A Hanover County tradition will attract thousands to Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville on Saturday, July 11.

The the 31st Annual Hanover Tomato Festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Its beginnings were humble, starting out as a fundraiser for the Black Creek Volunteer Fire Station.

Now, it is the county’s largest spectator event, with upwards of 40,000 people expected to attend this year.

With more than 200 arts and crafts booths, food vendors, heritage exhibits, and information booths, the festival also offers games, crafts and rides.

The Hanover County Parks and Recreation Department works in conjunction with the Black Creek crew in organizing the Tomato Festival.

One of the highlights of the day is the Best-Dressed Tomato Contest, in which youngsters use their ingenuity and imagination
to create “Mr. and Mrs. Tomato Heads.”

The tomato recipe contest is also an annual hit, as is the Little Miss and Tiny Miss Tomato Pageant.

Headlining the entertainment this year are regional favorites Susan Greenbaum and Marna & Macy, along with the Hanover Concert Band and the West Hanover Boys.

Bring an appetite. In addition to fried green tomatoes, tomato pie, BLTs, pasta tomato salad and tomato stuffed with chicken salad, there will be roasted corn, pork barbecue, crab cakes, ribs, beef, lamb and chicken gyros, hamburgers, fried oysters and more.

And don’t forget to take home a bag or two of homegrown Hanover tomatoes, especially picked and selected for the festival.

The Tomato Festival’s Producers are the Black Creek Volunteer Fire Station, Hanover County Parks and Recreation, the Hanover Herald-Progress and The Mechanicsville Local.

Pole Green Park is located on Pole Green Road in Hanover County (Exit 38A from Interstate 295).

For more information, call Hanover County Parks & Recreation, (804) 779-7948, (804) 365-4695; or e-mail: hanovertomatofestival@co.hanover.va.us.

Visit the Hanover County Parks and Recreation Department’s Web site at http://www.co.hanover.va.us/parksrec/default.htm