Spain's La Tomatina Celebrates 80 Years!

The streets of Buñol in eastern Spain turned into a sea of red on August 27, 2025, as thousands of revelers gathered for La Tomatina, the world’s most famous food fight. This year’s festivities were extra special, marking 80 years since the tradition began.

Held every year on the last Wednesday of August, the legendary tomato battle is believed to have started by accident. One story credits it to a tomato fight that broke out among teenagers during a parade in 1945. Another attributes it to some disgruntled residents who threw tomatoes at a city official during a town celebration.

Regardless of how it began, the locals loved it so much that they repeated it every year. After several failed attempts to stop them, officials finally agreed. In 1952, La Tomatina became an official festival. It remained a local secret until the 1980s, when international visitors began to discover the tradition. Today, it is among Spain’s best-known festivals, second only to Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls.

Despite the ever-increasing crowds, the food fight remained free and accessible to everyone. That changed in 2012, when a record 50,000 visitors descended on the small town. Fearing the festival could get unruly, the officials decided to restrict attendance to about 20,000 people. Visitors now also have to pay about $12 each to help cover the event's rising costs.

While the one-hour tomato fight remains the highlight, La Tomatina now lasts nearly a week. Visitors enjoy colorful parades, lively dancing, and dazzling fireworks. On the night before the fight, the streets of Buñol are lined up with vendors preparing giant pans of paella over wood fires. Locals and tourists feast and celebrate late into the night.

On the morning of the big day, shop owners in Buñol’s central streets rush to cover their storefronts with tarps. The festivities kick off with the Palo Jabón challenge. It entails a daring volunteer climbing a two-story greased pole to grab the ham at the top. At noon, a signal sounds, indicating the start of the tomato fight. Moments later, volunteers aboard trucks hand out over 220,000 pounds (100,000 kg) of overripe tomatoes to the eager crowd. Within seconds, the air is thick with flying fruit.

By the end of the hour, the streets and the participants are covered in red pulp. The soaked revelers rinse off in makeshift showers or the nearby Buñol River. They then enjoy more paella and take a well-deserved nap. Meanwhile, residents hose down the streets, readying them for the evening celebrations.

Resources: wikipedia.org, Smithsonianmag.com, BBC.com