Last year leading up to the Tomato Art Fest, we shared our personal pro tips for the long-running East Nashville celebration of creativity and community and… vegetable-y fruitness.
Those thoughts came together over years and years of pulling on our loudest and reddest clothes, slathering on sunscreen and hitting the streets to shop, eat, drink and celebrate during that neighborhood’s biggest annual party. Check the tips out here.
Although year after year there are a lot of familiar happenings, the Tomato Art Fest’s organizers tend to add a few new twists with each new event.
For 2016’s lucky-13th festival, set for Friday and Saturday August 12-13, they’ve added a new way to enjoy the festivities, with a little more added comfort.
Hit the Tomato Art Fest in V.I.T. fashion
Among the free enjoyment you can grab at the Tomato Art Fest this year:
- The Friday night concert in Five Points, August 12 from 6 to 11 p.m., with performances from Jeffrey James, Elise Davis and others
- Saturday’s Tomato Art Fest parade, featuring neighbors pushing, pulling or carrying tomato-themed floats through East Nashville streets, kicking off at 9 a.m. at 12th and Russell.
- The Saturday main festival, all day in East Nashville’s central hub, with vendors selling everything from jewelry to home goods, local restaurants sharing fresh tomato-themed tastes and lots more.
Those are just a few of your options. So no, you don’t need to spend any money to have a fantastic, tomatoey time.
But this year, if you wanted to spoil yourself with a more comfortable, pampered time, you have that option: The Tomato Art Fest folks launched Very Important Tomato (V.I.T.) passes this year, giving us access to a bunch of bonuses.
Those passes run $75 per adult, $25 for kids over 5 (no V.I.T. entry under 5), and here’s what they’ll get you:
- access to the shaded V.I.T. lounge
- private restrooms
- a private bar
- unlimited water and soda
- five drinks from Deep Eddy Vodka, Blue Chair Bay Rum, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Fat Bottom Brewing
With your pass, you’ll be able to enjoy that stuff both days of the festival — 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
Feel inclined purchase a V.I.T. Tomato Art Fest pass? They’re on sale now through TomatoArtFest.com.
You’ll of course have no shortage of fun to get into if you decide to skip the expenditure and just head down to Five Points — take a look at the rundown of activities if you’d like to start pulling together your Tomato Art Fest plans.
As always, we’ll see you there, proudly repping a neighborhood we love. And if you find yourself leaving the festival so in love with East Nashville that you can’t bear to live anywhere else, we’d be thrilled to help you with your house hunt.
We have several gorgeous East Nashville listings up right now, and if those don’t fit your needs, we can start hunting for something that does. Reach out, and tell us about your dream-home vision!