In the 1930s Pittston, Pennsylvania, was dubbed the “Quality Tomato Capital of the World,” because it fulfilled the high demand for tomatoes from metropolitan New York.

In 1984 the city began the now-yearly Pittston Tomato Festival. Held every August, it includes a tomato fight, a tomato pageant, a tomato parade, and other tomato-centered activities.

The tomato statue has become a sculptural salute to the fruit that the city adores. The city identifies as the “quality” tomato capital, not the “quantity” tomato capital.