Thousands participate in San Diego tomato fight

SAN DIEGO, Ca. (WHDH) -- Take 46-thousand pounds of tomatoes, add nearly three-thousand amped up and juiced up folks itching for a fight.

"Pure chaos man."

That’s what you get.

"It's a war zone. You've gotta be ready for battle."

"Right when you walk in there's a lot of pushing a shoving."

The great tomato battle of 2012 San Diego style.

"It’s truly awful in there. I'm kind of wondering why I paid money for this. It's terrifying."

In this pit, no one is safe.

So, why would anyone choose to do this?

"Why not? It's good fun."

"It’s a chance to blow off some steam. Maybe hit some people in the face."

Some of these tomato warriors had other compelling reasons.

"Got a little bit of Italian blood in me so I wanted to make some pasta sauce out," said Clint Nelsen.

In fact, this sort of tomato fight is a tradition in Spain.

"Spain’s really far away, so why not bring this to the states," said Nelsen.

Clint Nelsen is one of the co-founders of the tomato battle.

He decided to add music and booze to American-ize the event.

"It’s beer, bands, and a giant tomato fight. It's more fun than you're supposed to be able to have so it's like breaking all the rules," said Nelsen.

The battle will be waged once again next year and most of these tomato-stained combatants say they'd do it again.

"Yes, with goggles and possibly shields."

"Hopefully next time with more tomatoes. I'd like to have a little more ammunition for an all-out war. Cause everyone's going down.”

In case you're wondering - organizers said those tomatoes did not splat in vain. The tomatoes were past ripe - and had been marked for disposal.