La Tomatina: 20,000 people, 130 tons of tomatoes, 1 big food fight
Want to know what a food fight looks like with 20,000 goggle-wearing people and 130 tons of tomatoes? It’s called La Tomatina, and it happens every year in Buñol, Spain.
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- A reveller lays in tomato pulp during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Revellers pelt each other with tomatoes during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Revellers pelt each other with tomatoes during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Revellers pelt each other with tomatoe pulp during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Revellers pelt each other with tomato pulp during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Revellers pelt each other with tomatoes during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- A girl shelters in the doorway of a house as revellers pelt each other with tomatoes during the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- A man sits in tomato pulp at the end of the world’s biggest tomato fight at La Tomatina festival on August 26, 2009 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Revellers cuddle in tomato pulp during La Tomatina festival, the world’s biggest tomato fight on August 25, 2010 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- A reveller swims in tomato pulp during La Tomatina festival, the world’s biggest tomato fight on August 25, 2010 in Bunol, Spain. More than 45000 people from all over the world descended on the small Valencian town to participate in this year’s La Tomatina festival, with the local town hall estimating that over 100 tons of rotten and over-ripe tomatoes were thrown. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
The weeklong festival in the town with 9,000 inhabitants is a tradition that involves music, parades, dancing, fireworks and the biggest tomato fight in the world, according to the La Tomatina website.
This is the first year participants were asked to pay a fee, reported ABC News. People had to pay $15 to show up and throw tomatoes at each other. Organizers reserved 5,000 free tickets for the town’s residents.
Trucks hauled 130 tons of overly ripe tomatoes into Plaza del Pueblo, the center of the town. If you wanted to be on one of those big trucks, the fee was $1,126.
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