Everclear will headline this year's Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival, closing out the free three-day event with a Saturday night set at Huber Park that includes the band's signature hits “Santa Monica” and “Summerland.” The festival runs Aug. 13-15 at 1640 Davidson Drive, with Everclear taking the stage at 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 15, just ahead of the band's Lucky 7 tour launching in October.
As reported by The Columbus Dispatch, the current Everclear lineup includes frontman Art Alexakis alongside Davey French, Freddy Herrera and Brian Nolan, and the band travels between shows by tour bus. Alexakis, 64, told the paper he expects the festival's rowdier traditions to make an impression, saying the tomato wars are something to see. He also plans to release the band's first album since 2015 in 2027, and said he had not planned to make another record before addressing the sociopolitical climate.
Alexakis added that young fans keep showing up to shows already knowing the words, estimating that Gen Z listeners now make up 25 to 30 percent of Everclear's audience, per the Dispatch's report. The band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1991 and broke through nationally with its platinum-certified 1995 album Sparkle and Fade, which produced the alternative radio hit “Santa Monica,” according to Encyclopedia.com. The band's 1997 follow-up, So Much for the Afterglow, went double-platinum and earned a Grammy nomination, as Willamette Week notes, producing rock radio staples like “Father of Mine” and “I Will Buy You a New Life.”
A Friday Night Headliner With Its Own Chart History
Friday night belongs to Dru Hill, the Baltimore R&B group performing at 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 14. The band formed in 1992 and took its name from Baltimore's Druid Hill Park, scoring seven Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hits in the late 1990s including “In My Bed” and “How Deep Is Your Love,” according to Wikipedia. Ria Blaq opens that stage at 7 p.m., while DJ BlckUnicorn performs earlier at 6 p.m. Thursday's music slate includes The '77 Experience at 6:30 p.m. and 7 Bridges: The Ultimate Eagles Experience at 8:30 p.m., with Zoo Trippin' closing out the Saturday stage at 6:30 p.m. before Everclear.
Sixty Years of Honoring a Reynoldsburg Original
The festival, which the Dispatch reports was founded in 1965, honors Alexander W. Livingston, the Reynoldsburg horticulturist whose work reshaped American agriculture. In 1870, Livingston introduced the Paragon tomato, widely credited as the first tomato variety specifically bred and stabilized for commercial production, according to the City of Reynoldsburg. His selective breeding eventually produced 14 or more stable varieties that transformed tomatoes from garden curiosities into a viable year-round commercial crop. That legacy still stands physically in the city: Livingston's 1860s residence on Graham Road, built by cabinetmaker Nathan Orcutt on what was once a 136-acre seed farm, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now operates as a local museum, per the Historical Marker Database.
Livingston's influence reached well beyond Reynoldsburg's borders. Ohio became the first U.S. state to designate an official state beverage when its General Assembly named tomato juice in 1965, later adding the tomato as the official state fruit in 2009, according to the state government's own historical records. That 1965 recognition is credited with inspiring Reynoldsburg's original festival, which debuted the following year as “The Heritage Holiday Festival and Tomato Show,” replacing an earlier municipal Fireman's Jubilee. Reynoldsburg itself sits at a tripoint of Franklin, Fairfield and Licking counties near Columbus, with a 2020 census population of 41,076, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Tomato Wars, Pickleball and a Full Slate of Family Activities
Beyond the music, the festival keeps its agricultural roots front and center with a tomato contest, royalty pageants, a car and bike show, and a pickleball tournament. The signature Tomato Wars event pits teams of five throwing overripe tomatoes at each other for a $500 championship prize, though participants must be 18 or older and complete an application and waiver beforehand. A separate spaghetti-eating challenge, which involves consuming one pound of pasta, also requires entrants to be at least 18.
Families with younger children have options too. The festival offers a kids' activity corner, carnival rides, a food court and vendors, and a dedicated sensory-friendly time from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 14. Festival hours run 4-10 p.m. on Aug. 13 and 14, and noon-10 p.m. on Aug. 15. Guests under 18 must be accompanied by an adult at least 21 years old.
Getting There
Admission to the festival is free. Free parking is available at Huber Park, city hall, Memorial Plaza and JFK Park, and a shuttle service runs every 30 minutes from Reynoldsburg High School's Livingston campus, operating 5-10:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 and 14 and 4:30-10:30 p.m. on Aug. 15. Huber Park regularly hosts large municipal gatherings, including the city's Diwali-Tihar Festival, which draws an estimated 13,400 attendees, according to the City of Reynoldsburg, along with the annual Juneteenth and Blues & Brews celebrations.
