Twice a year the townsfolk of Weedovia celebrate the
harvesting of the tomato crop.
The three day festival occurs twice a year, once starting the first Friday of April
for the spring harvest, and once starting the first Friday of October for the fall harvest.
The activities begin Friday night with a big outdoor carnival party in the town park,
Saturday day is spent harvesting the tomatoes, ending with the judging and followed by
the evening being a continuation of Friday night's carnival. Sunday afternoon is the
big tomato squashing at the town's tomato press, and ending with the official blessing
of the tomato sauce and the spaghetti feast.
The Friday and Saturday night carnival is a time for the whole town to get together
as one and have fun. For the weekend, the town's park is strung with lights and turned
into a carnival ground with booths and games and activities. An open stage is set up
for dances, contests, and the tomato judging. There is plenty of food and fun for all
ages. Entertainers, artists, and craftsmen come from around the land to show off their
talents.
 Peeky with her haul |
One of the two main events is the actual tomato harvest. Early Saturday morning,
everyone takes their baskets, carts, and wagons and goes out into the surrounding fields
hunting for the tomatoes growing wild. By the end of the day, the stage is overflowing
with the piles of tomatoes. A panel of judges award the pleos for the most tomatoes
found, largest tomato, best looking tomato, and best use of a tomato as an article of
clothing. The winning pleos are awarded baseball caps of honor and treated to free
ice cream at the carnival.
As part of the Saturday night carnival, everyone in town is given
a chance to bring
a pasta dish for the rest of the town to sample. Each pleo is also given the
opportunity to vote for their favorite dish. The pleo with the most votes, gets to be
the "Festival Chef".
The second half of the festival surrounds the tomato squashing. Like the grapes and
the wine presses of old, all the harvested tomatoes are taken to the town's big tomato
press
where the tomatoes are thrown in and each of the town's pleos gets a turn at climbing
into the press and squashing the tomatoes into sauce with their bare feet. The winners
from the previous day's judging get to go first, followed by the rest of the townsfolk
as they feel lead.
The Festival Chef oversees the adding of the herbs and spices as the tomatoes are
squashed, and decides when the tomatoes have been squashed completely into sauce.
At this time,
the pastor of the town's church blesses the sauce and lord
of the castle announces the start of the spaghetti dinner.
The final event is a big dinner where everyone gets to try the new sauce on a plate
of spaghetti.
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