The Colorado-Texas Tomato War was an annual event held at Twin Lakes, Lake County, Colorado. It was started in 1982 by local hotel owner Taylor Adams, ended in the early 1990s, and was revived in 2011. The event, held in September, pitted hundreds of Coloradans and Texans throwing ripe tomatoes at one another, as Coloradans attempted (and generally succeeded) in overrunning an "Alamo" built of straw bales and defended by the outnumbered Texans.
The combatants were identified by souvenir T-shirts sold by Ms. Adams. The event was based on the rivalry perceived by Coloradans against Texas visitors to the state. It is considered the source for the bumper sticker "Keep Colorado beautiful: put a Texan on a bus." There is a festival located in Colorado annually.