[QUOTE=nctomatoman;295409] I hope the organizers collected info on who most of the people were and how they found out about it - much lower percentage of my seedling customers, many many new faces. Who were all those people?
[/QUOTE]

Simple -- they were there to see the area's tomato celebrity! Amazing what a little TV coverage can do.

It sounds like a fantastic, well planned event. I know if I lived in the area I wouldn't have missed it!

Here's a question stemming from Farmer's Daughters post..

How do you guys get the word out? Flyers? Local papers? Web?

Greg

kurt

the link once you get to the main page you then have to click on each picture.

Greg, my web site, Tomatopalooza website, I use Twitter, a few local magazines picked it up - the independent I think - Jimmy and Fred has their local area, my daughter on Listserve, the WRAL thing, my direct email to as many seedling customers as I know email for - so a bit of this and that

Jan Understood,did so,got the maters but got image size of maters only,no variety placard as in thumbnail view.

Somewhat more considered thoughts on a great day -

[url]http://tomatopalooza.weebly.com/1/post/2012/07/first-impressions-from-a-tired-co-founder-craig.html[/url]

sorry I though you were wanting to move between them, that is what I get for thinking I could read a few messages while I waited to leave this house this afternoon...LOL

Let's get a bit more technical re Tomatopalooza - since I never left the Dwarf table for the most part, here is how the people seemed to react to various varieties (as well as my perception of how they tasted)


[B]Dwarf Caitydid[/B] - gorgeous fruit, really tasty - this was grown from seed Michael sent me and it the latest generation (as is what Ray is growing) - very promising as a nice large bicolor release from the Pesty line.

[B]Striped Tidy[/B] and [B]Fred's Tie Dye[/B] - people loved the color and the flavor of both.

[B]Dwarf Blazing Beauty[/B] 3434, 3435, 11-40, 3410 - nice to be able to taste them all side by side. Slightly varying shades of orange, with 11-40 the darkest color. All of them exhibited intense flavor and distinct tartness - this will be another really good one to focus on to be sure it is released as soon as possible - a large potato leaf orange with sparkle!

[B]Uluru Ochre[/B] 3481, 11-147, 3460 - all showed the distinct color, none showed the intensity of flavor that we got last year - could just be that it doesn't like the extreme heat. 11-147 probably the lead selection.

[B]Boronia[/B] 3463 - too bad this was the only representative - but showed well.

[B]Loxton Lad[/B] and [B]Loxton Lass[/B] - I think that we have some great Loxton Lass samples that should be the lead selection - will be a very well liked medium large regular leaf orange. Nice potential here!

[B]Summertime Gold[/B] 2512, 08-145, 11-181, Lee's sample - I am so happy we have good leads for reselection - the 08-145 and 11-181 are pretty much identical and what we are aiming for - looked and tasted great. Lee's sample, oddly, wasn't quite right - probably a bit of remaining segregation- a bit too round, firm, and different interior. With its advanced generation, 11-181 is the one to work up for seed and re-release.

[B]Sweet Scarlet Dwarf[/B] 3412 - this is the best red I've tasted yet from the project (not surprised - Tipsy as a line is just loaded). Plus incredible interior color - deep crimson with green gel-surrounded seeds. And this isn't even as good as the 11-43 that I grew, but didn't have a fruit to bring. We have a good lead - and I suspect other NHers have great leads as well.

[B]Dopey F2[/B] selections 1, 2, 3, 4 - I went back to seeds from the F1 - the heart shaped one that a volunteer found - and grew four dwarfs, 1, 2, and 3, were round to oblate yellow/red bicolors, 4 is nearly white - alas, none of them tasted very good. We were lucky to find Dwarf Russian Swirl - otherwise, I think we can put this line to bed.

[B]Ivalde F1 and F2[/B] selections 2, 4, and the F1 - we have fruit that tend to go heart shaped, and thus far have pink and yellow/pink bicolors. Flavors are good - the Ivalde line is well worth pursuing - I have a fruit from selection 1 at home that is 1.5 lbs, pink heart shaped, and potato leaf, but not ready to taste yet.

[B]Wherokowhai[/B] 3505, 3437 - Outstanding results - medium large, smooth bicolors, hard to select between these two - another very high priority to get on the market as a potato leaf bicolor.

[B]Bendigo Blush[/B] - grew as a pink nippled oval cherry tomato and people liked it. Needs work on color selection/stabilization, but we should get some nice cherries out of this.

[B]Dwarf Jade Beauty[/B], [B]Dwarf Beryl Beauty[/B], [B]Dwarf Kelly Green[/B] - The first two are released and people loved them - Kelly Green will be released this fall and people loved it.

[B]Dwarf Sweet Sue[/B] - two perfect specimens brought and tasted and it was very well received - due for release this fall.

[B]Summer Sunrise[/B] - another that people really loved - and due for release this fall.

I brought many other Dwarfs, as did Lee - I will let Lee describe how his tasted - the only two I tried were Sean's Yellow Dwarf, which is really good, and one of the Brawny's - also really good.

But the ones I listed above were the ones I was there for when they were cut and tasted.....

All in all a very nice day.

We had over 190 people sign in, which I believe is the largest number we've ever had attending.
We had 160 different tomato varieties represented.

Here's the results of the best tasting and most unusual voting:
Best Tasting:
Shannon's and Mexico Midget - 5 votes each
Cossack Pineapple and Dester Amish - 4 votes each
Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Sungold - 3 votes each
Anna Russian, German Queen, Orange Heirloom, Strawberry Margarita - 2 votes each

Of course, I forgot to vote which is why Cuostralee isn't in that list! :)

Most Unusual:

Cossack Pineapple - Winner
Goldie, Garden Peach, Mexico Midget, Green Zebra, Uluru Ochre - Runners Up

We had 4~5 tables that held the red/pink varieties and 4 for the cherries, greens, blacks, orange, yellow, whites, and bi-colors.
We had 3 tables for the dwarves.
I spent most of my time at the dwarves, but the notable others I tasted were Ferris Wheel, Dester Amish, Cuostralee (which was good, but not at its best), Black Cherry, Lillian's Yellow, and Kentucky Yellow Heirloom. My Orange Heirloom was good, but I'm more partial to a tomato with bite...

Speaking of which, Loxtan Lad, Dwarf Blazing Beauty, and Wherokowhai were all quite remarkable for their amazing burst of flavor. These were from the dwarf table.

Also there I had the final observations/comments:

Summertime Gold - All were a little off this year. Still an 8, but I suspect the weather around Raleigh subdued the flavors a bit.

Sean's Yellow Dwarf - A very nice tomato leaning more to the sweet side of things. Many folks had favorable impressions of this one, so I think it will be made available
very soon. This one is in process for southern hemisphere seed production, and may be commercially available there before the NHer's have it!

Dwarf Mahogany - I dumped last year's F4 seed and went back to the F3 this year to try and get back to the flavor and production I got from the F2. This one seems to be back
in business as many folks really liked the flavor of this one.
My dad (again) has grown the best of the lot, and I will move forward with his.

Brawny F3 - The size/shape and color of this one is as expected. However, the fruit from my dad's garden has a much better taste. Many folks really liked the flavor and texture of this one, so I will move forward with this version.
Didn't get to compare it to Sweet Scarlet Dwarf, but I think the size/flavor potential of this one (future Dwarf Cuostralee!) keep it in a class of it's own.

All in all it was a very pleasant day.... but I had to come back to work to recover from the weekend! :)

Lee

Here's some of my favorite pix:

[IMG]http://www.tomatopalooza.org/tomatopalooza10/images/ATSB00131.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.tomatopalooza.org/tomatopalooza10/images/ATSB00140.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.tomatopalooza.org/tomatopalooza10/images/ATSB00142.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks Lee....quite a day. I am still pretty much brain dead today. Can't even ponder walking into the garden!

A reminder to check out the Tomatopalooza site - capturing lots more comments from attendees in the blog, and we will be adding more photos there as well -

[url]http://tomatopalooza.weebly.com/[/url]

I assume that table pic is the dwarf table because I can see some 'maters that look like Uluru Ochre ;) Enjoyed reading about the event and the tastings - thanks folks! No wonder you guys are tired :lol:

Patrina

[QUOTE=Patrina_Pepperina;295711]I assume that table pic is the dwarf table because I can see some 'maters that look like Uluru Ochre ;) Enjoyed reading about the event and the tastings - thanks folks! No wonder you guys are tired :lol:

Patrina[/QUOTE]

But of course! Although from the looks of them now, it's
hard to tell... I mean 8 years ago the dwarf table would've
had maybe 4 small tomato varieties on it..... ;)

Lee

Lee, Shannons, a paste as listed by Tania's???? Tied for top taste? I want some!!!!!!!!!! Are they really that good?

PM me Kenny if you'd like some seeds! :)

Greg