You Say, "To-may-to," and I say, "To-mah-to. . ."

In 2003, two Nashville artists decided to host a tomato-themed art festival after reading an article about a similar event held in California. For the first Tomato Art Fest, about 1000 people showed up to view the tomato art and participate in a number of fun contests. Four years later, in addition to an increase in the number of participating merchants and artists, the festival attendees have grown to over 10,000. Events include a parade (for which a number of attendees dress up in tomato red or as tomatoes), tomato tasting, tomato decorating (Yes, people do dress the things up!), the biggest/smallest tomato contest, fashion show, tomato art, the Tomato King and Queen contest, "tomato toss" (Participants throw inedible tomatoes at a building.), and more.

We decided to head to historic East Nashville for the Fest early. When we arrived a little after 10 am, there were a lot of people walking through the festival. However, we didn't see as many people as we expected to see, nor did we see many people dressed in tomato costumes. We didn't last too long as the sun and heat were oppressive, and there were not a lot of shady places to which we could escape. (Hence, we believe, the reason for the lack of costumes.)

As a side note, East Nashville is a historic area full of Victorian and arts-and-crafts homes which residents have renovated. There are a number of funky retail shops and art galleries there, as well as some interesting restaurants and bars.