I would just like to take a moment to inform the citizens of Auburn and Cayuga County about the future of one of our most loved community events: Central New York's TomatoFest. This event not only provides families with a wonderful two days of food, fun, crafts, rides and music at Emerson Park, but it has also donated its proceeds to local food pantries to feed those in need for 23 years.

This year I was privileged and honored to be invited to join the TomatoFest board and work on its new vision for the future.

This event, traditionally a local one, is growing. This year's festival will be bigger and better than ever, but that's not all. A strategic plan is being devised and implemented to grow our TomatoFest into a more regional “destination event.” This plan will ensure that not only will the festival be more entertaining, diverse and exciting than ever, but that we will also be able to continue our mission to feed hungry families. Within the next several weeks our new web site: cnytomatofest.com will be up and running with all kinds of information.

I would like to invite you to plan on attending TomatoFest at Emerson Park this September. In the meantime, you can become a sponsor, a vendor or even a member of our committee by contacting me at lonfricano@aol.com. Gardeners, get ready for our “World's Largest Tomato” contest; prize to be announced. See you there!

Lon A. Fricano

Auburn