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Terrific Tomato Contest

HIGHWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE HOST FOURTH ANNUAL TERRIFIC TOMATO CONTEST Locally grown heirloom tomatoes to be judged by world renown experts during Highwood’s Garlic Fest, Wednesday August 17th from 4-9pm HIGHWOOD, IL (AUGUST 2010)---The Highwood Historical Society and Seed Savers Exchange, (Decorah, IA), an organization whose mission is to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity, will host the fourth annual Terrific Tomato Contest on Wednesday, August 17th from 4-8pm during Highwood’s First Annual Garlic Fest. Locally grown heirloom tomatoes grown by Highwood residents will be judged by a world-renown tomato expert from Seed Savers Exchange. “This promises to be a fierce competition,” says the Capo Di Pomodoro (captain of the tomatoes), Aldo Crovetti, Highwood Historical Society board member. “There are already more than 40 gardeners participating and we expect more to join. Many will submit more than one tomato. Highwood gardeners and gardens are a delight. They always want their tomatoes back for the seeds.” This year, one lucky heirloom Highwood tomato could find a home throughout the world, thanks to Seed Savers Exchange, as the art of gardening is celebrated as a way to protect the food source for the world. Attendees will be able to view a variety of tomatoes that will be on display. Tomatoes will be judged for their size, color, aroma and appearance in a variety of categories including best plum, sexiest, best pizza tomato, etc. New this year, with the addition of Seed Savers Exchange, there will be an entire group of heirloom tomatoes that will be judged on the above criteria as well as taste. Judging will take place from 4-7:30, with the winner announced at 8pm. Contestants must be from Highwood or members of the Highwood Historical Society to participate. To enter the contest email name, address and phone number to Highwoodhistory@aol.com or call 847-433-2984. Tomatoes will be picked from the gardens on Tuesday, August 16th, so they will be fresh for the contest during Highwood’s First Garlic Festival on August 17th. “There is nothing that goes as well with Garlic as tomatoes,” says Crovetti. “The Terrific Tomato Contest and the Garlic Festival are a perfect blend of flavor and style. This is another reason Highwood is home and home away from home for so many.” “This will be a great honor for one of our local Highwood gardeners, whose tomato variety will go down in Seed Savers Exchange history,” says Lisa Cervac, president Highwood Historical Society. An heirloom tomato is described as ‘any seed handed down generation to generation and generally passed among individuals rather than sold in catalogs’. After Cervac read an article in the July 2011 issue of National Geographic Magazine about Seed Savers Exchange and the role they play in saving the world’s heirloom seed, she knew she needed to contact Seed Savers about Highwood gardeners and invite them to participate in Highwood’s Terrific Tomato Contest. John Swenson, a consultant to Seed Savers and more locally, the Chicago Botanic Gardens, was so struck by the story that Seed Savers joined the Highwood Historical Society as a partner in fourth annual Terrific Tomato Contest. Founded in 1996, the Highwood Historical Society’s mission is to collect and preserve the history of Highwood. The Terrific Tomato Contest began in 2008 to collect photographs and stories about Highwood residents and interesting happenings about their Highwood homes. “We started to learn about how many gardeners there were throughout town and thought what a great way to showcase the splendor of the magnificent gardens hidden in Highwood backyards,” says Cervac. During the first years’ event, much to the surprise of the teams collecting tomatoes, the Historical Society was amazed by what they found. All the glorious backyard gardens were trellised, stepped and bricked, reminiscent of the Emilio Romangna region of Italy so many Highwood residents hail from. One garden, cared for by Mary Vignocchi, who just celebrated her 100th birthday is nearly _ an acre. Her neighbor, John Vignochi, who is in his early 90’s, only gardens until 10 am, then its too hot. He plants in every nook and cranny in his yard, including planting snapdragons in the cracks of his brick paved driveway. These gardens and their gardeners have been photographed and their stories added to the Highwood Historical Society’s Highwood Homes Project project whose goal is to collect the genealogy of every Highwood home. ABOUT SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE Seed Savers Exchange mission is to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity. Seed Savers Exchange knows that the future of the planet depends on a genetically diverse food supply and carries out our important work by: •Maintaining thousands of varieties of different plant types-from amaranth to watermelon-in one of the largest seed banks of its kind in North America. •Regenerating seed in isolation gardens and storing them in ideal conditions. •Documenting valuable cultural information on varieties and their histories. •Distributing heirloom varieties to members and the public through the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook and the Seed Savers Exchange Catalog. ABOUT THE HIGHWOOD GARDENER Why are heirlooms so important to Highwood? What in the world does this have to do with the Highwood Historical Society’s Terrific Tomato Contest? The answer is that Highwood’s heritage and history can be traced back through those tiny little seeds, preserved for generations. Local families have been growing and preserving their tomatoes and seeds in this fashion for years. Seeds are passed from gardener to gardener, some have been carried in trunks and brought over from Italy as long ago as 100 years. Even the more recent Highwood transplants have taken up this tradition. In fact, all of the Terrific Tomato first place winners, Dominick D’Astici, Alfio Fabbri, and Jim Ulrich, all breed their own seed. While the rest of the world is just rediscovering organic and locally grown produce, Highwood has always understood quality and the sweet labor and love it takes to grow your own. It’s that out-of-the box, yet traditional, approach that is unique to Highwood that led John Swenson and Seed Savers to partner with Highwood Historical Society in it’s Terrific Tomato Contest. John Swenson commented that what Highwood does is “Important, not only for your community, but for the whole world.”

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