The bulls are coming.

A sea of people dressed in red and white clutch newspapers like weapons. Terror is evident on many of their faces. They begin to run, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the bulls, in fear of being trampled.

Then, almost as quickly as they came, the bulls are gone.

This was the event eight members of the Peña de Los Gatos witnessed last month in Pamplona, Spain.

The Peña de Los Gatos

Kelly and Jonathan Knowles of Los Gatos are collectors of 20th century literature. One of their favorite things to do is to search out places of literary history, such as a spot in England where Dickens wrote one of his novels, or the Boston site of a favorite moment in a Ralph Waldo Emerson tale. When they read Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises, in which half of the action takes place during the Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamplona, the Knowleses just knew they had to go.

Fiesta de San Fermin is an eight-day celebration of the bishop San Fermin, the son of the local head man back when Pamplona was part of the Roman Empire, circa third century. It begins on the seventh day of the seventh month--July 7.

The fiesta is so beloved, there are several peñas--or social clubs--devoted to coming together and celebrating it. Jonathan Knowles says there are a dozen or so based in Pamplona, with around 100 members each, as well as a number of foreign peñas--including one in Los Gatos.

"My wife Kelly had the idea a few years ago. She said, 'We should start our own Peña,' " he says.

Now the Peña de Los Gatos has eight local members and 30 in Pamplona. This year was their first trip to the fiesta, donning T-shirts and bracelets bearing their logo.

When they arrived in Pamplona, they were greeted by a large group of people who were very excited about their Peña. Their official garb also attracted attention around the city.

"It caused quite a buzz--'Who is the Peña de Los Gatos?' " Jonathan Knowles remembers.

The celebration

Fiesta de San Fermin kicks off with a huge celebration in the Town Hall Square in the wee hours. Bull runners are already gathering at the starting line, singing a homily to San Fermin for protection. Then, the clock chimes precisely at 8 a.m. and the encierro--the running of the bulls--begins.

The run is approximately half a mile, from the bottom of Santa Domingo, through a few short areas, to the bullring at the finish. Once the bulls and runners reach the ring, there is an "amateur hour," when those who want a moment as a matador can "fight" the bulls.

Although a few get injured each year, gored by a bull during the run, Knowles was told there hasn't been a death in more than 10 years. Nick Baggerly, Brian Burt and Doug Pape of the Peña de Los Gatos bravely ran this year, and are happy they lived to tell the tale.

"It was the most incredible, thrilling, rushing experience I have ever participated in. Just running down the alley with hundreds-of-pound bulls running after you is just incredible," Burt said moments after his run. "I saw two guys that went by me that just got completely crushed by two bulls--maybe a foot away from me--while I was running down the alley. Then we ran into the stadium, and I actually got to touch a bull. I had to hop over the wall a few times and scraped up my hands a little bit, but other than that I feel lucky to have made it out of there alive."

"These people need to take a charm school lesson in grace under fire, because I got elbowed so many times while I was trying to run," Beggarly said. "It was absolutely frightening. The guy in front of me was shaking, he was so scared."

The encierro takes place on each of the eight days of the festival.

All in all, the Knowleses say the run lasts only about three to five minutes--there are many more fun activities to take part in.

"The fiesta is about so much more than the bulls," Kelly Knowles says.

"People who go just for the bull run really miss out on everything," her husband says.

Traditionally, everyone goes for "churros and chocolate" after the bull events. Then, beginning at 10 a.m., the Parade de Gigantes begins. Marchers with large, papier-mâché heads, representing all seven continents of the world, make their way through the city. At night there is the "bull of fire," or a wooden bull with fireworks attached to it that is carried through the square. Children like to pretend they are running from the bull. This is followed by a spectacular fireworks display.

"We thought we knew good fireworks here," Jonathan Knowles says. "Take all the very best fireworks displays here in the U.S. and it is nothing compared to the fireworks in Pamplona during Fiesta."

This, joined by many other smaller celebrations, makes up the Fiesta de San Fermin--and the members of Peña de Los Gatos say they couldn't have felt more welcome.

"It's so unifying, so beautiful," Peña member Stephanie Hudson says. "You really feel like you're part of something."

"That connection--that is our motive for all this," Jonathan Knowles says. "Americans need to connect with other people from around the world."

Peña de Los Gatos is proud to say that it is the first group to offer a Podcast from the fiesta. Its broadcast--which can be downloaded as an MP3 from the pena's website--has been accessed by more than 800 people from around the world. It has received a flood of emails from fiesta enthusiasts, thanking the group for helping them feel like they were right there in the action.

The members hope others will join them, and Jonathan Knowles says the Peña de Los Gatos--the only group of its kind that they know of in California--is the easiest club in the world to join.

"Anyone is welcome. They don't have to be from Los Gatos either," he says. "There are no fees, no dues, no application."

Visit www.penadelosgatos.com.