Tell us your tomato story

Aug 26, 2010

The Frontenac Farmers’ Market held their annual Tomato Madness promotion last Saturday morning, with numerous varieties of sweet heritage tomatoes available for tasting inside the Donna Clark pavilion.

Tomatoes of all colours, shapes and sizes were also available for tasting and purchase at the booths, and in spite of threatening weather and the occasional shower, the market crowd was good.

In addition to tomatoes, the vendors had lots of corn and garlic for sale, as well as the first of the fresh spring lamb, summer and winter squash, onions, even peppers and first of the season salsa and beets.

One of the new vendors at the market this year, Suzanne Hussey from Wilton, took charge of the Tomato Madness. Suzanne also had an idea that she is testing out with Frontenac News readers. She has a theory that everyone has a tomato story in them, either a story about growing tomatoes, about eating tomatoes or about a tomato fight they were part of one time or another. To test this theory the Frontenac Farmers’ Market is sponsoring a Best Tomato Story contest. The winners will get their stories published in the Frontenac News and will win gift certificates redeemable at the market.

The entry rules are simple. The stories must be original, 500 words or less, and they must be submitted by September 10. They can be submitted electronically, preferably sent as email attachments in a word processing program to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or typed or handwritten on 8.5” x 11” white paper and mailed to Best Tomato Story contest, 3617 Desert Lake Road, Hartington ON K0H 1W0.

The prizes will be awarded on September 18 at 10am at the market, which is located at the Lions grounds on Sand Road in Verona (look for the signs).

The next big event at the market is the fourth annual Verona Garlic Festival, which runs from 9 am to 2 pm on September 4. Once again this year the festival will feature the Eastern Ontario Garlic Awards competition, with prizes for best single bulb, best grouping, best braid and best educational display. For garlic festival information, call John McDougall at 374-2516.