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<p>PITTSTON &#8212; &#8220;Big Red&#8221; or &#8220;Captain Pomodoro?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Ruby&#8221; or &#8220;Mari Nara?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Sauzzee?&#8221; &#8220;Beefsteak?&#8221; &#8220;Cherry Plum?&#8221;</p><p>Those are a few of the suggestions fans of the Pittston Tomato Festival posted to the festival&#8217;s Facebook page last year, hoping for the honor of naming a plump red mascot that would march in the parade, pose for photos, and boost enthusiasm for all things tomato during the annual four-day festival.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t have a name until the last day,&#8221; said Stew the Tomato, who is also known as Rosie Fasciana, a preschool teacher and member of the festival committee.</p><p>One of Stew the Tomato&#8217;s goals is to make everyone, especially children, feel welcome at the festival, which is set for today through Sunday in downtown Pittston.</p><p>&#8220;I will get down and give them a high five or a little fist bump and make sure they won&#8217;t be afraid of me,&#8221; Fasciana said.</p><p>Truly, there should be nothing to fear at the Tomato Festival.</p><p>Not the &#8220;ugliest tomato&#8221; contest, which gives backyard growers hope of winning a prize, even when they know they don&#8217;t have a contender for the &#8220;biggest,&#8221; &#8220;smallest&#8221; or &#8220;most perfect&#8221; tomato. (Bring entries to the committee stand for judging at 7 p.m. Saturday.)</p><p>While &#8220;sauce wars&#8221; might sound intimidating, they&#8217;re simply a chance for festival-goers to pay $2 to sample seven tomato sauces from area restaurants and vote for their favorite. Trying to take the crown from last year&#8217;s winner, CrisNics, of Wilkes-Barre, are Andy Perugino&#8217;s, of Luzerne; AuRants, of Duryea; Grico&#8217;s, of Exeter; Marianacci&#8217;s, of Wyoming, and Pazzo, of Pittston.</p><p>As survivors of the festival&#8217;s popular &#8220;tomato fights&#8221; will tell you, they&#8217;re simply good, clean fun. Or rather, they&#8217;re messy, be-sure-to-wear-your-goggles fun. But festival chairperson Lori Nocito emphasizes the fun part.</p><p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t hold back. Just throw them with all your might and have a blast,&#8221; said Nocito, who gives that advice to all participants, including Angelica Dore, a foreign exchange student from Sardinia, Italy, who will live with Nocito&#8217;s family while attending Wyoming Area High School as a junior this school year.</p><p>Dore said she&#8217;s excited about taking part in the tomato fights &#8212; she&#8217;s never heard of any similar events back in Italy &#8212; and also looks forward to &#8220;eating a lot of food&#8221; at the festival.</p><p>She plans to sample the sauces, looking for a nice spicy one to please her palate.</p><p>While the tomato fights are set to begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, other highlights of the festival include the 5K &#8220;Miles for Michael&#8221; race, set for 10 a.m. Saturday, and a parade, set to begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.</p><p>The Little Miss Tomato and Little Mr. Tomato contests for 2 to 6-year-old children will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday, and The Tomato Festival Queen Scholarship Pageant for 14 to 19-year-old ladies will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday.</p><p>Nocito was pleased to see earlier this week that the city&#8217;s statue of Christopher Columbus, which was damaged by a car in December, was repaired and back on it pedestal on Tuesday morning.</p><p>And she&#8217;s grateful to her committee for all the help. &#8220;We have a group (of about 20 people) who have been involved for 20 years, and it&#8217;s nice to see they&#8217;re still enthusiastic about it,&#8221; she said, adding anyone who wants to share in their good time is welcome. &#8220;We&#8217;d like to recruit more volunteers to join us.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Stew the Tomato gives a thumbs-up signal during last year&#8217;s Pittston Tomato Festival as Parker Jones, of Pittston, then 4, and Victoria Ferrentino, then 4, of Laflin, were crowned Little Mr. and Little Miss Tomato 2016. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_stewiewithkids-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Stew the Tomato gives a thumbs-up signal during last year&#8217;s Pittston Tomato Festival as Parker Jones, of Pittston, then 4, and Victoria Ferrentino, then 4, of Laflin, were crowned Little Mr. and Little Miss Tomato 2016. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_tomato.faces_-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Pittston Tomato Festival is full of photo opportunities. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_tomato.faces_-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>The Pittston Tomato Festival is full of photo opportunities. </caption1><photoCredit1>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_tomato.racewinners-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">First place winners in last year&#8217;s 5K race were Tara Johnson, a Pittston Area senior, and Matt Flynn, a former Pittston resident now living in Media. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_tomato.racewinners-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>First place winners in last year&#8217;s 5K race were Tara Johnson, a Pittston Area senior, and Matt Flynn, a former Pittston resident now living in Media. </caption2><photoCredit2>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_pittston.tomatofights-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Christopher Concert, of Swoyersville, flings his supply of rotten tomatoes during the popular tomato fights of a past Pittston Tomato Festival. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_pittston.tomatofights-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Christopher Concert, of Swoyersville, flings his supply of rotten tomatoes during the popular tomato fights of a past Pittston Tomato Festival. </caption3><photoCredit3>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What: </strong>Pittston Tomato Festival</p><p><strong>When:</strong> Four days of tomato-based fun open at 5 p.m. today</p><p><strong>Highlights:</strong> 5K race at 10 a.m. Saturday, tomato fights at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, parade at 10:30 a.m. Sunday</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 570-655-1424 or pittstontomatofestival.com.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pittston prepares for annual Tomato Festival in all of its saucy glory