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This is not such a silly question as it may seem. A few years ago (2001, I think), I received a very irate e-mail from a young lady who accused me of having ruined her summer, which she had organized around the famous food fight in question. But she had turned up in Buñol, Valencia, to find that La Tomatina had been held the previous week! I had written (as the municipal website said and still says) that La Tomatina was held on the last Wednesday in August, but no, that year, it had been the fourth Wednesday in August. Fortunately, Amparo at Buñol's ayuntamiento, town council, has dispelled the doubt. "That year, it was moved forward a week, but the norm is for it to be on the last Wednesday in August." Read on.For those who have never heard of it, La Tomatina is a tremendous food fight held as part of Buñol's week of fiestas patronales. The participants, tens of thousands of them, throw literally tons of very ripe, very red, very moist, very squelchy tomatoes at each other and generally make a tremendous mess. The authorities tried to ban it for decades, for it has an iconoclastic side and must in any case be great fun (plus, I have a sneaking suspicion there is a certain erotic appeal in this, at least for some).
Most people think the Tomatina is the last Wednesday in August and unless Amparo is misleading me for reasons of her own, it will be held on August 31 this year (2005). Tomatina Tours (http://www.latomatina.com/) is organizing its trip from the US for the 31st, as well, and there are many more examples on the web. The only remaining reserve is that Wikipedia agrees with me that "in past years, the festival has been held on the fourth Wednesday in August," not necessarily the last. So you would still be well advised to check.
