Tomato battle, Big Tomato Contest and 6-meter sandwich: Ivye hosts tomato festival

Ivye, the tomato capital of Belarus, hosted the tomato-themed festival for the third time. Hundreds of families are involved in tomato production in the district. The quality of Ivye-grown tomatoes is go good that local tomatoes are well-known outside the region and even abroad.

This year the program included competitive tomato eating, the Lord of the Village contest, the contest for the best costume and a vegetable relay race. A new entertainment was on offer this year. Modeled on the Spanish La Tomatina festival, Ivye held a tomato battle in which participants threw tomatoes and got involved in a real tomato fight. About 20 people ‘armed’ with over 100kg of tomatoes took part in the event. After the battle, the participants could have a shower using nozzles of firefighting vehicles.

Another tradition of the festival is cooking a huge tomato sandwich. This year it was six meters long and was distributed among the participants of the event. This was not the only record. The contest for the biggest tomato was won by the family who grew a 1.07kg tomato. Tatyana Karpovich, the winner of the contest, revealed the secret of success: “We grow tomatoes for own consumption, not for sale. There is no secret about it at all: just good care. Only a good farmer can have a good harvest.”

The best images from the festival in our photo report