2005 Red Dress Run

This is BourboJeff. I’m at One-Eyed Jacks on Tolouse for the New Orleans Hash House Harriers 2005 Red Dress Run. With me is Steven Erwin, fearless lunatic and certified leader of the Hashers… or is that the other way around?

This is a thing [the hashers] have done every year, and they have been known for their crazy and wild events. Just how did the Red Dress Run come about?

In New Orleans [the hash] started out with eight or twelve of us, but the Red Dress Runs started in San Francisco. The hashers there did it, and they still have the largest one… about twelve-hundred people but you can go to the biggest or come to the best and that’s in New Orleans.

Is this the only event where you break out the red dresses?

Absolutely! We put on red dresses one time, about two weeks, to promote the event, but this is it. It’s got to be about the red dress, and it has to be in August.

This event always draws hashers from around the country and a few walk-ups who hear about the event through sources like nola.com and word of mouth. How many participants do you expect today?

Well the largest crowd is 300 but today I think it was more publicized so we may have a pretty big crowd… I can’t guess yet because the numbers aren’t available.

We’ll have to get those numbers later. Now it’s coming up on noon, and I’m in a freaking red sequined prom dress…

And no, it doesn’t make your butt look big… [laughs]

Well I was worried about that, but why August?

Well because it’s hot and there’s nothing else going on, so why not?

Separate the turkeys out, right?

Yeah yeah, you know there’s no tourists here, the restaurants are slow, the hotels are slow, and the hash is related to that.

The heat and beer causes some to get a little crazy. What’s the dumbest thing you witnessed someone do at the Red Dress Run?

The dumbest thing I’ve ever seen somebody at a red dress run was you putting that red dress on.

[laughs] Yeah, I’m going to have some chafing on my underarms after this…

The sequins, you know, you need some Vaseline on those sequins.

Thanks for the tip. thank you, Steven. More information about the Hash can be found on their website: www.neworleanshash.com

Links to photo galleries of the event:

• Coverage by nola.com
• Gallery from the Bleach Eating Freaks