Lore Monnig, premio Guiri del Año de Sanfermin 2005.

Lore Monnig, Foreigner of the Sanfermin 2005

The II “Guiri del Año” Award was handed over in New York to Lore Monnig at a ceremony held in the city. This award was created to celebrate the interest and passion of the foreign visitors who come to the Sanfermin fiestas, and it was bestowed by Mikel Urmeneta, founder-member and creative director of the firm, at a gathering attended by some fifty guests, all wearing the classic Sanfermin outfits for the occasion.

With less than two weeks to wait before this year’s Sanfermin 2005 takes off with the launching of the “chupinazo” rocket, the New York Taurino fan club dressed up in white and red to celebrate the “Gala Pamplona” event which the New York Bullfighting Fan Club organizes each year in the city. Kukuxumusu took advantage of the occasion to pay homage to Lore Monnig, president of the club.

The award was designed by Mikel Urmeneta and his team of designers and the trophy is a design of the Globe with horns on it. He stressed that the award winner “has been demonstrating her passion for the Sanfermines over the past 30 years and maintaining a vanguard stance in her promotion of the fiestas in The United States.” And Mikel Urmeneta good-humouredly went on to say” it is a well-known fact that Kukuxumusu will always be on the side of the foreigner who visits Pamplona, just as it is always on the side of the bull and the wine.”

The award-winner expressed her acknowledgement of the homage made by Kukuxumusu and admitted that she “has always been a lover of Pamplona”. She went on to say that “in order to understand the bulls, you have to understand what the running of the bulls represents and the splendour that can be found in it.” She added that “Kukuxumusu is a witty manifestation of the fiesta, original and unorthodox, and everyone recognizes that it is impossible to conceive the fiestas without its presence.” After the award was made a dinner was provided for the guests.

The menu consisted of salad, white beans and bull’s tail washed down with Navarra wine and pacharán. Some videos were shown on the running of the bulls and the guests exchanged observations on the upcoming Sanfermin of 2005. Some twenty odd members of the Club will attend this year’s fiestas in Pamplona.

Lore Monnig becomes the second person to receive the “Guiri del Año” award after the Puerto Rican, Carmen Margarita Alicea, was conceded the award in 2004. According to Mikel Urmeneta, “the aim of the award is to change the mentality of some people who see the foreigner visitor in a negative light and to give the foreign visitor a more positive image. Kukuxumusu have been organizing a “Guiri Day” during Sanfermin over the past nine years in an attempt to vindicate the presence of foreigners within the Sanfermin fiestas.”