Tomato Festival, Washington

When the horn sounds at The Tomato Festival, everyone knows what it means: it's time to run full-tilt to the tomatoes and to start throwing them at one other. The playful festival is part schoolyard dodgeball, part school cafeteria food fight, and of course, part tomato. But unlike schoolyard games, there are no rules on how best to partake. Tomato tossers are encouraged to take breaks to explore the food truck offerings or dance and sing to the event's music. Best of all, the festival ends like the best food fights, with thousands of people trekking home covered head to toe in tomato spatter.