After a pandemic hiatus, Spain’s La Tomatina event returns.

Following a two-year pause due to the coronavirus epidemic, people from all over the world pasted each other with tomatoes as part of Spain’s legendary La Tomatina festival in the eastern town of Buol. Aboard Wednesday, people on trucks unloaded 130 tones of overripe tomatoes down the town’s main street for participants jammed below to toss, leaving the area saturated in crimson pulp. Up to 20,000 people paid 12 euros ($12) to attend the festival.

After an hour-long lunchtime skirmish, the streets of the town were hosed off, and the revelers washed. The annual celebration, celebrated on the final Wednesday of August, was inspired by a food battle between local youngsters in the town, which is located in a tomato-producing region, in 1945. In the 1980s, media attention elevated it to the status of a national and international event, attracting participants from all over the world. Local officials predicted fewer international tourists this year, owing to ongoing concerns about COVID-19 in Asian countries. Participants were required to wear swimming goggles to protect their eyes, while their clothing, often T-shirts and shorts, was left coated with pulp. Aside from being the first fight in Spain since the epidemic began in 2020, this year’s celebration also marked the event’s 75th anniversary and 20 years since Spain designated the festival as a worldwide tourism destination.