Tomato Battle

Wasn’t very well organized. Should open all sides of gate, so people don’t get trampled on the way in. Also, should notify people that they should bring eye and head protection. Figured there would have been more festivities. Other than that, it was a ton of fun.

The Tomato Battles in US are not the Tomato Battles of Spain. I went to the latest one organized by this same company in NY.
What it’s good for:
Drink beer with friends at lunch, get blasted with tomatoes in the afternoon.
What’s not so good:
1. The tomatoes were under-​ripe. Please don’t bring younger siblings because they hurt and when the gate first opened a few people got trampled
2. Cleanup was hundreds of people fighting for 5 water hoses. They would not let us indoors unless we were cleaned up. Even if you hosed yourself clean, you won’t get it out of your clothing-​remember barred from going indoors with dirty clothing. But since there were not outdoors changing stations, you pretty much need to go indoors to the bathroom to change. The staff pretty much told us to change outside… in public… with cameras everywhere. Well I didn’t pay $ 50 to model my panties for Youtube so I put my assertive foot down until they let me inside. Next time, don’t tell people to bring a change of clothing if there’s no place to change.

How do I start this review without bashing a very popular event that has been around for over 50 years in Spain? I can tell you this much, the guys at this event have some work to do. I went in with high hopes of enjoying what was made out to be FUN! Let’s start with the $ 10.00 charge to park in the unpaved or open dirt parking lot which does not provide anything other then a plot of dusty area for your car to be completely covered in dust and other patrons dirty handprints. There was no mention anywhere in «everbrite» ticket sales site that parking would be an additional charge.
Okay so now let’s go on the complete clusterf_​ck of tragedy just waiting to happen here. The «Elite» security guys were a nothing but a joke of group of guys just checking out the young girls. Medics were hardly seen around and if you asked the security guys who are supposed to be there to help you instead you get a chuckle and an answer that makes no sense. Music was some punk ass young amateur wannabe DJ who only played trance without any crowd pleasing mixes for the gorgeous sunny day it was.
Now the grand finale! Who’s wise idea was it to pour hard unripe beefsteak tomatoes into the ring of death? The event page advertised ripe, unusable tomatoes. These puppies were hard and almost green tomatoes one would find for slicing on your hamburger. These hurt when hit with one, not the gentle splat as expected.
I saw several people walking out of the fenced in area with bloody noses, gashed foreheads and bruises.
In closing this was a terrible event and I will definitely not be recommending it to anyone, use your hard earned $$ at one of the other many Southern California events.

This event had so much potential to be great. Advertised: craft beer garden, live bands, tons of fun… Got: a crappy DJ, bud and miller beers, limited food and limited fun.
SO many tomatoes sitting in the sun waiting to be thrown (see pics). BUT They were so fresh and unripened that by the time the participants got down a few layers, they were like hard softballs being thrown/​tossed around. I wish I could find tomatoes this fresh and a store. They were beautiful. Sadly people had no mercy! Suggestion — buy or have older tomatoes donated from local stores that didn’t sell all of their produce. My friend got a huge knot on her head and her boyfriend received two black eyes. I did get hit on the face and it hurt for the first few days, but I never bruised.

The venue was sad they had two beer boothes and one lousy potato tornado stand and italian ice… not to many options. but my biggest complaint would be that the tomatoes they where like getting hit by a soft ball none of them where ripe in way to being soft or very ripe which was painful only lasted a minute lost my sun glasses that shattered on my face from getting hit by one… it would have been more fun if I had a better idea of what it was actually gonna be like and it seems like they should have better info on there website… I bought two tickets at 50 dollars to only beable to play for a minute without probably getting seriously injured just so everyone knows bring googles and a helmet at minimum youll need it

Fight was cool the venue SUCKED
Music SUCKED house music hey here’s an idea maybe try something different anything different
When you advertise a beer garden maybe bring in more than one vender
bud and bud light does not make a garden
Hey have have more than one food truck and if you have only one make the thing good.

This experience was a total let down, very POORLY ORGANIZED.
The tomatoes were suppose to be ripe/​almost rotten but a good amount of them were hard tomatoes.
They had left a pile of tomatoes in the middle of the pavement surrounded by fences & people just rushed like crazy & started throwing tomatoes everywhere.
I expected a much bigger pile of tomatoes, it wasn’t that much of tomatoes at all… =(
No organization, no lines, people climbing on top of each other just to get a spray of the hose.
They also ran out of water too! =(BOO!
It would be more efficient if people lined up and passed the hose down to the next person in line after use instead of piles of people reaching for the hose at once.
If one was injured, there was no medical help anywhere. Alot of people were complaining how hard some of the tomatoes were

Good Times! I broke my phone, lost my wedding ring and my eyes are still burning a little; can’t wait to do it again next year. There were tons of tomatoes, supposedly over 300,000 tomatoes, and everyone of them hurled through the air –the west coast version of an old-​fashioned snowball fight. Once the battle began, there was no strategies, no rhyme no reason, just throw tomatoes at anyone you see and all of those you couldn’t see.
As soon as the first tomato was launched in the air my adrenaline shot up; I scaled the fence (no time to maneuver my way around the thousands of other people) and ran right into the middle of the fray. I was actually thinking, «I better hurry up before all the tomatoes are gone», which was a ridiculous train of thought because it seemed like the battle was never ending. 15 minutes into the battle I was up to my calfs in tomatoes, completely soaked in crushed tomatoes and tomato juice, I had lost my wedding ring and I was already tiring. My cousin, who was dressed as McDonald’s french fries, became a target and was pelted with tomatoes from every direction. I think I lasted maybe 30 – 40 minutes but I was right in the heart of the battle. As we walked out, –soaked, tired and heavy from the 10 pounds of tomato juice in my shoes and clothes, the battle was still in fever pitch.
My cousins phone stopped working immediately, mines worked for the rest of the day but once it died — it died! We actually had our phones in our pockets (dumb). The live music consisted of a DJ, there was only 3 or 4 food trucks and washing off was really hard. The truck ran out of water within the first couple of minutes and they had maybe 8 or 9 stations with water hoses (8 or 9 water hoses for like 3,000 — 5,000 people). But at that point it didn’t matter, we just waited the 25 minutes in line and talked about the fight with everyone.
This was easily one of the best times I’ve ever had at a festival. Tons of drinking (especially in the parking lot :-), the costumes were awesome and everybody just had a real good time. This is a must do — GOTTA TRY IT AT LEAST ONCE!