Buñol, a small town in Spain, near Valencia, hosts every year on the last Wednesday of August one of the craziest street festivals in the world. On this very same day, thousands of people throw tomatoes at each other covering the city and everyone in tomato-red. All begins when lorries bring tons of ripe tomatoes which those on top of the trucks start throwing at the masses that flock the streets who in turn start throwing tomatoes at each other and at those on top of the huge lorries. The result is an afternoon of fun tomato-throwing ending with a well-deserved shower courtesy of the fire department who thus wash the city and the people.
The story of Tomatina dates back to 1945 when some youngsters in town attended a parade of giant-heads and decided to join the parade, pushing inadvertently one of the persons holding the giant-head and making him fall. Infuriated he started a fight and amidst this big row some people grabbed tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stall throwing them at each other. The comnmotion was so big that the local forces were forced to intervene. The following year, and with that wild vegetable fight in mind people took to that very same place, throwing tomatoes at each other again.
This crazy fight continued over the years and began attracting people until becoming of the most important festivities like the Pamplona festivities. Nowadays is an official festivity and attracts thousands from all over the world. By now, on the eve of the mad party, the inhabitants are preparing to cover some of the façades to protect from the hordes of tomato throwing warriors. But this is a party no one wants to miss and most balconies will be crowed with people willing to join and interact with the throwing party below, not bothering if their city is covered in red.
