“We have not suffered any pressure from the anti-bullfighting or anti-speciesist movement. What makes us temporarily suspend the organization of our annual bullfight is the need to rethink our economic model,” says Michel Dufranc, mayor of La Brède and former president of the Union of French bullfighting towns. Still, the absence of this event in 2025 will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression.
Organized since 1997 at the end of June (with just a break in 1998), the Fêtes de la Rosière bullfight was identified as the bullfighting event located furthest north in France since the end of the Floirac bullfight in 2006, and after those of Caudéran and Bouscat until the 1960s. It was also the only event of its kind that remained in Gironde with the novillada of Captious.
In 26 editions, La Brède has welcomed an average of 1600/1800 spectators each year, but it has been penalized by the fallout from Covid. “With the cancellation of public events during the health crisis, breeders preferred to send their cows to the slaughterhouse rather than keep them without knowing when activity would resume,” explains Michel Campistrau, president of the Peña taurine des Graves , organizer of the bullfight. Four years later there is a shortage of fighting bulls, which are exactly this age. Next year we will have passed this difficult milestone, but in the meantime the lots cost at least 5,000 euros more. » “And they are generally reserved for big bullfighting places like Béziers or Nîmes,” adds Michel Dufranc.
Cut unnecessary expenses
Which puts this increase in costs in parallel with the budgetary difficulties experienced by all local authorities: “The overall operating allocation paid by the State will fall, energy costs more and the payroll increases. This is undoubtedly justified, but it leads us to cut unnecessary expenses. »
-With a budget of around a hundred thousand euros (out of around 250,000 euros of municipal budget dedicated to festivals and events), bullfighting weighs heavily in this search for balance. “But this will not be the only event impacted. There will also be fewer concerts and, while we used to organize four or five parties per year, we will increase to three. »
At the same time, Michel Dufranc is already thinking about the future. He intends to develop patronage and sponsorship, “by entrusting this issue to young people”, and to find “a formula which allows us to lower the price of the removable arena”. The one used until now, 3,000 square meters for 2,200 places, was rented for 15,000 euros to a Spanish company.
“Our attachment to bullfighting culture remains intact, guarantees the mayor in any case. La Brède is located in a population area in which Spanish bullfights have been organized since the 19th century and where bullfighting has been recorded since the 17th century, at least. »
