Follow the 2017 Txupinazo Opening event live at Sanfermin.com

Sanfermin.com will once again give a live report on the Txupinazo 2017 (Spanish language). We will begin on the 6th July, at 11 a.m. in the morning. This year there was a public vote taken by citizens of Pamplona to choose the entity to set off the opening Txupinazo rocket. The road ambulance service – DYA Navarra – received the most votes over several other proposed candidates such as: Asociación Andrea-Lunes Lilas, Bilgune Feminista and Pamplona Ciudad de Acogida.

If you do not have much idea of what the Txupinazo is all about, we will fill you in on everything here.

Running of the Bulls Balconies. Sanfermin, Pamplona 2017

We now have your balconies available for Sanfermin 2017

Sanfermin.com and Sanfermin by Locals are once again preparing a range of balcony offers to watch the Sanfermin bullrunnings in maximum comfort in Pamplona from the 7th to the 14th of July, 2017. As well, we have a special exclusive balcony available to watch the opening Txupinazo event, located beside the City Hall of Pamplona to allow you to enjoy an unforgettable and unique experience

The Sanfermin.com offers include a guide and a breakfast and this offer can be further extended to include other activities such as a Tour of the Bullrunning Course or reserving a select viewing spot from which to watch the nightly fireworks display from the roof terrace of the Baluarte Building. Check out our Web Page and learn more about our team as well as our offers and products.

© Hanna Quevedo

Casi seguro: no lloverá en el Chupinazo

El tiempo es increíblemente difícil de predecir, cambia cual veleta en huracán y parece que el de Pamplona no queda lejos. Unos días nos dicen que puede que llueva en el chupinazo y otros que no. Pero a poco más de 48 horas para que empiece la fiesta, podemos asegurar que no lloverá. 

La temperatura durante el día estará entre 17 grados de máxima y 29 de mínima, y a la hora en la que se lance el cohete estará en torno a los 22 grados. Las posibilidades de que caiga agua se situan en ¡0%!. Soplará vientecillo norte de 11 kms/h.

Continue reading…

Gigantada de la federación de peñas 2015

Iruñea/Pamplona is experiencing an intense pre-Sanfermin weekend as it awaits the opening Txupinazo event on the 6th

Pamplona is all ready for the opening of fiestas. All over the weekend, the steady influx of tourists has increased in momentum, while the locals are busy checking details as the final countdown moves inexorably forward and the people bring out their traditional white fiesta gear and red neckties from the bottom of the cupboards in readiness for the opening rocket at midday on the 6th of July.
The Pamplona Peña Clubs have organized different events that coincide with their Peña Day – Saturday, 4th of July – which have livened up the old quarter of the city with a lot of brass bands playing around the streets and with the Giants and their entourage lending their support. In addition, the pro-animal organization, Anima Naturalis, has once again this year gathered to make their annual protest against the deemed as cruel treatment suffered by the bulls both in morning Running of the Bulls and in the afternoon bullfights in the Pamplona Bullring.

2015-07-04_ambientepreAnd as the city makes itself ready for fiestas so too do the people chosen this year to set off the opening Txupinazo rocket. Very shortly, Javier Aranegui, from the Orfeón Pamplonés Brass Band and Chantal Estrade, grand-daughter of one of the founder-members of the Peña La Veleta, will both open the party scenario to nine days of fiesta, runnings of the bulls and the general festive scene. Both of them were selected by the new city hall mayor, Joseba Asirón, who wishes to give recognition to the importance of this Orfeón brass band to the city over the past 150 years as the band celebrate their centenary this year. Equally, he wishes to acknowledge the influence of the Veleta Peña club which, in the early 1930’s, first stimulated the idea of wearing white and red clothing during fiestas and which has now become such a norm for thousands and thousands of local people.

The main concern for the Txupinazo opening event would seem to lie in the weather forecast which, according to the Spanish weather agency, will probably see temperatures of 35º C on Monday’s opening day. It will be important to hydrate oneself to avoid problems.

For those who prefer to watch the Txupinazo opening event in a more relaxed manner, several huge screens have been erected at various points around the downtown area which will broadcast the event through the signal offered by RTVE national TV. These are to be found at the Plaza del Castillo, Paseo Sarasate, Plaza de los Fueros, Parque Antoniutti and Carlos III.

Not long to go now.

Photos: Carlos Mediavilla

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A survey by Sanfermin.com, which rejects any changes in the dates for the annual fiestas and which insists on the 6th of July for theTxupinazo Opening rocket

Sanfermin.com launched a short fast survey on its different social networks last Thursday afternoon on the question of changing the dates of the Sanfermin fiestas so as to ensure that there were always two weekends available.  The results reached a very clear conclusion: “It would be simply unthinkable to have the opening day’s Txupinazo on any other date than the 6th of July”. This option had the largest backing of the participants – 80% (226 votes, from 284 participants and a total of 356 responses it was possible to choose more than one option to each question).

The survey proposed the option of always starting the Sanfermin fiestas on the Saturday before the 7th of July, thus ensuring that there would always be two weekends over the eight days. When the fiestas do fall in this way on some calendar years, it brings a higher number of visitors to the fiestas and it makes the  services industry in Pamplona more profitable. This double-weekend also influences the number of international visitors which tends to be higher when there are two weekends over the fiesta period. (As occurred in 2014 and which will occur again in 2017).

The options open to the interviewees in the Sanfermin.com survey were: (1) to leave the dates as they are, (2) to open a debate on this idea of changing dates and to consider the possibility of celebrating a seventh of July in the middle of fiestas. In addition, three options were set down within the multi-response question such as “I could not conceive of theTxupinazo opening rocket on any other date than the 6th of July”“This would be good for the service industry and for visitors but not for the local people” –Yes, change would be a good idea and I would support it for 2015.” The interviewees also had a further option of adding a more personal and individual opinion.

From all the options, the most selected was the question of the Txupinazo change of date which was conceived as something unthinkable. As can be seen on the graph, the second option most voted was “To leave the fiestas as they are at present” and then followed by “I would not like to have a 7th of July right in the middle of the fiestas days as proposed”. The options which were most clear to the interviewees was that the fiestas should be left as they are at present, that the Txupinazo should be on the 6th and that the saint’s day should be on the 7th of July. In other words, the general public is largely not open to the idea of making any calendar changes to the fiestas.

Detalle encuesta de Sanfermin.com sobre las fechas de la fiesta.

In addition to the responses to the survey sheet – which were anonymous – on the Sanfermin Facebook page, the “posts”on this survey were seen by 6.737 people. Of these, 208 indicated that they liked the idea of the survey, 11 posted them on their walls and 32 people published commentaries. In Twitter, 1.966 people saw the survey and they left 8 FAVS and 4 RTs. Follow us on Facebook and you can take part and check out the comments which largely agree with the results of the survey. That is to say, leave everything as it is and don’t move either the 6th or the 7th and don’t link the fiestas to purely benefits.

In the future, we plan to carry out some further surveys on themes related to the Sanfermin fiestas. Getting a close picture of what how the public see the fiestas can always be useful and expedient.