Australia’s Great Tomato Crushing Event
By Michelle Fabio
It may be no Tomatina, Spain’s famous tomato-throwing contest, but tiny Guyra, New South Wales, Australia (population about 2,000) is holding its first ever Great Tomato Crushing Event as part of its Christmas Street Parade and Carnival on December 2.
What is Guyra’s special relationship with tomatoes?
A few years ago, because of its unique geographic position (it’s one of the highest towns in Australia), Guyra was chosen to be the home of Australia’s largest and most advanced greenhouse facilities.
Today, Top of the Range tomato farm sits under 10 hectares of glass in an environment that is climate- and nutrition-controlled environment. Vine-ripened truss tomatoes are its specialty, and they are quickly become the tomato of choice in the region.
And now that tomatoes are part of Guyra, the tomato farm is showing its community spirit by donating nearly a ton of tomatoes for crushing during the Christmas celebrations. The tubs that will hold the doomed tomatoes are being donated by the Glencoe Winery.
We wish the two competing teams much happy crushing!
