RUSKIN - The Ruskin Community Development Foundation plans an even bigger and better Ruskin Tomato Festival this year even though this year's local tomato crop is significantly smaller than it has been in the past
Fields that once produced a bumper crop of tomatoes in the SouthShore area, designating Ruskin as the tomato capital of Florida, have dwindled down to merely a few.
Jennifer McCafferty, a member of the festival planning committee, cited several reasons for the area's overall agricultural decline.
"We lost two large crops of our Ruskin tomatoes because farmers just opted not to grow tomatoes this year," McCafferty said. "There are also a few fields laying fallow right now probably because of the road construction like on 19th where the 'you-pick' used to be.
"Then there's the weather issue because about the time they were getting ready to plant, there was a really cold windy snap."
McCafferty also noted that encroaching residential and commercial development has shrunk agricultural land use.
The end result is seeking tomatoes from outside the area.
"We're still getting tomatoes," McCafferty said, "but we're having to go all over to get them. SunRipe Produce in Wimauma is the only local tomato producer that is sponsoring our event."
She is confident that there will be more than enough ripe, juicy tomatoes to make this event the popular and fun-filled festival that it has been since it's origin in the 1930s.
The festival again offers entertainment, food, and fun with a DJ and live music from local artists, including the Crabree Cowboys, Emily Joy and Jazmine Eargood. Local children's groups such as the Waterset Charter School Theater Club Singers and Arnetta's Grand Jete' Studio of Dance from Apollo Beach also will perform.
And of course, the Tomato Festival Beauty Pageant, which begins at 11:30 a.m., will crown winners in five age groups including infant to four years, 5-12, 13-19, 20-40 and a 41 plus group.
There will be several food vendors serving plenty of hot food and cold beer but the star of the menu will be the tomato sandwiches. McCafferty estimates more than 250 of these treats were sold last year. The festival also will feature several dessert vendors.
And no festival would be complete without plenty of fun games for the kids. Sara Roberts who heads up planning for the KidZone has some wonderful activities such as potato sack races, ring toss games, tomato stacking, and a tomato bean bag toss, all of which award prizes for the winners.
"We want to modernize the games a little bit this year," Roberts said, "but we really want to retain the tradition of the old-time festival atmosphere. We don't want it to be too much like a carnival."
In addition to these old-fashioned games, there will be a "tomato chow-down" for kids 5-12.
"This was so popular last year," McCafferty said, "that we had to do it three times instead of just once as we'd planned. Kids just kept showing up and wanted to join in the fun. We set a plate full of tomatoes in front of them and they have 3 minutes to eat as many tomatoes as possible. It was hilarious. This year we're going to put the kids up on the stage so everybody can watch."
Other activities include a tomato drop, a tomato smashing contest and "chicken poop bingo." Yes, several chickens will scratch and claw in a large cage with a huge bingo card on the bottom. If the chicken "deliver" on and entrant's number, they win a prize.
"It's a Ruskin thing," McCafferty said. As is the festival.
Contact Kathy Straub at hillsnews@tampabay.com.