When lingerie clad women run through the streets with baseball bats, or as jogging men crossdress in red gowns, the New Orleans visitor might look for some safe haven to take it all in until he or she manages to adjust a bit.
The coming weeks will bring two entirely unique annual events to the streets of New Orleans, and Hotel Mazarin offers a perfect, soothing oasis from the insanity they’ll bring. Nuzzled in between the chaos of Bourbon Street and the smooth sophisticated style of Royal Street along Bienville in the heart of the French Quarter, Hotel Mazarin is a classic boutique hotel with all of the essential New Orleans flairs.
There’s the classical, European lobby with the strong scent of magnolias leading to the tree canopied central courtyard. There are the simple, but comfortable guest rooms with the classic French Quarter shutters on the window. There’s the mandatory Southern charm and friendliness of the desk staff. There’s the interconnected 21st Amendment Bar on the hotel’s backend, serving up prime mixology for an additional taste of the Big Easy experience.
Hotel Mazarin offers comfort from the thick heat of a New Orleans summer in its lush, green confines — and sane shelter from the craziness that grips the city during its Running of the Bulls and the Red Dress Run.
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You can forget images of goring in Pamplona for the Crescent City’s version of charging bulls. Benefiting two local charities during the week of July 9, the New Orleans Running of the Bulls features lovely, horned (perhaps horny) ladies in scarlet and black running through the streets of the Big Easy armed with plastic baseball bats. Any man who fails to escape their charging wrath receives a hollow bonk on the backside from the beasts in stockings.
The Red Dress Run is fairly obvious to unpack. Every year the Hash House Harriers drinking club hosts a charity run through the French Quarter and into downtown New Orleans. Any adult can enter, as long she or he dons the prerequisite red dress. Hundreds of organization benefit from the event, and it’ll come off August 8 at 12:30 p.m.
Thousands of locals will line the streets that afternoon, rooting the potentially intoxicated runners along and kicking in some cash donations to the thousands raised for worthwhile causes.
This year, the minds behind Hotel Mazarin and the New Orleans Hotel Collection are offering a Red Dress Sweepstakes. The winner receives two registrations for this summer’s Red Dress Run and a two night stay at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel (August 7 and 8). They’ll even throw in two welcome beverages at the hotel’s Bourbon O Bar. You’d need to get yourself down to Louisiana for the event if you’re an out of towner, but it’s a chance to see the kind of scene you can only see in New Orleans.
