La Tomatina Festival
39.418367, -0.791012
This unique annual festival takes place on the last Wednesday of August. Participants have a tomato fight involving about 240,000 pounds of squashed tomatoes. It starts at 10 AM with a contest to climb a greased pole with a ham at the top. The crowd sings and dances and is finally showered with water. The signal for the tomato fight is when the ham is dislodged. Lorries enter the Plaza del Pueblo with tomatoes of an inferior quality that are specifically grown for the festivities. Exactly one hour later the fight ceases and fire trucks rinse the streets. The bonus for the town is that the cobbled streets are immaculate due to the acidity of the tomato juice.
Time of year
14 June