Around Town: Missing the Pittston Tomato Festival

My grandmother on my father’s side was a Pittston native.

She grew up on Cornelia Street, and growing up my father always made it a point to take my sister and me to visit our relatives in Pittston, many of whom lived in the Junction and surrounding areas.

An activity I remember vividly was attending the Pittston Tomato Festival, which this year was supposed to take place this weekend.

I remember the crowds, the lights and the copious amounts of food for sale with more and more vendors appearing every year, it seemed.

Now that I’m older, I can appreciate what a big event and time of year it was for the City of Pittston.

To bring more than 50,000 people downtown is a huge boost to local business.

It’s also a huge boost to people’s moods. It’s an ideal end-of-summer event, with a race, tomato fight, music, food and so much more.

While we can’t celebrate it this year, we can look inside today’s paper for a special section totally dedicated to its history and – more importantly – its future.

Mayor Lombardo and his team are considering ways to improve for next year to make it better than ever, and considering the major improvements to the city’s downtown during his tenure, I’m sure they will come to fruition.

The section is uplifting. In fact, I was uplifted and excited as I read through it before printing. How awesome that we have a local event that’s gained such national attention over the years?

There are many events like the Pittston Tomato Festival that have been canceled this summer, although I’m not sure any have been around since the early 1980s, as the festival has.

Events like Paint Pittston Pink, one of my personal favorites, are in the same boat.

Event coordinators don’t want to risk anyone getting ill because of their gatherings, and that’s admirable and responsible.

I’m certain these two Pittston traditions will come back better than ever in 2021.

Other area events, like the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Day Parade and the Christmas Parade are in jeopardy of cancellation as well.

It’s sad, it’s upsetting and it’s frustrating, but organizers are staying responsible in listening to science and waiting to see what happens.

It seems we do a lot more waiting now than ever before, but there’s something to be said about patience.

If we all muster up some patience, we can allow event committees to regroup and put on better displays for next year than we’d ever imagined.

While we’ll miss the Pittston Tomato Festival and every other group gathering that’s been cancelled, we can do what Mayor Lombardo is doing and look forward.

There are many good things coming our way. We just have to have faith.

Even though I know my grandmother would be disappointed, she’d probably consider all the hard-working farmers we have locally and make a drive to buy her tomatoes at one of their locations this year.

Hopefully we’ll be back at the Pittston Tomato Festival next year. Until then, check out our special section for a walk down memory lane and some hope for the future.