I always forget how damn delicious they are. It must be some kind of prehistoric survival mind trick. Fall’s slow descent into mediocrity as a masterful sleight of hand, the sensuous memory enough to keep us mesmerized until they are, alas, no more.

But here we are in the juicy heart of summer – our collective culinary salad days. No need for some conjured illusion. Or some distant remembered glory. This is the time for pleasure, honest and true and ripe. It’s tomato season in Carrboro, y’all. Can I get a hallelujah?

Well, I have a suspicion that you know what I’m about to say. The 16th Annual Acme Tomato Festival is here. July 14^th – 16th. It’s Acme’s yearly deep-fried, wide-eyed, rarified, and, oh yes, justified belly-flop into the outright deliciousness that is summer. Over the festival weekend, we’ll go through some 700 pounds of tomatoes. For those of you playing at home, that’s a lot. An awful lot. We’ll slice and dice, simmer and sauté, fry and oven-dry like there’s no tomorrow. Essentially, I’m saying that if tomatoes are not your thing, I’d definitely plan on eating somewhere else that weekend. Like, maybe, Montana.

And please don’t think for a moment that these are any old tomatoes. No way, José. These are the Carrboro Farmers Market’s finest. Our legendary farmers and their equally legendary tomatoes. I think that it’s fair to say that the farmers will assuredly do their part. And all of us at Acme certainly don’t plan on dropping the culinary torch when it’s passed to us. So that leaves you. And your only responsibility is to sit down, pick up a fork, and enjoy. You’ve got this.

The Tomato Festival is always one of the busiest and best weekends of the year. And we really hope that you can join all of us to celebrate why it’s so good to live right here, right now. Because really, isn’t it about time that you got your ‘mater on?

Cheers,
The Staff at Acme