First Posted: 8/14/2014

More than 50,000 people are expected in downtown Pittston this week as the 31st Annual Pittston Tomato Festival gets underway on Thursday. During four days of tomato fun, the Quality Tomato Capital of the World offers something for everyone.

The festival runs from Thursday, Aug. 21 to Sunday, Aug. 24 and is considered to be the best, tastiest festival in Northeast Pennsylvania.

The festival features a plethora of homemade American and ethnic food, live entertainment, a gala parade, a 5K run, games, rides, beer and, of course, home-grown Pittston tomatoes.

The festival’s opening ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. at the city’s bandstand, which was new last year, followed by live entertainment by Windfall, the Jeanne Zano Band and Fake Uncle Jack.

The festival continues on Friday with performances by Danny Argo and Friends, The Sperrazza Band and Sweet Pepper and the Long Hots.

Saturday’s day kicks off with the Tomato 5k. Up next is the parade.

Saturday also features the Tomato Festival Queen Scholarship Pageant, Phylis Hopkis, The Hi Lites, Jordan Tarter, Somethin’ Else, Eddy Appnel and Flaxy Morgan. The Tomato Contest will feature the largest, smallest, ugliest and most perfect tomato.

On Sunday, the Little Miss & Little Mr. Tomato Contest will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Then, Stanky and The Coalminers, Groove Train, The Poets and AM Radio will provide entertainment.

But the big talk around town is something the Tomato Festival was lacking a year ago: Sauce Wars. The event was not held last year due to a scheduling conflict. In 2012, Sam Marranca, owner of Cafe Italia on River Road, won best marinara sauce. “It’s an old family recipe,” Marranca said of his award-winning sauce.

The competition pits the best sauces of Greater Pittston against the other best sauces of Greater Pittston. The event will be held throughout the entire festival the Greater Pittston YMCA booth – booth B. A winner will be picked on Sunday.

Returning are the nationally-recognized Tomato Fights, which will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23 in the parking lot of Cooper’s on the Waterfront Restaurant on Kennedy Boulevard.

The event is sponsored by Price Chopper and was named by Outside magazine to its “2013 Adventure Bucket List.” “Win a Food Fight” at the Tomato Festival was Pennsylvania’s entry. A bucket list is a list of things people hope to do before they die.

All proceeds will benefit Greater Pittston charities. To date, several groups of people are ready and eager to challenge each other on opposites sides of the arena.

“It’s much better to throw tomatoes at someone you know,” said one participant from last year’s tomato fights.

The tradition of the tomato fights began in 1944 in Bunol, Spain. Every year, truckloads of tomatoes are dumped into the town square and everyone is fair game as they crush and throw tomatoes at each other. The Pittston Tomato Fights will be a bit more organized, albeit organized chaos, and truckloads of fun.

Registration for the 16th Annual Pittston Tomato Festival 5K Run, sponsored by Geisinger, is set for 9:30 a.m. at the Greater Pittston YMCA.

The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and will be televised live on Fox 56. The parade will start at the A-Plus Mini Mart and continue through Main Street and down Kennedy Boulevard, ending at the Cooper’s Co-op building.

Pittston Main Street Manager Rose Randazzo is grand marshal.

The Little Miss and Little Mister Tomato Festival 2013 Pageant is set for 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Miss Tomato Festival Queen Pageant is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Rebecca Lyn Colwell, of West Pittston, was crowned Tomato Festival Queen 2013. The contest is open to unmarried girls between the ages of 14 to 19 who vie for prizes, gifts and a $500 cash college scholarship. The runner-up is awarded $250.

The Sunday Dispatch will provide a new game this year. At booth 47, contestants can bring their Dispatch Dollar, which can be found in today’s edition as well as the Aug. 24 edition, for three bean bag tosses at our new Dispatch door. Make all three bags and pick a prize of your choice.

This year’s prizes will include a die-cast limited edition Ford Mustang featuring the Sunday Dispatch logo. For a $1 donation, or a Dispatch Dollar, patrons get three tosses.

Prizes also include Sunday Dispatch neon hipster sunglasses, limited edition T-shirts, key chains, lottery tickets, tote bags or coupon for a free classified ad in The Times Leader and Sunday Dispatch.

All money raised at the Dispatch stand will be donated to the Care and Concern Ministries and its food pantry.