We were rather excited to be part of Reno's very first La Tomatina (link). This event was advertised as the largest food fight in America and we always enjoy Club Cal Neva events so we really wanted to go. We had a scheduling conflict where we were supposed to be on the MS Dixie that day but fortunately it all worked out and we made it after all. (Video and Pictures included)
We arrived early at the Cal Neva in case there was traffic or lines. We also thought that showing up early would give us some time to walk the vendor booths. When we arrived there was not that many people. We wondered if there were just not enough people willing to get covered in tomatoes. So we went to the registration table and paid our $10 each (went to charity). We were officially there.
We got there just in time to see the media was playing tomato games with the Reno and Sparks Mayors. Turns out they both got creamed ahead of the event as part of some additional fundraising and promotional efforts. Pretty much all the management and staff were already covered in tomatoes.
There was a giant red pile of tomatoes in the center of the fight area, they were clearly cooking in the sun and waiting for the fun. We went off to the booths for now to enjoy a beverage and shop for a couple of birthday gifts. There was a stage and what appeared to be some local sharing a stage in the booth area.
A few of our friends started to show up for the fight and ultimately like a well timed bird migration about 1,000 people showed up all at once to join in to the event. Some people came dressed in costumes; some people wore matching outfits to represent some sort of teams. There were goggles and masks, wigs and more.
Ultimately they lined us all up and got us to chant a long to some kind of tomato fighting song and then let the games begin. It was a race to the center of the pile. Man!! You really cannot know what this was like from the outside watching in. From inside the pile it was like a mass crowd trying to push to the front of the stage at a concert - then you got to the tomatoes. I started bending over and picking up tomatoes as soon as I got to the edge of the pile and at first I was just throwing them into the crowd in a one at a time fashion. This was fun at first. Within 30 seconds I got bored of picking up 2 or 3 at a time and decided to push in to the center of the pile.
At this point you would bend down and pickup armloads of tomatoes and in a single upward thrust you throw this entire mass into the air. We started chanting "Make it Rain Tomatoes" as if in a single motion we had started a group effort to drown out the clean folks outside the pile. It was a memory I doubt I will ever forget.
So there was this giant mass food-slinging event. Something I thought was funny was when you bent down to scoop up tomatoes you started finding other items. Shoes, broken goggles, sunglasses and all kinds of stuff ended up in this pile. It was so slippery that you had to struggle to stand up (hence the waiver we all signed). People were slipping and sliding in this giant mass of mato. The smell was also very interesting. Due to all the people working very hard in the sun and the tomatoes that had sat in the sun - it was like a sweaty locker-room of tomato ick. But that didn't bother anybody.
All in all this was a very memorable event. I could write so much more about so many things I saw and did during this event. You just have to experience it!
I give this event 10 out of 10 stars. It was new, unique and went very well considering Cal Neva had no real way of knowing how it would all end up since it was a first time event. It was Historic! They plan to do it again in 2010.