Virginia Tomato Festivals in 2024: Where, When and More to Find a Tomato Festival Near You!

Looking for a Tomato festival in April 2024? There is no other listing as complete and current as this list, just updated! Tomato festivals are held through the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia and much of the world. All the Tomato festivals we can find are listed on this page! If you love tomatoes, look for a festival near you below! And I'm looking for more Tomato festivals! Please write me, if you know of any to add!  I update the dates as soon as the festivals publish their information, but you can always click on the links (usually the name of the festival) to see the current information on the festival's own website. 

Especially this year, due to Coronavirus, be sure to click on the links (the blue, underlined name of the each festival) to confirm this year's dates on the website for each festival. If they don't have a website, call the phone number provided, but ALWAYS CONFIRM THIS YEAR'S DATES AND TIMES BY EITHER VIEWING THEIR WEBSITE OR CALLING.

Click here for the form to add a festival and have detailed information; or click here if you have general information and are not connected with the event!

Virginia 2024Tomato Festivals Festivals - Where, When and More Details!

Virginia

Tomatoes are a warm and hot weather crop, and typically are locally harvested from, July to October. There are two general types of Tomato festivals 1) community festivals, usually organized by a church, school, local Chamber of commerce or a town and 2). Tomato festival held at and by a farm

They are different in what they offer, so they are grouped separately. (of course not all states and areas have both. And following the festival listings are links to our easy to follow directions about making Tomato jam, freezing Tomatoes, Tomato pies and much more. 

Community Tomato Festivals

• Annual EastMont Tomato Festival - August - see their website for this year's dates.
  Meadowbrook Center, Shawsville, Va. Phone: 540-268-2879. Email: hemphills4@yahoo.com. There will be contests for best-tasting, biggest and funniest-looking tomatoes, along with best BBQ sauce, pasta sauce, ketchup, salsa, tomato recipe, fried green tomato, and tomato artwork, also a Tomato Queen, tomato juggling, a tomato catapult, The Tomato Opera, and some musical tomato jams. Join us at the Meadowbrook Center in Shawsville 10 AM to 3 PM for local musicians, a magician, great food and games! Choose from our famous fried green tomatoes, BLTs, pizzas, tomato sandwiches, tomato biscuits and more. Kids love the ever popular TomatOlympics, a series of tomato-themed challenges along our crazy obstacle course. Just for the fun of it, kids get a chance to throw squishy tomatoes at the Human Tomato Target.. Bring your entry for the tomato art contests and our tomato recipe contests. You can even bring your own tomatoes for our Biggest, Ugliest and Best-Tasting Tomato contests. Compete in the Tomato Pageant in your tomato-themed outfit, or find out if you're the next Tomato-Eating champion. Admission is free. Bring your friends!
• Hannover Tomato Festival - July, 9 am to 4 pm
  Pole Green Park, 8996 Pole Green Park Lane, Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Email: hanovertomatofestival@hanovercounty.gov.  See the list of food vendors. From tomatoes to talented musicians, tomato pies to fried green tomatoes, artisans to agricultural vendors,  bow-wow beach to the materFUN zone, this event is uniquely Hanover!  Non aggressive dogs are allowed at the Festival and must be on a leash at all times. The tomatoes being sold at the Hanover Tomato Festival are supplied by Dodd's Acres Farm, located on Market Road in the Black Creek area of Hanover County. The Dodd's have worked their Hanover County 300-acre farm since the mid 1970's.42,000 people usually attend this Festival. Yes there is handicapped parking.  Please be sure to have your parking pass displayed prior to arriving at Pole Green Park. There will be plenty of activities for children including face painting, arts & crafts, games, mechanical rides, petting zoo, Best Dressed Hanover Tomato Contest, and much more.
• Thomas Jefferson's Tomatoe Faire - August - see their website for this year's dates.
  Lynchburg, VA. Phone: 434/384-8317. Displays of horticulture, awarding of ribbons, tomato sandwiches. No admission fee. The Festival will be held rain or shine.
  

Farm Tomato Festivals

In addition to community and church festivals, some private farms have their own tomato festivals in June.  See each farm for this year's dates (they often do not announce them until the end of May). They usually have PYO Tomatoes then, too.  Also, scroll down to see the links to recipes, freezing, canning and jam making directions at the bottom of the page.

• We will be adding these as we find them;  Please write me, if you know of any to add!

 

Related Tomato Information: Freezing, making Jam, Canning, Pies, Recipes and More

Also, see our pages on easy illustrated Tomato directions:

Canning tomatoes (in water bath canners )

• How to can tomatoes using a water bath canner - W
• Diced, chopped or crushed tomatoes - W
• Tomato sauce - W
• Tomato paste - W
• Barbecue sauce (BBQ sauce) - W
• Chili sauce from your own tomatoes and peppers - W
• Diced, chopped or crushed tomatoes - W
• Tomato Preserves- W
• Tomato salsa - W
• Spaghetti sauce - without meat - W, P
• Spiced Green tomatoes- W
• Pickled Green Tomatoes - W - another pickled green tomato recipe, this one sweet
• Ketchup.. or if you prefer... How to make catsup - W, P
• NEW! SUPER-EASY homemade ketchup recipe
• Salsa from your unripe, GREEN tomatoes! - W
• Tomatillo salsa - W
• How to make roasted tomatoes, boiling water bath canner version - W

Canning Tomatoes in Pressure canners

• Canned tomatoes using a Pressure Canner - P
• NEW!Baked  Beans With Tomato or Molasses Sauce - P
• Canning your own chili con carne (with meat) - P
• How to make roasted tomatoes, pressure canner version - P
• Spaghetti sauce - with meat  - P
• Stewed tomatoes - P
• Tomato soup or tomato-basil soup - P
• Tomato sauce - P
• Tomato juice - P
• Tomato juice, like V8 - P

Freezing Tomatoes

• How to freeze tomatoes from you garden or the farm; for that fresh taste this winter!

For other fruit and vegetable festivals, see this page!