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Tomato Art Fest has been uniting fruits and vegetables since 2003/2004. The annual festival attracts people from all over with fun-themed art, local music, delicious food, costumes, wacky contests, shopping, kids activities, & more.
The 2024 Tomato Art Fest will take place on Friday, August 9 and Saturday, August 10 in Historic East Nashville’s Five Points.
The 2-day festival and concert are free to attend, welcoming to all, and costumes are encouraged. Additionally, there are a few official ticketed festival events that are optional.
Located in Historic East Nashville’s Five Points, The 21st annual Tomato Art Fest's 2-day celebration welcomes everyone to East Nashville August 9th and 10th, 2024 for a fun and wacky day of art, music, food, costumes, contests, shopping, kids activities, & more! The free, costume-encouraged event provides a wildly entertaining, fun-filled day for everyone.
A community builder, Tomato Art Fest has steadily drawn larger crowds with each passing year. In 2022 an estimated 65,000 came to celebrate the event.
The essence of Tomato Art Fest can really be found in the array of wacky & hilarious contests, and the Push, Pull & Wear Parade kicking off tomato weekend, full of floats and costumes. True to our namesake, the ART gets a big part of the tomato spotlight, where The Tomato ART Show and Tomato Art PreView Party showcases over 300 tomato-inspired pieces throughout the weekend.
The local East Nashvillians behind this beloved event strive to improve the festival each year in all areas while keeping the character of Tomato Art Fest the same familiar fun that Nashville has known and loved for 21 years. Welcoming organic growth (and no shortage of tomato puns!) while sticking close to traditions is something the festival excels at thanks to active community participation.
The Fest and official kickoff events are free to attend and wide open to the public, uniting the community for a day of inspired art, wacky contests, great live music, unique vendors, creative kids activities, favorite local food trucks, and a commitment to ensuring that the fest is green in every possible aspect and maintains Nashville and community traditions.
Tomato Art Fest has been touted in the Oxford American and Southern Living, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Travel and Leisure and has been voted a “Best Festival” consecutively from 2007-2022 in Nashville Scene Reader’s Polls.
Only A Seedling In 2004…
Tomato Art Fest was founded in 2004 as the brainchild of Meg and Bret MacFadyen, owners of East Nashville’s former Art and Invention Gallery. Planting the seed for the event with an art show celebrating the tomato and other fruits/vegetables, the duo also produced several neighborhood events to help promote the show.
Due to the wild success in its inaugural year, the MacFayden’s decided to bring the event back in 2005, cementing it as an annual East Nashville gathering. To this day the Tomato Art Fest is known for bringing together the Nashville community and people from afar and all walks of life and uniting them through creativity, spirit, and celebration funneled into love for East Nashville.
In 2010 the MacFayden’s partnered with a community festival group, Good Neighbor Festivals to assist with the growing event.
In 2017 hundreds of tomato lovers gathered to break the world record for the number of people dressed in fruit and vegetable costumes. We all had such a great time everyone forgot to count.
Tomato Art Fest has been touted in the Oxford American and Southern Living, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Travel and Leisure and has been voted a “Best Festival” consecutively from 2007-2020 in Nashville Scene Reader’s Polls.
In 2019 the festival was lovingly handed over to local festival organizers Good Neighbor Festivals, longtime managers of the event. Good Neighbor Festivals works to bring together communities through music, food and drinks, artisan goods, and neighborhood pride for all Nashville and its people. Since they began managing the event they have added a number of new and wacky events to the annual festival including the Bloody Mary Garden Party, Home Decorating Contest, and more.