"The tomatoes are here," the call said. When you're invited to see what about 10,000 pounds of tomatoes look like (25,000 of the ripe red fruit), you get in the car and go.
There, in the parking lot of Tobacco Road they were. A mound of tomatoes, awaiting their fate of being thrown at the head or chest of some human over the weekend.
This Saturday is Tobacco Road's Flying Tomato Smash & Bash, one hot mess of a festival complete with food, drink, live music, and a mechanical bull. The festival starts at noon, and concludes at about 5 p.m. with a massive tomato fight.
Participants (hopefully wearing clothes they no longer care about) will get about a half hour to toss as many tomatoes as they can. What's the purpose? To turn Tobacco Road's backyard into a giant vat of sauce? Nope -- it's just for fun. And a creative way for Tobacco Road co-owner Patrick Gleber to get rid of some tomatoes that didn't make the grade for food from his hydroponic farm in Homestead.
Gleber told us that after selling his Grade One tomatoes and donating
more to organizations, he and other farmers were still left with produce from this growing season. He decided to collect and truck
them en masse to Tobacco Road, where they will finish off their lives
as projectile objects.
Registration for the food fight starts at
3:30 p.m. Participants will have to fill out a waiver, as well as get
their picture taken. When the whistle blows, they'll have 30 minutes to
make as big a mess as they possibly can. Afterward, Tobacco Road will
treat those individuals to a beer -- on the house.
Our helpful hint? Bring a change of clothes before getting into that leased BMW you're so fond of.
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