Tomato Sauced

Comments (0) By Jenny An Thursday, Jun 23 2011

A normal outdoor music festival and a beer garden wasn’t enough for Copper Mountain Resort this year. The solution? Throw in some tomatoes, and then throw the tomatoes themselves. Make that two semi trucks full of squishy, smelly, beyond-ripe tomatoes. Now add in four bands and a ton of beer. That, says Clint Nelson, founder of the Tomato Battle, is an event.

More About

The messy fun gets started at 1 p.m. with live music and beer (your first one’s free). Then, at 3 p.m., 300,000 pounds of tomatoes, trucked in from Arizona, will roll in and the battle will commence, every person for him/herself (with medics and security on hand). While the Romans donned funny hats, it has been recommended that participants in the Roma tomato battle don swim suits, goggles and well-treaded shoes. A change of clothes is also suggested.

More than 2,000 people are expected to turn out for the saucy showdown, and for the bands, including Meniskus, RePlay and one selected on June 21 via a virtual battle of the bands.

While this is Nelson’s first tomato battle in Colorado (his company is planning similar events in Georgia and Texas), tomato battles have a long legacy in the state. Beginning in 1982, battles between the forces of Colorado and Texas were held in the town of Twin Lakes. Sadly, this traditions, called the Colorado Texas Tomato War, didn’t pass the test of time.

Get Tomato Battle tickets, $37.99, and more information at www.tomatobattle.com.
Sat., June 25, 2011