Fredericktown’s Tomato Show, an annual street festival since 1977, will serve up slices of fun and festivities through Saturday, said Chris Well, a show board member.
From a kids princess party to a tomato bathtub race to a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band, there will be something for everyone, Well told the Mount Vernon News. There will also be parades, a tractor pull, a 5K race and a Little Miss Tomato contest.
"People ask me what a bathtub race is," Well said. "It's a bathtub on wheels with ice-cold water in it. Sometimes they throw ice in it while the person is sitting in it. Sometimes they throw tomato juice in there. And there are two people on the side who push it."
Twenty-seven 6-year-old girls will compete for the title of Little Miss Tomato, Well said.
The show also serves as a gathering place for Fredericktown residents past and present to reconnect.
"We have several class reunions," Well said. "On Friday night, people go to the football game. But we also have a lot of out-of-towners who come just to meet up with people. Especially after COVID, we can't get enough of seeing people and talking to them."
The show began as a follow-up to the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, Well said.
It was canceled in 2020 because of COVID but returned in 2021.
This year will mark the 45th festival, said Well, a retired schoolteacher. She said that it could grow even more popular in the future as the community grows.
Fredericktown is increasingly attracting residents who grew up there, moved away and missed the small-town lifestyle, said Well.
The new Intel semi-conductor plant in New Albany will likely prompt even more growth in the town, she said.
"We have people who here who already drive to Columbus for work," she said. "The Intel plant will be an easy drive for them."
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