The scent of fresh tomatoes wafted through downtown Carrboro on Saturday morning, accompanied by community members dressed in outfits inspired by the food. They met one another with words of “Happy Tomato Day” — a sign of Carrboro Farmers Market’s biggest annual event of the year.
Since 1997, the celebration has been a way for the community to celebrate North Carolina’s peak tomato harvest season, featuring more than 70 tomato varieties from local farmers, food samples from vendors and limited-edition merchandise with this year’s Tomato Day design.
This year marks the market’s 45th anniversary. It originally sat behind Armadillo Grill, but it wasn't until the market moved to its current location at 301 W. Main St. in 1996 that it had room to host events like Tomato Day.
Alex Hitt, owner of Peregrine Farm and a market volunteer, said the festival debuted as one of the CFM’s first events. In the festival’s early days, he said patrons would taste all the tomato varieties at the market and vote on their favorite one.
“But that's so complicated to do that they've slowly moved it to just tasting a few of them, and being more of an educational event,” Hitt said.
The Tomato Day crowd has grown over the years, with last year’s turnout at more than 6,000 attendees. Farmers have responded by growing and bringing more kinds of tomatoes to the festival, Hitt said.
This year, the market had roughly 6,900 attendees on Tomato Day – during the regular season, they usually see around 3,500 people on a normal market day.
In between sampling a spicy carrot tomato soup from Short Winter Soups or trying The Cheese Shop’s tomato and feta Greek salad, patrons could learn about the tomato types in Tomato Day zines or from Hitt at the tomato display station.
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