By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | August 07, 2009
Steve Tenbrink holds a pair of copia tomatoes. Tenbrink and his wife Linda are growing more than 200 different types of tomatoes for the upcoming 18th annual Tomato Festival in Fairfield.
SUISUN VALLEY - Charlie Chaplin will be in Fairfield Saturday. So will Clint Eastwood, Granny Smith, Snow White and Julia Child.
They are but five of the 200 fancifully named varieties of tomatoes that will be featured at the city's 18th annual Tomato Festival next weekend. All are being grown within a few hundred feet of each other on patches of land in Suisun Valley.
'Last year we delivered a ton and a half and this year we will be delivering a solid two tons,' said Linda Tenbrink, co-owner of Tenbrink Farms.
On Wednesday, they will start a three-day harvesting process. The sturdiest tomatoes will be picked first and stored in boxes in a cool facility. The harvest will continue until Friday when the tomatoes will be trucked downtown. The festival is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday on Texas Street in downtown Fairfield.
The Tenbrinks have been growing tomatoes for the festival since its inception. Linda and her husband, Steve Tenbrink, personally select all the varieties to use for the festival, the vast majority of which are not grown commercially or are only grown in small quantities.
During the festival, dozens of volunteers will be chopping tomatoes in a sampling tent to distribute to festival visitors. Linda Tenbrink said they sold out of tomatoes in 2008 and she expected that would happen again. Any tomatoes not ripe enough in time for the festival will be sold to local restaurants or donated to Mission Solano or the local food bank.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
