Historic East End, home of the Tomato Arts Festival
Folks from all over Nashville flocked to East End on Saturday for the Tomato Art Festival, one of the biggest parties of the year on this side of the Cumberland. That’s no surprise given that it’s been voted Best Festival in the Nashville Scene Readers’ Poll two years running. After a pre-festival gathering with some local artist friends, we walked down to Five Points to take in all things Tomato.
We caught some of Tommy Keenum's crooning when we arrived.
Music played on three separate stages scattered around the Five Points area for most of the day. The August sun was brutal on one of the hottest days of the year to date, so we give credit to all the performers who put in their time providing free entertainment for the thousands of people in attendance. Last year an estimated 12,000 people showed up, and it wouldn’t surprise us at all to find out that this year’s number was even larger.
The festival is billed as “costume friendly,” and there was plenty of evidence to support it. From adults decked out in red costumes to kids (and dogs!) with their hair dyed red, yellow, and green, enthusiasm for the day’s theme was on prominent display.
Did we mention that Saturday was hot? Luckily there were plenty of chances to cool down, from the local Five Points businesses who threw open their air-conditioned interiors to the public, to the vendors selling refreshments, to the fine folks at Love Thy Pet who provided a pool for everyone’s dogs to find some relief.
'Dog Days' indeed.
And what would an arts festival be without some art? All the local galleries invited the public to come in and sample some of the local fare, including Art & Invention Gallery and its Tomato Art Show. There was also a silent auction of pieces out at the Art Institute‘s booth, which featured the piece below.
She may hate tomatoes, but Nashville loves them.
We thoroughly enjoyed our two hours at the festival, and the rest of the crowd seemed to be having a great time, too. Like some friends that we ran into in a shady spot as we headed out, though, we wondered why the festival has to be scheduled for the hottest time of the year. Is it to make sure that we stay as red as the tomatoes for the next week or so? There are already so many ways the festival will stay with us – we could probably do without this one.
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