Dirty Girl? Early Girl? They’re available at Tomato Fest

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In 1972, Oregon became the first state to pass legislation defining and regulating organic farming. Now each year, Organically Grown in Oregon Week celebrates just that. Tomato Fest is part of that week.

Tomato Fest is set for Saturday, September 13 at the Wellspent Market on SE Division and 34th in Portland.

Lane Selman, an Oregon State University assistant professor and a member of the Culinary Breeding Network, told KOIN 6 News this is the 5th anniversary for Tomato Fest.

“We’re kind of celebrating and bringing awareness to dry farm produce, which is basically things that you can grow without using water or just using water just at the establishment and then cutting it off,” she said.

Many of the varieties of dry farm tomatoes will be available to taste, including Early Girl, Dirty Girl and the Indigo tomato.

“We become more and more conscious about how we’re eating and how that impacts our environment,” Selman said. “People are very interested in finding things that are dry farm because of the environmental cause, but also it does taste really great.”

Oregon State tomato breeder Jim Myers, who “was the first person to create an indigo variety from a wild species of tomato that he brought in,” will also be at Tomato Fest.

Tomato Fest is free and open to the public, and will include face painting for the kids. A garlic expert will also be there with different varieties to taste, plus 4 different food demos for fresh ideas with tomatoes in your own kitchen.

“It’s really, like, a very community event,” Selman said. “And there’s great food to eat,” including BLTs. “There’s going to be a lot to taste.”