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‘Tilting Tomato’ gets a permanent home in the city

Sculpture installed at corner of William and Main streets

A year ago at a special party commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Pittston Tomato Festival the sculpture Tilting Tomato was unveiled.

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Tom Reilly of Reilly Associates Engineering, right, holds an umbrella over metal fabricator Ray Preby as he secures the tomato sculpture to its base on the corner of Main and William Streets in Pittston on Wednesday afternoon as festival committee member Michael Lombardo looks on.

Photo by Bill Tarutis

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The Pittston tomato sculpture is installed at its permanent home on the corner of Main and William Streets in Pittston on Wednesday afternoon. Clockwise from left: metal fabricator Ray Preby, Tomato Festival committee member Michael Lombardo, Pittston City fire fighter Frank Cawley, and Tom Reilly of Reilly Associates Engineering.

Photo by Bill Tarutis

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Wednesday afternoon it found a permanent home.

Commissioned from artist Laura Lengyel especially for the occasion of the 25th anniversary, the sculpture’s home is atop a specially constructed monument at the corner of William and Main streets in downtown Pittston.

The project came about through the donations of several Greater Pittston businesses.

Joyce Insurance, located on Main Street, donated the land for the planter and walkway and landscaping area to the City and donated the stone materials for wall.

Latona Trucking provided the labor.

Popple Construction donated the materials and labor for the wall footing, tomato foundation pier and stone and topsoil backfill.

Joseph Tierney donated labor for the stone masonry for. KC Construction donated the structural block materials.

Apple Street Welding and Metal donated the metal fabrications for mounting the tomato on the wall.

Kalinosky Landscaping donated the labor and materials for the bed plantings.

Reilly Associates Engineering and Williams Kinsman Lewis Architects donated design and construction management of the base and planter.

Lori Nocito, chairperson of the Pittston Tomato Festival Committee, said seeing the completed project “took my breath away.”