If you enjoy celebrating local food — certainly my favorite local food, by the way — then mark your calendar for Saturday, Aug. 8 for the East Nashville Tomato Art Fest. (July 31 is the deadline to submit your tomato haikus — see below for details.)

So what exactly does one do at a tomato festival? Well, first off, don’t expect it to be like La Tomatina, that gigantic tomato food fight that takes place in Spain every year. We have too much love and respect for the tomato to use them as projectiles.

The East Nashville Tomato Art Fest has plenty of fun-for-the-whole-family activities with live music (hey, it’s Nashville) and art and fun competitions all related to the tomato theme.

No doubt, members of Team Hammock will report back on the fun. See you there!

*East Nashville Tomato Art Fest official website
*Map


Don’t forget to enter the Tomato Art Fest’s haiku contest. Deadline: July 31. Each haiku must be tomato-related and must be entered in one of the five categories ranging from traditional to kid-written to rotten. Find out more, including how to enter here. Here is one of Rex’s entries:

Bird, you shall not peck
Nor chipmunk squirrel or rabbit
My guarded red fruit