The Heirloom Tomato Festival is a celebration supporting: “Farm to Table,” “Eating Naturally Grown Foods,” “Buying Local,” “Sustainable Agriculture and Community.” An extraordinary exhibit of approximately 100 varieties of heirloom tomatoes featuring a rainbow of colors, shapes and sizes exemplifying gardens past.

The festival offers free samplings of “Tomato Fancies” inside the Depot from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The public is invited to win cash prizes. Enter the Largest Heirloom Tomato or Salsa contests.

Bring a pie for the Green Tomato Pie Contest and Auction. Enter a specimen in the “Big, Bad and Ugly Largest Living Tomato Worm Contest.”

For the youngsters, there is a “Tomato Worm Cartoon Coloring Contest” and games. A variety of heirloom vegetables will be exhibited during the festival.

Guest speakers will be presented throughout the day. The speakers schedule is as follows:

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:    “Spinning Wool From Sheep and Alpaca” with Lisa Truman of Pierceton
• 11 a.m.:  “Bee Keeping and Pollination” with Jeff Dittemore, President of the Indiana Bee Keepers Association.
• Noon:  “Sustainable Agriculture” with Rick Ritter
• 1 p.m.: “Apple Tree Graphing Demonstration” with Scott Krieg of Crescent Farm Orchard
• 2 p.m.: “Benefits of Paw Paw and Willow Trees” with Jim Heasley
• 3 p.m.: “Pest in the Garden” with Bruce Lube of Purdue University

The event will be held at Bower Park in Pierceton from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23. Admission is free.