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Community Corner

About Town: Seventh Annual Tomato Festival

Celebrating the fruit -- or vegetable -- in style.

Some people wash a fresh ripe tomato, shake a little salt on the skin, and bite into the juicy flesh.

When perfectly ripe, pale red juice and seeds drip past what’s left of the tomato and fill the webs between each finger before slipping along the arm.

That mess is only part of a newly-picked tomato’s charm.

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Others enjoy thick ripe tomato slices between even thicker slices of homemade bread. Maybe a bit of mayonnaise rounds out the summer  sandwich that doesn't really need the bacon or lettuce.

Still others dip tomatoes into boiling water for those few seconds before the skin splits, quickly remove from the tomatoes from the pot, plunge them into icy cold water before stripping the skins and making a sauce or soup.

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This fruit – or vegetable to some – is one of life’s edible treasures. Life is far better in Massachusetts for the annual harvest of tomatoes (OK, corn too).

That’s probably why Patrick or I (or maybe both) will attend the 7th Annual Tomato Festival at the next Tuesday, Sept. 6 from 2 to 6:30 p.m.

Here’s part of the press release:

“Whether you fancy them sassy in a salsa, sublime with basil or starring in a simple salad, tomatoes are the garden’s late-summer celebrities.”

Yes, they are!

During the annual festival to celebrate All Things Tomato, on September 6, and hotels will make “an amazing surprise drink, made from local produce,” the release promised.

Tomato treats are being offered (while supplies last), compliments of the Lexington Farmers Market and its sponsors.

Perhaps, from 2 to 4 p.m., a selectman or selectwoman will help serve freshly cut tomatoes.

, farmers and vendors will be selling tomato-based treats.

There will be recipes – even if from this writer’s cookbook. And there’s more, according to the press release.

“Come to the festival for the opportunity to win some cold, hard cash. , will offer each market attendee two chances to open the ‘Treasure Chest,’”

Succeed and get $50. Then you might want to enter the Market Raffle for a spot on the upcoming Garden Tour.

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