It's Bull Time Again!

The 3rd Annual Running of the Bulls is almost here, where the Sangria flies almost as quickly as the rollerbulls.



San Fermin in Nueva Orleans (SFNO) replicates and pays homage to the world famous Encierro of Pamplona, Spain, or "The Running of the Bulls", only our bulls are none other than members of The Big Easy Rollergirls!




This year, San Fermin in Nueva Orleans will be celebrated on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at precisely 8:00 a.m. We will also be doubling our bulls with appearances by The Red Stick Roller Derby, Houston Roller Derby, Cajun RollerGirls, and Jacksonville Rollergirls.

The pre-festivities will “officially” begin at 6:30 am at the Three Legged Dog  on 400 Burgundy Street in the French Quarter section of New Orleans. Sangria, Spanish wines, and good cheer will be available. The Three Legged Dog is a local, 24-hour bar with local attitude- serving big drinks as long as you’re serving big tips!

There will be a special guest appearance by New Orleans' own The Krewe of The Rolling Elvi!

At precisely 8am the run will begin.

The run will end at the Gazebo Cafe in Latrobe Park on 1018 Decatur Street, where more Sangria, Spanish wine, tapas and good cheer will be available.

After the bull run, the afterparty immediately starts. DJ Dub Insurgent (former resident DJ in Buenos Aires, Argentina at La Cigale and recent opener for Manu Chao in New Orleans) will be holding down the turntables, and a general block-party will ensue.

RUNNERS ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR (ANY KIND OF) WHITE SHIRT, WHITE PANTS OR SHORTS, AND A PIECE OF RED CLOTH ABOUT THE WAIST AND NECK.

 For a better understanding, you can watch The Reverend Pyscho Ward explain THE RULES!

The Encierro is FREE and requires no registration -- just show up and RUN!

This year, the charity is Animal Rescue of New Orleans (ARNO). 

The ARNO is an organization created and dedicated to the rescue and aid of abandoned and homeless animals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi, including responding to the immediate needs of those animals in need of medical care, or who have been neglected, abused and deprived of love. ARNO promotes the foster, adoption, and reunion of pets with caretakers, as well as spaying/neutering of all companion animals.

At this point you might be asking yourself "Why?", to which we can only respond, "¿Por què no?"

To learn more about the Running of the Bulls, we recommend these videos:

WDSU News Video

Our Favorite YouTube Video

NOLA.COM Video

We will see you on Saturday!

All Photos by Scott Stuntz Photography

San Fermin official website features NOLABulls

NOLA Bulls is featured on the official website for Sanfermines in Pamplona!! There's a video by mhoman along with a lengthy article about the event. Hopefully we'll be able to post a translation soon. Any takers?

This feature means that both Sanfermin.com AND El Diario de Navarra, the paper of the region, covered NOLA Bulls! And on the second annual run! If you didn't catch it this year, mark your calendars for next year. It's going to be even BIGGER!!

2nd Annual Running of the Bulls!

The 2ND ANNUAL SAN FERMIN IN NUEVA ORLEANS takes place Saturday, July 12th, 8am in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the same day the original Spanish event will take place in Pamplona. The event replicates and pays homage to the world famous Encierro of Pamplona, Spain, aka The Running of the Bulls, only our bulls will be a little different, and a whole new breed of danger (as well as a cuter).


Rollerbulls take their revenge


Trixie


Blood, Sleasy, Loco, Blaze




Pummel



The event officially kicks off at 7am at the Three Legged Dog bar on the corner of Conti Street and Burgundy Street. Spanish wines and good cheer will be available. At 8am the run commences! The run ends at THE GAZEBO at 1016 Decatur Street (next to Latrobe Park), where there will be more Spanish wines, Sangria, and good cheer! That's when the party starts, probably right around 8:12am. Multiple DJ's will be holding down the turntables, as well as live music starting around 11 a.m. for a giant block party!



Rollerbulls scheduled to make an appearance: AnnihilAsian, Balls-out-Betty, Beatrix sKiddo, Big Sleasy, Blaze Scarr, CHEAP THR!LL, ChessTosterone, Coalminer's Slaughter, Deb U Taunt, Deuce Mcmaliceher, Dumaine Attraction, F.N. Trouble, Fleur d'Lethal, Ibeatya Amber, Ivy Rased'ya, Jambot, Jet Lisa, Joan Cougar Menstrualcramp, LaBelle ReBelle, Lt. Dan, Loco Bambino, Louise Ze Animal, Lush Fatale, Luvinblood, Milf Duds, Mudflap Girl, Pontchartrain BeAtch, Queen CinSational, SmasHer, Trixie LaFemme, Wit Vicious and more!!!

RUNNERS ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR (ANY KIND OF) WHITE SHIRT, WHITE PANTS OR SHORTS, AND A PIECE OF RED CLOTH ABOUT THE WAIST AND NECK.

At this point you might be asking "why?", to which we can only respond : PORQUE NO?!?!


Official 2009 T-Shirt


Official 2009 Poster


For more information, or to purchase any official merchandise, please visit NOLA BULLS

The Big Easy Rollergirls are International!

On Sunday, July 15th, "El Diario de Navarra", the official paper of Sanfermines in Pamplona, ran an article that documented the first ever "Running of the Bulls in the French Quarter" (or as they call it "barrio frances"). Here is a translation of the article.

Bull Run in New Orleans

A Bull Run With Lady Skaters Made A Race In The French Quarter On The 7th.

Mickey Hanning, 35 year old American, was in Sanfermines only once, in 2002, and ran in only one Bull Run, the one on the eighth. In spite of the brevity of the experience, it was enough to make him the idea man and organizer of a strange bull run in the French Quarter in New Orleans this past July 7th. The idea began to jell during this year's Marti Gras (Tuesday of Carnival), the most famous event of this American city. Dave Parker, a 33 year-old friend of Hanning, elected to disguise himself as a Pamplonian for that occasion and between the two of them they thought of the idea of making an homage to the Navarran city and its fiestas. Thus was born the first edition of the annual Sanfermines of New Orleans.



"After several weeks of meditating over many [cans] of beer we designed a plan", recounted Hanning. They would start at 8 on the dot, like in Pamplona, and they would have to look for bars that would support them in the project, like two locals that were open for 24 hours did: the Three-legged Dog and The Sidebar. The first would be the starting point and the second the finish (goal).

Hanning got a lot of help to organize this event, most of all from his wife, Beth Hanning, 39. She helped from the beginning and volunteered to do a multitude of tasks. In the end her collaboration was necessary in constructing the poster for the Bull Run of New Orleans.

The "Bullettes" and the Bulls.

Now only the bulls, or something that looked like them, were missing. Nevertheless, the organizers couldn't turn bulls loose in the streets of New Orleans, nor did the city give them permission to fence-in the run. It is necessary to add, too, they had little wish to be injured,
so they looked for a most ingenious answer.



Fourteen young ladies of a skating group armed with several baseball bats made like bulls. The idea to do a bull run arose on a Carnival Tuesday, beginning with a Pamplonian imitation (disguise). Tracey Belina, 25, had the idea. She belongs to a female skate team called Big Easy Roller Girls, and she got 14 members to volunteer to act as bulls. The idea was simple: they carried helmets, baseball bats and a T-shirt with a drawing of a red-faced bull, and they kept chasing the runners, who had to dress in red and white to participate. These 14 "chicks" were joined by a mechanical bull constructed by Mic Fedufa, another friend of Hanning. The original contraption was a shopping cart with a covering which made in the shape of a bull, and the horns were tubes which emitted smoke.




The idea this year gave a lot of pleasure, and Hanning's idea for next year is to use what they used to imitate the bulls this year, it's a sure thing. "We never thought of using real bulls, only inoffensive animals, like dogs", explained the organizer.

The Race Course.

Finally, after several months of preparation San Fermin day arrived, and fortunately all was ready. The fourteen skaters were ready to give it their all in the festive atmosphere that prevailed.

The organization had not spent a dime on publicity, but thanks to mouth-to-mouth and a page in MySpace, and the Big Easy Roller Girls' blog, the event attracted a large audience. “We had figured, personally, that at least 50 people would come, and at the end there were 150, but the response was so good that there could have been 200. Evaluating the opinions that the participants have given us, we think this event could grow exponentially in the future," Hanning assured.




The fact is that from 7 in the morning until 8, the runners could drink Spanish products in The Three-legged Dog, and at 8 the race began.



Minutes later, after several friendly and inoffensive swats with the baseball bats, the party truly continued in the Sidebar, where 70 liters of sangria, made especially for the occasion so that bulls and runners enjoy themselves on a pleasant and long binge.

To download the article, you can go to the Press Page on The Big Easy Rollergirls' Website.



If you want to find out abour more events the NOLA Bulls are planning, visit them at NOLA Bulls

BE READY FOR THE NEXT RUN, JULY 12, 2008

San Fermin in Nueva Orleans

Which is more dangerous? Loose bulls or rollergirls loose in the French Quarter? Dress in white, tie a piece of red cloth around your neck and waist, say a prayer to Saint Fermin and find out!


Archbishop Pummel

Embrace Spain’s 41-year rule over New Orleans! Over a dozen of the Big Easy Rollergirls will be guest bulls in the first ever San Fermin in Nueva Orleans on Saturday, July 7th. Watch out for our rollergirls wearing horns on their helmts and wielding wiffle ball bats. They will hit the runners as they try to make their way past our deadly rollergirls!

The Bull Run will take place at 8AM in the French Quarter, the same day that the original Spanish event occurs in Pamplona.

The festivities begin at 7AM at The Three Legged Dog Bar (400 Burgundy) on the corner of Burgundy and Conti in the French Quarter. There will be Spanish Wines available to enhance your “valor” before your run with the BERG Bulls. The run ends at the Sidebar (620 Conti) on the corner of Conti Street and Exchange Alley.



Your reward for surviving (IF you manage to make it) our Roller skating “Toros?” A block party with multiple DJs, Spanish Wines and Sangria!

Why you ask?
PORQUE NO?!?

Come out and enjoy the fun!

For more information, please visit.
San Fermin in Nueva Orleans



WE LOVE OUR REFS!

It’s no secret that The Big Easy Rollergirls have the best refs in all of roller derby! This weekend, under the leadership of our head ref, Henry Roll-ins, some of our finest refs are traveling to Mobile, Alabama to help one our sister leagues in an exhibition interleague scrimmage July 1st.


Henry & Lionel



Diamond

Henry Roll-ins, Lionel Hurtz, Diamond Grrrl, Reverend Falls-Well, and Anti Em (who is briefly swapping her black & gold BERG uniform for black and white stripes with The Fun Police) will join Mobile’s head ref, Matt Adore, to ref and act as advisors and consultants.

Good Luck Mobile! The Big Easy Rollergirls Wish You The Very Best!

Mobile Roller Derby