<P> It all started the last Wednesday of August in 1945 when some young people spent the time in the town square to attend the Giants and Big - Heads figures parade . The young boys decided to have a place among the retinue of a parade with musician , Giants and Big - Heads figures . The energy of these young people made that one participant fell off . The participant flew into a fit of rage , started to hit everything in his path . There was a market stall of vegetable that fell victim of the furious crowd : people started to pelt each other with tomatoes until the local forces ended that vegetable battle . The following year , the young people picked a quarrel by their own decision and brought the tomatoes from home . Although the police broke up the early tradition in the following years , the young boys had made history without being conscious about it . La Tomatina was banned in the early 50s , which was not a problem for the participants who were even arrested . But the people spoke and the festivity was again allowed with more participants and more frenetic feelings . The festivity was again cancelled till 1957 when , as a sign of protest , the tomato burial was held . It was a demonstration in which the residents carried a coffin with a huge tomato inside . The parade was accompanied by a music band which played funeral marches and it was totally successful . La Tomatina Festival was finally allowed and became an official festivity . As a result of the report of Javier Basilio , broadcast in the Spanish television program called Informe Semanal , the festivity started to be known in the rest of Spain . Since then , the number of participants increased year after year as well as the excitement about La Tomatina Festival . In 2002 , La Tomatina of Buñol was declared Festivity of International Tourist Interest by the Secretary Department of Tourism due to its success . </P>
when did the festival of la tomatina first take place
the last Wednesday of August in 1945