You would think that when it comes to tomatoes and tomato festivals, Italy — not Spain — would be the hands-down winner. But no, it’s Valencia, Spain that sits at the top of the list. Which is o-k — because Valencia’s annual Tomato Festival has less to do with eating and more to do with getting messy and having fun.
The Tomato Festival, referred to as La Tomatina– is held annually on the last Wednesday in August, generally between 11am and 1pm — in the small town of Bunol, Valencia, Spain. Thousands of visitors from all over the world annually come to Bunol participate in a pitched battle — unlike any you’ve ever seen — where locals and visitors alike take to the streets to pummel each other with nearly one hundred tons of tomatoes. La Tomatina, along with its tomato throwing, is a week long festival of music, food, drinking, and general partying and it all takes place in a backpaker’s paradise just 30 miles from Valencia.
The annual Tomato Festival has been making the town of Bunol famous since its inception back in 1944. The true origins of La Tomatina have probably been lost to history, although there are several versions of the festival’s humble beginning still circulating around. One rumour has it that a musician playing in the Bunol town square got hammered with tomatoes as a result of his poor and off-key playing on a guitar. The most-accepted version has it that the town square was overcrowded with young people who were enjoying the annual Gigantes y Cabezudos parade. The band leading the procession apparently was less then appreciated by the crowds and found itself on the receiving end of tomatoes and a lot of other produce as a result of its impromptu playing. And such is the stuff that legends (and traditions) are born of.
As the story goes, the following year on the same day of August, thousands of young people gathered on the town square and started another tomato toss, this time of which was stopped by the police. Despite the fact that the La Tomatina was strictly forbidden by the authorities, the Tomato Festival has occurred every year ever since.
Like any event that gains popularity with each succeeding year, safety has become more and more of an issue. So, in order for the Tomato Festival to occur without any incidents, strict rules have been pout into place:
– Participants aren’t allowed to bring bottles or any other objects of this kind, which may provoke an accident.
– Before throwing tomatoes, participants are required to crush them in order not to hurt anyone.
– A pistol shot marks the beginning of the Tomato Festival fight and a pistol shot similarly ends the event.
With the aim of attracting more tourists into the small town of Bunol, the Tomato Festival has grown to the prominent celebration, which coincides with events held to commemorate the patron saint of the town. During the week before the festival, Bunol’s 20,000 citizens organize street parties, parades and fireworks. Then, on the night before the Tomato Festival, the streets of Bunol are filled with tomatoes. On Wednesday morning, business owners start covering their doors and windows, preparing for the messy fight to folllow. A number of large trucks bring in tomatoes from different regions of Spain. And before you can say, “On your mark…get set…GO!” the town of Bunol turns into the largest vegetable fight in the world with more than 90,000 pounds of tomatoes used by the participants of this annual event. Tourists visiting the festival should keep in mind that a baseball cap or camera is a perfect target. After the last tomato has been thrown and things begin to settle down, most partiers head to the local river and remove all that tomato pulp from their bodies.
Bunol may be small, but visitors who take the time to plan ahead can easily find affordable lodging. Check out www.hostelscentral.com for information on Youth Hostels and www.urbanlowdown.com no-holds barred info on lodging, restaurants and sightseeing excursions in the local area. Another all-around go link is www.thinkspain.com which has a wealth of information — not only on La Tomatina — but the Valencia Region in general.
