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Nearly 3,000 people from around the Bay Area gathered at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton Sunday to take in some flying fruit.
Participants wore bathing suits, costumes and goggles during the massive 45-minute fruit fight where tomatoes were tossed and the ground turned into a massive marinara puddle.
The region’s first Tomato Battle was the brainchild of financiers Clint Nelson and Max Kramer who aimed to create a day of music, beer and the marinara-making fruits that would “give people the best day of their lives.” The event was born out of another projectile-hurling event the men hosted annually among friends.
Spokeswoman Jules Jones said that Nelson, Kramer, and their swash-buckling friends would take boats out on a lake for their yearly “pirates versus vikings” water balloon fight
“They just love big, fun fights,” Jones said in September. “They wanted to think of something that was scalable with many, many more people. You can’t take yourself too seriously when you’re rolling around in a ton of ketchup with a bunch of other people.”
Several semi-trucks full of tomatoes arrived at the Fairgrounds on Friday afternoon to unload thousands of pounds of fruits for the event, much of which was destined for the compost heap. Some of the fruit came from local farmers and from food banks that weren’t able to make use of the produce before it became unfit for human consumption.
“We just want our events to be a positive experience for everyone,” Jones said. “It sort of sells itself to the people who want to be involved.”
The Pleasanton battle was open to attendees older than 14 and ran from noon till 4 p.m. Average laundry detergent usage over the weekend is unknown.
Bay City News Service contributed to this story.
Bay City News Service contributed to this story.