Ask five people in Pamplona what the Encierro Txiki is, and at least two of them are picturing the wrong bulls. There are, in fact, two entirely separate children’s bull runs during San Fermín, run by two different organizations, on two different stretches of the Old Town, using two different kinds of “bull.” One is the city-run Encierro Txiki, run with cardboard bull figures from the Cuesta de Santo Domingo to the Plaza Consistorial. The other is a privately organized event by the Pamplona illustration company Kukuxumusu, run with oversized plush bulls between two of its own stores on Calle Mercaderes and Calle Estafeta.
A family that shows up at the wrong street at the wrong time, thinking there is only one “kids’ encierro,” will miss the one they actually came to see. And the confusion is not new: an entirely different, and far more serious, children’s encierro existed before either of today’s versions, involving real calves on Calle Estafeta, and it ended for reasons that still shape Navarra’s taurine regulations today.
This is drawn from the published programming of the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, the city’s own festival information page for families, and Navarra regional press coverage of the Encierro Txiki’s organizational history, cross-checked against the archive of sanfermin.com, the festival’s own site.
Two Children’s Bull Runs, Two Different Streets
The confusion is understandable, because both events genuinely call themselves a children’s “encierro,” both include a rocket, a chant, and adult minders, and both happen during the same nine days of Sanfermines. But they are not the same event, and they do not happen in the same place.
The city-run version, organized by the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona in collaboration with the Federación de Peñas de Pamplona, runs the same starting stretch as the real encierro: the Cuesta de Santo Domingo, ending at the Plaza Consistorial rather than continuing on to the bullring. The peñas supply the cardboard bull figures (toricos de cartón) and the young men who carry and run them; the children run in front, singing the same invocation adult runners sing at the saint’s niche before the real run each morning. As of the current festival program, this version runs across two dates, four races total, starting at 11:30 AM: the first two races welcome children accompanied by adults, and the final two are reserved for children only.
The other event belongs to Kukuxumusu, the Pamplona-founded illustration and apparel brand whose cartoon bulls are recognizable across the city’s shop windows. Its version starts at the Kukuxumusu store on Calle Mercaderes and ends roughly 200 meters away at the company’s other store on Calle Estafeta, using large, soft, oversized plush bull figures rather than cardboard cutouts. It borrows the same ceremonial shape as the real encierro, chant and rocket included, and keeps bull-minders and a first-aid post on hand, but it is a store-branded, privately run event rather than a fixed line item on the city’s printed program. Families should confirm its date and time locally each year rather than assume it repeats on a fixed schedule the way the city-run cardboard-bull version now does.
The Real Encierro Txiki Ran With Actual Calves, and It Ended in 1987
Neither of today’s two versions is the original. From 1979 through 1987, Pamplona ran a genuine children’s encierro with live calves. A livestock truck stationed on Calle Estafeta released six calves immediately after the adult run each morning, and children, supervised by pastores and peña members, ran them down to the Plaza de Toros exactly as the adults had just done.
This was not a novelty act. It functioned as a training ground for the next generation of runners: children learned positioning, how to read a run in progress, and respect for the animal and their fellow runners years before they would ever face a 600-kilogram toro bravo as adults. Several Pamplona-born runners who came up through these childhood calf runs went on to become recognized figures in the adult encierro.
It ended after the 1987 edition. On July 1 of that year, the Government of Navarra signed a resolution prohibiting children’s runs involving live cattle. The Ayuntamiento appealed and won a stay for that single festival, so the 1987 edition went ahead as scheduled, but it was the last one. The prohibition was reinforced in 1992 by Navarra’s current bullfighting regulation, which bars anyone under 16 from taking part in traditional popular taurine spectacles as anything other than a spectator, with the organizing authority permitted to raise that minimum further. Pamplona’s Ayuntamiento did exactly that, setting the minimum age to run the adult encierro at 18, which is why it took until the 2010s for any kind of children’s bull run to return to the festival, this time with cardboard and plush stand-ins rather than living animals.
What Else Pamplona Actually Programs for Families
Even setting the two “encierro txiki” events aside, San Fermín is built with far more for children than most outside coverage credits it for, and nearly all of it is free.
The Ayuntamiento runs three dedicated children’s leisure zones, generally open mornings from about 11:30 AM to 2 PM and again in the evening: “¡Menudas Fiestas!” in the Plaza de la Libertad offers bouncy castles, puppet shows, and craft activities; “Birjolastu” in the Parque de la Taconera is built almost entirely from reused and recycled materials, with sensory and creative play stations; and “Kirol Ari,” in the moat of the Parque de la Media Luna, is a multisport zone for children aged 8 to 14 covering basketball, badminton, fencing, traditional rural sports, horseback riding, and kayaking on the Río Arga.
Beyond the two children’s bull runs, Pamplona programs several other bull-themed events built specifically around younger audiences and lower stakes than the real encierro: a running of giant inflatable bulls on the upper stretch of Avenida Carlos III, a nightly “water bull” event near the Hotel Maisonnave from 8 to 9 PM, and a “fire bull,” a wood-and-cardboard figure that showers sparks as braver participants, generally older children and adults, dodge alongside it through the Old Town starting at 9:45 PM.
The comparsa of Gigantes and Cabezudos remains the signature children’s tradition of the entire festival: four pairs of giant kings and queens representing Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, parading daily alongside cabezudos, the mischievous kilikis, and the horse-figure zaldikos, who chase children in play. Custom holds that children hand over their pacifiers to the giants once they’ve outgrown them. Pamplona’s peñas run children’s versions of themselves too, giving families a lower-key way to experience peña culture without the adult nightlife built around it, and the nightly fireworks display over La Ciudadela at 11 PM draws children and adults in roughly equal numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Encierro Txiki?
Encierro Txiki refers to the city-run children’s bull run organized by the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Federación de Peñas de Pamplona, run with cardboard bull figures from the Cuesta de Santo Domingo to the Plaza Consistorial. It is distinct from a separate, privately organized plush-bull event run by the Pamplona brand Kukuxumusu on Calle Mercaderes and Calle Estafeta.
Is the Encierro Txiki safe for children?
The modern Encierro Txiki uses cardboard bull figures carried by peña members, not live animals, and is supervised with the same ceremonial safeguards as the adult run, including designated minders. The original 1979-1987 version did use live calves and was banned by regional taurine regulation in 1987; no version of the children’s encierro has used live cattle since.
What is the difference between the Encierro Txiki and the Kukuxumusu Encierro Infantil?
The Encierro Txiki is the city’s own program event, using cardboard bulls on the Santo Domingo to Plaza Consistorial route. The Kukuxumusu event is a separate, store-organized run using plush bull figures between the company’s two shops on Mercaderes and Estafeta, and its scheduling is not fixed on the city’s printed program the way the city-run version’s is.
What other kid-friendly events happen during San Fermín?
Beyond the two children’s bull runs, families can find free leisure zones (“¡Menudas Fiestas!,” “Birjolastu,” and “Kirol Ari”), the daily Gigantes y Cabezudos parade, children’s peña activities, an inflatable-bull run, a nightly water bull and fire bull, and the nightly fireworks display at La Ciudadela.
Every article on the Encierro blog is authored or reviewed by active bull runners with direct experience in Pamplona.