Despite the heavy rains this summer that left some farms tomato destitute, a few central and western Maine farmers are preparing for an annual tomato-tasting event designed to lure fresh produce seekers.

The tomatoes that managed to tough it out have a little over one week to ripen on the vine and turn deep yellow or red – the better to attract curious tomato tasters who come out Aug. 28 to Sept. 3 to visit participating farms.

The Maine Tomato Tasting Week event is a four-year-old strategy created by the state’s Department of Agriculture to support local agriculture.

“We are seeing tomatoes as carrots to get people out to farm stands and farmers markets,” said the department’s Deanne Herman on Thursday. “It is the peak season and a great way to entice people out to try other things as well.”

This year, the event was pushed back a week to give the fruit a few extra days to grow.

Carter’s Farm in Oxford, the Weston’s Farm in Fryeburg, and Greenwood Orchards in Turner are some nearby participating farms.

Mark Heidmann of Maple Springs Farm in Harrison said he is opting out of the event this year.

“The wide variety of tastes and colors and shapes and sizes and histories that are ordinarily available in roadside farm markets will not be available this year,” Heidmann said Thursday. He said the rain sickened his outside crops in June and they never bounced back.

Laurie Weston of Weston’s Farm said she doesn’t know any farmer who produced a robust tomato crop this year, but she promised at least a few to serve customers.

“Hopefully, sungold, which is a very sweet yellow cherry, plum – large and small,” Weston recited the list of tomatoes she predicted would be ready by the tasting event. “We should have some regular cherry tomatoes and some grape tomatoes, and just your regular tomatoes.”

Heidmann said last year the event was a success at his Maple Ridge Road farm.

“It was very interesting to watch the people change their buying habits after they tasted these oddball mostly heirlooms that I would have out,” he said. “They would taste and say that’s great, and then buy them.”

Herman said locally-grown fresh tomatoes, while sometimes eccentric looking, are often superior to the more bland varieties often found at grocery stores.

“Some are growing heirloom tomatoes,” Herman said. “They really tend to pack in the flavor. Some might look a little gnarly, but they tend to be quite luscious for eating.”

For an updated list of participating farms, see http://getrealmaine.com/visit/tomatoweek/tastingsites.shtml