Food fights and fun at Beaufort Tomato Festival
Hundreds of folks enjoyed 10,000 lbs. of locally grown fun at Saturday’s Tomato Festival on Cane Island. The event offered a 5K Tomato Bash Obstacle Run, an all out Tomato Fight, Kids Zone, live music and lots of fantastic food.
The morning started off with more than 200 participants in a 5K run full of obstacles. Runners had to climb netted walls over live oaks and traverse a tank full of tomatoes and water. Kids also enjoyed a half-mile fun run, but not as challenged.
The big event of the day was the Tomato Fight, a free for all fruit fight that many were brave enough to join. A few tons of St. Helena Island tomatoes were dumped into the middle of a fenced off pit and about 100 participants went at it for ten minutes, slinging tomatoes everywhere while firemen from Lady’s Island/St. Helena Fire District hosed them all down. There was dodging, ducking, diving…and more dodging all around.
Filling the holes between events were tons of kids activities including a three story ferris wheel and a petting zoo, fantastic food including Plums Restaurant’s tomato pies and live music from local band Amber & the Fossils.
Benefiting the Beaufort YMCA, the Tomato Festival was a huge success and fun for everyone who attended, and we’re already looking forward to next year.
For more than 100 photos of the Tomato Festival, visit our Photo Gallery.
Enjoy our video of the Tomato Fight…