Sometimes, heirloom tomatoes – even the delicious ones – aren’t much to look at.

“I can’t even describe,” says Mercedes Taylor-Puckett, coordinator of the Lawrence Downtown Farmers Market. “They look mutilated.”

On Saturday, the uglier the tomato the better. The market is playing host to “The Good, the Big and the Ugly: Tasting Tomatoes,” a competition that seeks, among other things, the ugliest tomato in Lawrence.

It also will include contests for largest tomato, best fresh salsa and best bruschetta topping.

“It’s just amazing down there right now,” Taylor-Puckett says of the market’s tomatoes. “They have every color you can imagine.”

As far as the biggest tomato goes, Taylor-Puckett says Mike Glass with Whispering Cedars Farm already has had a 3-pound behemoth.

Here’s the schedule for Saturday’s event, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street:

¢ 8 a.m.-10 a.m.: Tasting of different tomato varieties.

¢ 8:45 a.m.: Fresh salsa contest with a $25 gift certificate to La Parrilla, 814 Mass. Judge is Alejandro Lule, co-owner of La Parrilla.

¢ 9 a.m.: Ugliest and largest tomato contests. Prize is a $25 gift certificate to the market.

¢ 9:15 a.m.: Bruschetta topping contest. Tom Leonard, bakery manager at Wheatfields, 904 Vt., is the judge, with a $25 gift certificate to Wheatfields as the prize.

All contest winners will be announced at 9:30 a.m.

Entry forms for the contests can be printed off at www.lawrencefarmersmarket.com. Entries can be brought to the market between 7 a.m. and 8:45 a.m.