Some towns clean their streets with water. Buñol begins with 165 tons of tomatoes.
Today is La Tomatina, the annual Spanish festival in which more than 20,000 people are expected to spend one carefully sanctioned hour hurling overripe tomatoes at one another through the streets of Buñol.
The tradition dates to 1945, when an argument during a local parade somehow migrated toward a conveniently positioned vegetable stand. Eight decades later, the town covers buildings with tarps, trucks in the ammunition, fires a cannon to begin hostilities, and asks participants to squash their tomatoes before throwing them.
Then another cannon sounds, everyone is hosed off, and the streets are washed down.
Apparently the citric acid helps with the cleaning.
Urban maintenance, but with morale.
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