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Spain's economic woes have led to one of its most famous festivals becoming a "pay-to-join" event. The cash-strapped town of Bunol will start charging participants who want to take part in its world-famous Tomatina tomato-throwing festival. Tourists will have to pay a minimum of 10 euros ($13) to be part of the hour-long tomato fight. Regardless, all 15,000 tickets have been sold. Local residents have been allocated 5,000 free tickets. The Tomatina costs the town 150,000 euros to organise. A hefty part of that sum goes toward paying for the 130 tons of tomatoes used as ammunition in the street battles. The streets are literally flooded with tomato juice at the festival's end.
Tourists from all over the world have flocked to the Tomatina for decades. Bunol's town mayor told reporters the decision to charge was partly due to financial constraints, but also out of security concerns. He said: "This is the first year we are charging for access to this popular festival due to the need to limit the crowd for safety reasons. We have had a problem for the past eight or 10 years. The Tomatina is not controlled. We don't know how many people are going to come." The festival started just after the end of WWII. There are various reports about its origins. The most popular is that of a brawl between teenagers near a vegetable market ending up with the youths pelting each other with tomatoes.
