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Fairfield Downtown Association

Maytag squashes Great Tomato Toss

By Matthew Bunk

FAIRFIELD - It appears the time isn't ripe for the city's first Great Tomato Toss.

Appliance manufacturer Maytag pulled its support for the Aug. 13 event, which was to feature hundreds of residents throwing tomatoes at each other in a downtown parking lot. Maytag was going to film the event to advertise a new washing machine.

A Maytag spokeswoman said Wednesday the company still wants to do a tomato toss, but not right now, and maybe not in Fairfield. She wouldn't say why Maytag backed out.

"We're just postponing it this year, but we're not saying it's never going to happen," Maytag spokeswoman Sara Blood said.

OK, but does Maytag still plan to do it in Fairfield?

"(Fairfield) is one of the venues we would consider," she said.

The reason for calling it off?

"I really can't comment on it," she said.

Maytag is trying to sort out the details of a takeover bid by appliance rival Whirlpool, which was first announced July 17. It's not clear whether that had anything to do with the change of plans for the tomato toss.

Tomato Festival organizers had hoped the 15-minute tomato scrum would make this year's festival the biggest and best yet. The 14th annual event will still go on, but probably without any fruit hurling.
About 100 people had already signed up to throw tomatoes.

"We're disappointed, but hopefully they'll come back and do it here sometime in the future," said Gary Dyas, the tomato festival's promoter.

The festival, which is held on downtown Texas Street, will feature a host of tomato-related contests, booths and activities, as well as the West Coast Barbecue Championship.

As consolation for backing out, Maytag said it will donate $5,000 to the Fairfield Downtown Association, which hosts the festival.

Maytag came up with the idea early this year as part of a campaign to promote its new front-loading Neptune washing machine.

The company then canvassed the large number of tomato festivals, large and small, across the United States and eventually settled on Fairfield because it was held only two weeks before the world-famous La Tomatina fiesta in Bunol, Spain, where participants fill the town square to pummel each other with tomatoes.

After the tomato toss, participants' shirts were to be ceremoniously tossed into a dozen waiting Neptune washing machines, which Maytag claimed could get them completely clean.

Reach Matthew Bunk at 425-4646 Ext. 267 or mbunk@dailyrepublic.net.