|  | 
  
 | A youth 
 lays in a bath of tomato juice during the annual "Tomatina" 
 tomato fight in the town of Bunol, near Valencia, eastern 
 Spain, Wednesday Aug. 28 2002. | 
 
 Tens of thousands of people stripped off 
 their shirts and hurled tons of ripe, juicy tomatoes at each other 
 in the annual Tomatina food fight, creating knee-deep rivers of 
 tomato sauce on the streets of this Spanish town.  
 The festival, which has its roots in a food fight between childhood 
 friends, is gaining in popularity. Wednesday's crowd numbered 
 around 38,000 - more than four times the population of Bunol - 
 and 8,000 more than last year, Spanish news agency Efe reported. 
 
 At noon, municipal trucks hauled in 132 tons of plum tomatoes 
 and dropped them at the feet of the crowds in the main square 
 of Bunol, a town 190 miles southeast of Madrid. 
 Within seconds, the square was covered in a sheen of red slime 
 and clouds of tomato-colored mist as people threw, tossed, pitched 
 and aimed the vegetables at everyone and everything. 
 The participants, including many women, had ripped off their 
 shirts and many wore goggles to keep the tomatoes from stinging 
 their eyes. 
 At 1 p.m., a rocket fired from the balcony signaled the end and 
 Bunol residents uncoiled garden hoses to spray down the tomato 
 tossers and the rest of the town. 
 The event has become something of a calling card for Bunol. The 
 Tomatina, held the last Wednesday in August, is said to be the 
 world's largest tomato fight. 
 Local legend claims the event began in the 1940s after a group 
 of youngsters waged a food fight on the town square. They met 
 again the next year and pelted each other - and passers-by, starting 
 the tradition. 
 (Agencies)