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Estimated number of jobs in Pennsylvania up more than 6M

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Out On a Limb: More resouces available for genealogists

<p>Dragons in the river. Tomatoes in the air. What next?</p><p>No, we&#8217;re not expecting a &#8220;Game of Thrones&#8221; type of adventure &#8212; just some of the Wyoming Valley&#8217;s more unusual annual competitions, which you can find this weekend in Pittston and Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Pittston, of course, is celebrating its annual, four-day Tomato Festival, and for some participants and spectators, the undisputed highlight of the event will take place in the parking lot of the Waterfront Warehouse, formerly Cooper&#8217;s restaurant. The Tomato Fights are set to begin at 1:30 Saturday, and if this year is like previous years, enthusiasm will be great.</p><p>At last year&#8217;s fights, participants told the Times Leader they had traveled from as far away as Lehigh Valley and Connecticut to hurl tomatoes at each other, had developed such strategies as &#8220;mak(ing) eye contact&#8221; with their opponents, and didn&#8217;t mind the rain that happened to pour down on the fights.</p><p>One woman even talked about &#8220;making a tomato angel&#8221; in the squashed tomatoes that covered the ground after the fights.</p><p>Proceeds from the nominal entry fees benefit local charities and, don&#8217;t worry, the Tomato Fights aren&#8217;t wasting good food; they use, as festival organizer Lori Nocito explained &#8220;tomatoes that would otherwise have been thrown away.&#8221;</p><p>Now, if you want to see some really choice tomatoes, the Pittston Tomato Festival also includes a completely different type of contest. At 7 p.m. Saturday at the committee stand, judges will inspect home gardeners&#8217; offerings and decide which is the largest, smallest, most perfect and &#8220;ugliest&#8221; tomato. We&#8217;re sure that last designation means ugly in a cute way.</p><p>Unusual competitions will continue on Sunday, when the Riverfront Parks Committee sponsors Dragon Boat races in Wilkes-Barre, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Susquehanna River, between the Market Street and Pierce Street bridges.</p><p>Spectators are welcome to watch from Nesbitt Park as teams of 20 paddlers, following the beat of the drummer at the front of their boat and steered by a person standing at the rear, race between the two bridges.</p><p>The secret to success is not brute strength as much as synchronization; the paddlers will meet on Saturday and practice paddling in unison in the dragon boats, which come from Montreal, before returning to the river for Sunday&#8217;s races.</p><p>The YMCA won last year&#8217;s race, defeating a Geisinger team by less than 1 second. &#8220;That&#8217;s how exciting these races are,&#8221; coordinator John Maday said on Thursday.</p><p>Don Shappelle and the Pick-Ups will provide music during Sunday&#8217;s Dragon Boat Races, and some of the team drummers are likely to add a colorful touch to the spectacle, dressing up as Santa Claus or a pirate or in some other unusual fashion.</p><p>By the way, if you&#8217;re interested in a more typical competition, the Pittston Tomato Festival&#8217;s 5K foot race begins at 10 a.m. Saturday in downtown Pittston, with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Rain did not deter partipants in the Tomato Fights at the 2018 Pittston Tomato Festival; it just added to the experience. This year&#8217;s Festival runs through Aug. 18, with the Tomato Fights set for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 17. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_tomato.fighting-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Rain did not deter partipants in the Tomato Fights at the 2018 Pittston Tomato Festival; it just added to the experience. This year&#8217;s Festival runs through Aug. 18, with the Tomato Fights set for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 17. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_tomatoes.on_.a.table_-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Biggest? Smallest? Most perfect? Ugliest? If you&#8217;ve grown a tomato that could fit any of those descriptions, you might want to bring it to the Pittston Tomato Festival&#8217;s annual contest in time for the 7 p.m. Saturday judging. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_tomatoes.on_.a.table_-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Biggest? Smallest? Most perfect? Ugliest? If you&#8217;ve grown a tomato that could fit any of those descriptions, you might want to bring it to the Pittston Tomato Festival&#8217;s annual contest in time for the 7 p.m. Saturday judging. </caption1><photoCredit1>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_dragon1_faaCMYK-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dressed as a pirate captain, drummer Patty Hughes leads her crew of paddlers from the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association as they get ready to leave the dock at the Nesbitt Park boat launch during the 2018 Dragon Boat Races. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_dragon1_faaCMYK-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Dressed as a pirate captain, drummer Patty Hughes leads her crew of paddlers from the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association as they get ready to leave the dock at the Nesbitt Park boat launch during the 2018 Dragon Boat Races. </caption2><photoCredit2>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_dragon2_faaCMYK-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jennifer Balut, the drummer of the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA&#8217;s Dragon Boat crew, sets the pace as her team pulls away from the dock at the Nesbitt Park boat launch during the 2018 Dragon Boat Races. The YMCA team took first place in the 2018 contest. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_dragon2_faaCMYK-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Jennifer Balut, the drummer of the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA&#8217;s Dragon Boat crew, sets the pace as her team pulls away from the dock at the Nesbitt Park boat launch during the 2018 Dragon Boat Races. The YMCA team took first place in the 2018 contest. </caption3><photoCredit3>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Dragon Boat Racing, Tomato Fightsenliven weekend schedule