So many people love tomatoes and it would be so fun to see the tomato theme run through the entire street fair. The booths reminded me of booths you would see anywhere else. There were booths with knock off purses and garden stakes and license plate frames.  Just your run of the mill crap.  An incredibly nice lady bought the kids these ice cream shooter toys because I asked her where she got her son's. She beat me to the stand and made the kids incredibly happy with their new toys.

Nick decided to use his one activity privilege  (as negotiated with his mother) on the race cars. The little ones enjoyed cheering for him as he raced around the track and learn the fine art of steering.

The kids then dined on a nutritious lunch of hot dogs and cookies (in honor of Brent's 2nd birthday which happened to be that day)

Nick and Brent insisted we go check out the police and fire trucks after they found out that Ben and Mari were fire truck virgins. The kids were absolutely in love with the swat vehicle. They got to press all kinds of buttons including the deafening horn. Ben and Nick got to go up into the top of the rotating tank thingy. Yes, that is the technical term for that portion of the vehicle. Mari decided to stay down below and push every button five or six hundred times.

 

The kids were also able to check out the fire truck. Mari thought it was neat but after about 2 minutes she had her fill. Ben, on the other hand, shook his head no whenever the fireman asked him if he was ready to get out of the truck. The fireman kindly explained to me that it is in every boys blood to love fire trucks. I have to agree. I haven't seen a boy who hasn't been in love with them yet.

All of the vehicular excitement was exhausting for the kids and the executive decision was made by Mommy that it was time to head home. Overall, I recommend the festival to any tomato lover just for the tent of tomato samples alone. Anytime you can get your hands on free heirloom tomatoes I think it is worth your time. I just hope someone out there in cyberland hears my pleas and Fairfield works on making their festival more tomato centered. There is so much they could do with the tomato concept. Just contact me mighty tomato festival organizers and I will give you my list of tomato inspired ideas Tomato ice cream anyone? The Jelly Belly factory is right in town. Why not tomato jelly beans? Hello- where were the fried green tomatoes? I could go on....