By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS — Locally grown tomatoes will be on display at the historic Crawford House this summer.
Stacey Slowinski, chairwoman of the Tinton Falls Historic Preservation Commission, said on July 30 that the Crawford House, which is located on Tinton Avenue, will serve as the host to an entire afternoon of tomato-based activities being dubbed Tomato Fest.
“Tomatoes are the thing that are going to be in the garden at that time, so we wanted to do something fun and sort of garden-related,” she said. “So, we will just have a fun afternoon, fairly laid back.
“We get the house opened up and get people in there, and they will see the garden and learn a few things.”
Slowinski said that the event will include demonstrations on how to cook different recipes, as well as tips on how to properly grow tomatoes and history lessons about tomatoes.
“Then we have another component where we will go out into the garden and talk about how to grow them and how to prune them and all that kind of stuff, so kind of get two different angles of what to do with tomatoes,” she said.
Slowinski said there will be tastings of various tomato-based recipes, including a tomato soup cake recipe dating to the 1950s.
The event will also include butter churning and games for children, such as sack races and a ring toss.
In recent years the Crawford House, which dates to the 1850s, has played as the host to both a community garden and farmstand, which Slowinski said did not open this year until the middle of July.
“Last week was kind of our first week that we were really open — we are kind of late this year because spring was so cold,” she said. “The ground really didn’t warm up until late so we really didn’t get going until last week.”
In 2015, a second community garden on Water Street opened to complement the initial community garden at the Crawford House.
For several years, Slowinski has also headlined an effort to restore the historic house, and she said the restoration is on the homestretch.
“We are down to the final interior finishes,” she said. “So, hopefully by this fall we will be done, painted and have the floors done and stop being a construction site.
“We are just about there.”
Dating from the early- to mid-19th century, the Crawford House is an example of the Dutch-frame style.
The home belonged to the Crawford family for four generations.
The borough acquired the property in 1999, after Ruth Crawford’s death in 1998.
The property was originally acquired by the Stavola family and later was traded in a land swap with the borough, according to Slowinski.
The exterior renovations were carried out with a $97,000 grant from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust and a matching $65,000 from the borough.
Restoration of the house began in 2004 with a state preservation grant that funded the renovation of the foundation, siding, porch and other portions of the home.
For more information on the Crawford House, visit the Facebook page “Friends of the Crawford House.”
Slowinski said she expects to host several different types of events in the future at Crawford House.
“It’s a historic house and we are going to feature history there, but not everybody is interested by it,” she said. “So, we will pull them in for another event and teach them some history kind of on the sly.”