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Spain's economic woes have to one of its most famous festivals a "pay-to-join" event. The cash-strapped town of Bunol will start participants who want to take part in its world-famous Tomatina tomato-throwing festival. Tourists will have to a minimum of 10 euros ($13) to be part of the hour-long tomato fight. Regardless, all 15,000 tickets have been . Local residents have been 5,000 free tickets. The Tomatina costs the town 150,000 euros to . A hefty part of that sum toward for the 130 tons of tomatoes used as ammunition in the street battles. The streets are literally with tomato juice at the festival's end.

Tourists from all over the world have to the Tomatina for decades. Bunol's town mayor told reporters the decision to was partly due to financial constraints, but also out of security concerns. He said: "This is the first year we are for access to this popular festival due to the need to the crowd for safety reasons. We have a problem for the past eight or 10 years. The Tomatina is not . We don't know how many people are to come." The festival just after the end of WWII. There are various reports about its origins. The most popular is that of a brawl between teenagers near a vegetable market up with the youths each other with tomatoes.