Minnesota Bar’s “Smack Fest” Turns Ugly After Women Start Brawling

Arnellia's Bar in St. Paul, Minnesota had to end a contest where people took turns slapping each other after one participant got assaulted by half a dozen people.

A 25-year-old woman reported to police that she had taken part of the "smack fest" at the bar. She described it as “a competition in which willing contestants take turns slapping each other in the faces.”

She had competed against another woman in the contest, a woman she did not know personally. After the contest the two spoke but were not upset about the outcome. But when the woman left the bar later that evening, her opponent was waiting for her in a "fighting stance."

The opponent and six or so other people surrounded the woman, punched her in the nose and then stomped her face. The victim was then driven to a hospital with significant bruising on both sides of her face.

Promoters for the slapping contest say that the event outside of the bar was unrelated to the competition. “I just think that once people get outside after having some liquor, fights sometimes break out and that’s just any bar — it doesn’t mean anything happened inside.”

Here's some footage from a past smack fest:

Read more at Twin Cities Pioneer Press.