La Tomatina’s Tomatoes Escape Buñol in Tourists’ Shoes

La Tomatina, Buñol’s annual tomato-throwing festival, drew thousands of international visitors and local residents into its food fight, with as much as 165 tons of overripe tomatoes available to be hurled. When hoses cleared the streets, the participants looked ready to leave. Their shoes did not.

At the coach station, a visitor took off two sneakers and found a soft tomato lodged between the laces. The shoes had already marked a red path from the festival ground to the bench. When the visitor carried them instead, the tomato rolled out of one shoe and continued the trip on its own.

The return journey became part of the cleanup

One coach departed with no visible tomatoes until its first rest stop, where red footprints ran from the seats to the pavement. The driver mopped the aisle; returning passengers stepped over the mop and put the same red marks back. A second coach began accepting shoes only after their owners had shaken them upside down over the luggage compartment.

Hotel laundry rooms produced the next development. Industrial washers turned the water red, then stopped during the spin cycle when tomato pulp collected at the drum’s lowest seam. A technician removed a round piece of fruit and put it through separately. It emerged warm, polished and cleaner than several shirts in the original load.

By night, Buñol’s streets were clear, but hotels along the route had red tracks leading to their washing machines. In one laundry, the last intact tomato completed a wash-and-dry cycle beside a single sock. It was the only souvenir to check out cleaner than it arrived.