Spain's La Tomatina festival draws crowds with 165 tons of tomatoes in Buñol

BUÑOL, Spain — The annual La Tomatina tomato festival was held Wednesday in the eastern Spanish town of Buñol, where participants threw roughly 165 tons of overripe tomatoes at one another during the traditional event. Trucks delivered the tomatoes to the festival grounds, where they were hurled into the crowd. Participants, many wearing white T-shirts that quickly turned pink, also tossed tomatoes at each other while folk music played from loudspeakers. Municipal buildings were covered with protective sheets before the event. According to Spain's EFE news agency, about 40 percent of attendees over the past three years have been international visitors. Non-local participants paid a 10 euro entry fee, and rules required tomatoes to be crushed before being thrown to reduce the risk of injury. Many attendees wore swimming goggles and earplugs to protect their eyes and ears. The festival's origins date to a 1945 food fight. It was banned in the 1950s during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco and later grew into a national event in the 1980s with television coverage. The celebration ended with a signal shot, after which participants headed to communal showers and the town's streets were cleaned with pressurized water.