Jacksonville celebrates 42nd annual Tomato Fest
Published 5:15 am Tuesday, June 16, 2026
JACKSONVILLE — Thousands of tomato-loving East Texans showed up for the 42nd annual Tomato Fest in Jacksonville on Saturday.
The 2026 festival featured a day full of fun after a week of activities leading up to the festival. Held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., guests perused offerings from approximately 500 vendors on-site, organizers said. Attendees enjoyed food, tasting varieties of homemade salsa, and the most serious of tomato fanatics put their tastebuds to the test during the tomato eating contest. There were also tomato peeling, tomato packing and best homegrown tomato contests and more.
The event included a car show and motorcycle display, plus entertainment, dancing, a talent show, a historical display, arts and crafts vendors, a health screening, and more.
The tomato has been a staple of the diet and income of Jacksonville residents since the first shipment left the county in 1897, but the town’s celebration of its favorite crop wasn’t consistent until the mid-1980s.
The annual Tomato Fest celebration is held the second Saturday in June as the fruit begins to ripen.
The local produce was such a big deal that at one time more than 90 percent of tomatoes eaten in Texas were grown in Cherokee County soil, according to the Cherokee County Historical Commission.
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On the 100th anniversary of the use of the tomato as food, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce secretary at the time had an idea to make the country more tomato-minded by creating a National Tomato Week, according to the chamber of commerce. That year, 1934, the town held its first Tomato Festival.
The celebration had all the fanfare and pageantry of Tyler’s Texas Rose Festival, with a grand parade of ornate floats and a Tomato Queen, crowned in a sparkling dress, according to the commission.
In 1941, the town was recognized as the Tomato Capital, and more than 25,000 people attended its festival, according to the chamber.
The tradition was interrupted in 1942 because of World War II, and didn’t spark up again for nearly four decades — in 1984. That’s when organizers shortened the name and rebranded simply as the Tomato Fest.
The first Tomato Fest had about four concessions and about 12 arts and crafts booths in front of the Tomato Bowl, and a lady named “Little Miss Tomato” dressed in a costume. The three-day festival was hard because of the Texas summer weather. Because of the heat, the celebration was moved to the Cherokee County Stock Show and Exposition Center on Loop 456. The Fest eventually outgrew the show barn’s capacity and it was moved back to downtown, where it is still held.
The celebration was shortened to a fun-packed day with contests, tournaments, food, music and dancing, which continues today. However, the crowning of a Tomato Queen and the pageantry associated with it was lost. The queen tradition was briefly brought back in the early 1980s, but it faded away.
Organizers say the festival has many moving parts, and it takes more than 100 volunteers to make it a success.
The celebration began with humble beginnings but has become an economic force for local businesses. Thousands attend each year.