Being welcomed to the 2005 NJ Tomato Festival

8/23/05 - Yesterday I spent the day at the 2005 New Jersey Tomato Festival on the Camden Waterfront, where everything revolved around the Jersey Tomato.

My day started out by driving to the Riverline station in Trenton to catch the lightrail down to Camden. The trip takes a little over an hour, which is longer than driving, but is much more relaxing. The track follows along the Delaware River and offers many scenic views as the track winds its way down to it's destination.

Upon exiting the train at the Adventure Aquarium stop, I was surprised that no posters were being displayed nor any indication at all that there was a huge festival taking place. So I started to make my way down toward the Aquarium and river, not sure exactly where the Festival was. I walked around to the ticket booth area of the aquarium and still no posters announcing any kind of festival. I felt and I still feel this was a lost opportunity. So may people on the train were going to the aquarium, yet they knew nothing about the festival and nothing to let them know it was going on. To be honest - I was even beginning to have doubts that it was happening myself. So I continued onward, thinking about what I would do if it wasn't going on. I walked along the river walk and made my way past the aquarium to where some inflatable kiddy rides were set up. Here was the lone sign telling people that over the hill was the Tomato Festival.

Once I made my way up the hill, I decided I would take a look around and see what it was like. The first thing that struck me, was that there weren't as many people around as I thought there would be There was a band playing along the waterfront on the large stage, but no one was really on the grass watching them. I thought about the long lines to the aquarium and how the people there probably had no idea that any of this was going on just on the other side of the building.

Jersey Fresh Produce being sold at the farmers market.

I passed between the booths, noticing the large Jersey Fresh booth to the right where they had set up a farmers market to sell Jersey produce, while on the left were several New Jersey wineries selling wine and taking part in the wine tasting. At the end of this row of displays, I came to where the festival booth was set up (as it ended up I had come in through the back) and bought a NJ Tomato Festival t-shirt. I'm glad I got there when I did, they were just getting ready to start the Tomato Wars. I was pretty sure I had missed the Pizza Eating contest, which I later found out I had.

Since it was going to be a bit longer for the "Tomato War" I decided I would continue my exploring, so I went down toward the marina and checked out some of the Arts and Crafts booths. There were some interesting things to see, but I was really interested in the Tomato Wars. Basically this time was used to hand-out business cards and let people know about AboutNewJersey.com. Finally it seemed as if the war was going to begin. People were getting ready, gathering their tomatoes out of the boxes. The rules were basic. Only one as a matter of fact.- if you get hit in the chest with a tomato - then you are out.

Getting pelted during the Tomato War.

The contestants broke up into teams and it was a free for all, with tomatoes going everywhere - bits, pieces, juice, whole, just all flying through the air. People were ducking, while at the same time trying to hit their opponents. People's shirts were pink with the tomato juice, people had bits of tomato in their hair, on their face and dripping down their arms and legs. It was great. When, after about 10 minutes, only two people from the same team were left standing, it all came to an end and they were declared the winners.

Now it was time for me to find something to eat. There was the standard fair style food available, but three booths served "real food". One place was selling pizza. It was New Jersey style pizzeria pizza, but the place was from Philadelphia (sorry - I have one rule when traveling around NJ, whenever possible I will support a NJ business before an out of state business). My rule was very hard to keep, because the place next to the Pizza booth was making barbecue that smelled so incredibly good, but they were also from Philadelphia. Finally I looked at the third booth and they were from New Jersey - Nunzio Ristorante Rustico located in Collingswood. They were serving a great looking pasta dish which I ordered, took a menu for later reference and sat down to eat.

After eating, I decided I would take in some of the cooking demonstrations they were having. First up - the different varieties of tomatoes, which they kindly sliced up and passed around. There is nothing like farm fresh produce and NOTHING compares to New Jersey farm fresh produce.

The Smoked Joint doing their barbecuing demonstration.

After having the tomato demonstration, they had the barbecuing demonstration which was given by the same restaurant which I had passed up earlier. They gave a great presentation and even better was their barbecue. I told them that even though they're from Philadelphia (you know, that city in that other state), I would mention their restaurant in my write-up. So here it goes, it's The Smoked Joint at 1420 Locust St. In the end, I got to have my barbecue - well at least a little taste anyway. It really made me want to go to their booth and order some, but I was still full from the pasta and then the tomatoes I had eaten. If anyone reading this goes to Nunzio's or the Smoked Joint, make sure you let them know that you heard about them on AboutNewJersey.com.

Finally the day was coming to an end and I had to get back home. But there was still one thing left to do and that was to get a couple of bottles of New Jersey wine from the Balić Winery. I had gone to the 2005 Garden State Wine Tasting Festival back in July and had picked up a bottle of their Blueberry and Pomegranate wine and I really enjoyed both of them. As I write this, I am enjoying my New Jersey Blueberry wine. Having gotten my two bottles of each variety, I headed back to the light rail station where I got a sudden craving for good New Jersey pizzeria pizza. Let me tell you, cell phones come in very handy for those "on the way home cravings", so I called up Romeo's in Plainsboro and ordered a large Pepperoni Pie. I think it was spending the day around all those tomatoes that made me crave pizza so much.

All in all it was a great day and I look forward to attending next year's New Jersey Tomato Festival.


Robert Rosetta
President & Founder
AboutNewJersey.com