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La Tomatina

6/16/09 - Rick Sakke from RSCVA has some awesome pics of La Tomatina. I think he was one of the few people there with a camera. The event was insane! Knarly.

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Posted by: Matthew A. - 8/30/2009 6:00:02 PM
That's pretty crazy - what a wild idea. I especially like the half moons in 16 and 17 (I think).

Posted by: Wiley_n_Reno - 8/30/2009 11:26:01 PM
everybody there looks like they're having a blast!

Posted by: PatF - 8/31/2009 9:01:21 AM
Lest everyone thinks this event is the greatest thing since Tacos, let me rain on your parade a bit. It's Monday morning and I'm watching three city maintenance people working very hard to clean the waterfall feature in front of the Wild River Grill. I watched dozens of tomato throwers use the fountain on Saturday to clean themselves. They stained the stonework and clogged all the filters. A city worker had to turn the waterfall off Sunday morning. Hopefully no permanent damage was done but they're now approaching hour three of their cleanup. Over at the Plaza, workers associated with the festival used front loaders to clean up the mess and in the process considerably scoured the concrete. Along Virginia Street on Sunday morning the sidewalks looked like a war zone: tomoto juice and peels everywhere along with the litter brought along. A tourist would have deemed Reno the dirtiest city in the country. This looked like a fun event for the thousands who participated and the cause was certainly worthy. But for a city that has spent millions over the past ten plus years to overcome a "dirty city" image this event was in the wrong place. A big open field somewhere and a firetruck to flush off the participants would have been a great venue.

Posted by: Steve Watts - 8/31/2009 9:56:18 AM
If this is going to be yearly event, it will have a high negative rating. Too many people I talked with did not like this idea, for a variety of reasons. A food fight...and I thought we all wanted to get away from a Reno 911 low brow image??

Posted by: lakescrossing - 8/31/2009 3:28:49 PM
Only in gluttonous America do we waste food to break Guinness records or raise money for a cause or have competitive eaters who most all throw up after the competition. Only in America do people get sick from eating too much while people in Africa get sick from not having enough to eat. It's pathetic. How can you waste food like that? Have we no more shame? Why not a big water balloon fight instead? Only in America we have the food channel and watch some rotund moron stuff his face surrounded by skinny hosts in Third World countries who can hardly afford the food they share with him. May we reap what we sow and experience starvation first hand.

Posted by: Mikemike - 8/31/2009 6:12:28 PM
Lakescrossing, 1) The tomatoes were most likely tomatoes deemed unfit for distribution so were therefore going to be thrown out or recycled in some manner other than human consumption. So the fact that the CalNeva bought these tomatoes (possibly from a starving third world country like you’re talking about) is actually the opposite of wasteful. This way the food went to “waste” but acted as a source of revenue for whoever the CalNeva bought them from. No one was going to buy these tomatoes to eat. 2) Do you really think a booth or micro festival setup downtown asking for cancer donations would have raised anything close to the $30,000+ that this raised? 3) Since when were tomatoes worse for the environment than rubber water balloons? While maybe harder to clean, tomatoes are biodegradable and last time I checked most birds don't die from eating tomato scraps. 4) If you honestly see a tomato fight fund raiser as a negative image on our city, you really need stop being so narrow minded. It was a creative idea that raised a lot of money that would have otherwise not been generated and therefore donated. Maybe if it was a "Get Drunk, Urinate, And Have Sex Publicly Fundraiser," then that might project a negative image on our city. It was just a tomato fight, get over it.

Posted by: Go Aces - 8/31/2009 6:49:13 PM
Boo Hoo a Wrath on all of you. Give me a break. Why weren't you there canning tomatoes. You could have fed a lot of needy people. In regards to the mess left behind. I am shocked that city officials allowed this event without making sure that organizers had a solid plan for clean up and mess control.

Posted by: Doofus - 8/31/2009 8:09:35 PM
I was there in the middle of it all. What a joyous event, and I commend all those who took the risks to put it on. Will it be better organized next year? Sure - this was our first shot. Hosing stations will be mandatory for those leaving to keep from clogging fountains and dribbling the streets and offending the down towers. You should see my car and house. Reno is so much closer at heart to 911 than to ArrowCreek or Montreux or Double Diamond or Somersett or whatever vaunted image you have of the region. That's why I moved here and cherish this place. I'm all in for a great event that raises funds for a just and noble charity. Lighten up.

Posted by: PatF - 9/1/2009 2:01:22 PM
Get drunk, urinate and have sex publicly fundraiser. OMG! Did I miss that one? Was it on the City Hall Plaza? Same rules should apply: No front loaders to scoop up the debris and the fire department on hand to hose off the participants. There, did I lighten up enough?

Posted by: Will Cooper - 9/1/2009 2:34:37 PM
"Reno is so much closer at heart to 911 than to ArrowCreek or Montreux or Double Diamond or Somersett or whatever vaunted image you have of the region. Lighten up." If accurate, that is disappointing. I have no 'vaunted image' of the region, in fact we searched long and created quite a body of research before we decided to locate our business in the Reno/Sparks area. Now that we have been here on a daily basis setting the groundwork for our business, I can see how the area can be interpreted as Reno 911 wants everyone to view our city. In the opinion of our management staff and investors, the Reno area is on the cusp of change: Either moving forward into a more progressive environment, or falling back into the Reno 911 mould. We are hoping for the former, but based upon recent events we are reviewing re-location options. The only thing we have to offer are jobs, tax revenue and regional pride. Maybe that isn't what Reno wants.

Posted by: Justin - 9/2/2009 3:02:21 PM
Doofus, Reno's image may have attracted you to the region, but we need to move beyond the Reno 911 stereotype if we hope to diversify our economy and attract new businesses and educated professionals to the area. Regarding this event, it looks like the participants had fun, but I don't feel it is in any way beneficial to our city.

Posted by: Mark W. - 9/3/2009 8:19:56 AM
Wow, it's starting to look like the RGJ.com comment boards here. Clearly there's a schism in opinions here, and it's unfortunate that this event was managed in a less-than-professional manner, but I doubt there's any reason to get this snarky on either side of the debate. I'm glad the event was enjoyable, I think it should have been better planned and managed, and it's far from the worst thing that could have happened to Reno. Everybody needs to take this criticism much less personally.

Posted by: Gay Rodeo - 9/6/2009 11:46:35 AM
...well, Reno has a habit of having a lot of barking dogs and not much of a pack. Ironic considering the University mascot. If someone really is troubled by something, blithering about it here, or on RGJ (or anywhere on Teh Magikal Internet) should be considered laughable. The Internet is a place of zero consequences, and therefore, don't feed the trolls, as the wisdom goes. Reno seems sometimes to be a place where criticism is as thick as thieves but the only thing being stolen is people's enthusiasm for making a great town. Throwing a bunch of food makes for a great town. The last time I checked, being a little socially irresponsible is great because you really can have a good time, and sure, it pisses off the neighbors with great buttons to push. Just realize that's what it is, sometimes. I think there should be a produce theme in general. Next year it can be a sauerkraut fight. Gay Rodeo www.godhatesreno.com

Posted by: lakescrossing - 9/7/2009 3:43:16 PM
I don't buy the unusable tomatos argument for a nanosecond. If they were that rotten, who would want to touch them or get them thrown at them. They would have been reused better than thrown in big garbage dumps. Sounds like bizarre rationalization for waste. Also, "the Internet has zero consequence" What universe are you on? Perhaps your blog site has zero consequence, but the Internet helped define Obama's campaign and got a lot of politicians elected to office. The Internet is immensely powerful, and I guess you're 30-something or older if you don't believe that and think it's some new fangled gadget of no consequence. Iranians use the Internet to send messages of the brutal crack down. No consequence? What are you using it for just blogs and porn? It's the new political forum. And so what if downtownmakeover is getting a lot of emotional debate? GOOD!!!! Logical, cold debates don't stir people to action, don't motivate people. I want to hear a person's emotional side of an argument not just the cold logic, so long as it's not patently illogical like your argument godhatesreno. And I love that you perpetuate stereotypes against gays like black people saying the 'n' word. Reverse psychology? Don't think so.

Posted by: jj - 9/8/2009 1:21:09 PM
Hey Lakescrossing go back to the RGJ where you can spew your pessimist thoughts with the other over 40 stay at home and watch Fox news crowd. This was a great event; the money raised for CHARITY was incredible. Yes next year things will get changed to make it better. And BTW those city works still have jobs because of the “cleanup” that they do.

Posted by: Mark W. - 9/8/2009 3:30:08 PM
Remember all, it's important to take our beloved lakescrossing's comments with a grain of salt. Gay Rodeo has the right idea, [sarcasm]even if it does perpetuate stereotypes[/sarcasm]. I wish I would have witnessed the tomato armageddon firsthand, it sounds like something so polarizing would have been an absolute blast.