The Tomatina festival came to Spain, leaving tens of thousands of people covered in red after 120 tons of tomatoes were thrown around the city of Bunol.
On Wednesday, over 40,000 people gathered in the Plaza Mayor of Bunol in eastern Spain for the tomato throwing food fight festival called Tomatina.
While revelers pelted each other with tomatoes, creating their own tomato sauce and soup, several watched from a distance on balconies of surrounding buildings.
Five trucks were brought in to provide ammunition for the dancing, chanting food-fighters. The streets and the festival-goers were quickly covered in a sea of red juice and tomato pulp. Participants are told to crush the tomatoes before throwing to prevent injury.
"One of the most important rules that many people didn't realize is that tomatoes must be crushed before they are thrown. Another big rule is 'Do not tear other peoples clothing', however this one tends to be ignored!" a TheWorldEvents.com spokesperson said in a press release.
Revellers are advised to wear old clothes, but many wore special yellow event T-shorts that read "Fanatic of the Tomatina".
The Tomatina festival is held every year in Bunol, near Valencia, on the last Wednesday in August. Despite the mess it makes, the festival gives the local economy a big boost at the town expects the fight to bring in 300,000 euros ($362,000).
Tourists from all over the world, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India came to the small village just for the festival, which is believed to have started in the 1940's.
To accommodate the high number of tourists, six trains with 29,000 seats were available to transport people.
Many of the revelers take a dip in the local river to clean up after the event.
"Plenty of tourists brought waterproof cameras with them, so they could re-live the memories back home" the spokesperson added. "It was one event to remember - it really was an exciting day for all the senses!"
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
