About NannerFest - A History Made of Bananas
First Off, What is a Nanner?
“Nanner” my dear friend, is slang for Banana.
Bullies and Bananas:
A Bullie and His Banana. Most Bullies go bananas for their treats, and come to find out one of their favorite treats just happens to be bananas. Who would have guessed that these two would go together? Furthermore, we never anticipated that Bullies and Bananas would become so iconic in our community. It’s hands down, pretty awesome!
The Birth of Nannerfest Bullmania
Nannerfest got its start back in early 2015 on Instagram. Most of us were a part of the same virtual tribe. Tribe refers to a community of people who share common interests, ours being the immense love for our dogs, mainly the Bullie Breed, and more specifically, English Bull Terriers. However, our tribe has grown exponentially to include any breed of dog who loves Bananas.
We started to notice a common theme amongst our Bullies; they loved Bananas and boy did we have fun taking pictures of them eating their Nanners. We started noticing more and more of our tribe posting pictures of their dogs feasting on Nanners. Was this just coincidence? I think not. It was the inception of something amazing, that would make a difference, and band us together. This was our push.
One thing led to another. Inspiration and creative ideas paid a visit to one of our tribe members – Summer Carstens (aka @MrBrownBT on Instagram), and she ran with it. This ultimately led to the creation of Nannerfest. With the suggestions and feedback of some buddies we were able to bounce ideas off one another and ultimately come up with a fundraiser to help rescue dogs with our fun Banana Theme.
Check out the Nannerfest Story written by one of our awesome tribe members, Patti M (aka @Sniblets1 on Instagram) HERE.
YEAR ONE (2015) 
Summer, the creative mastermind of our group, designed the Nannerfest Logo, set up a storefront to sell the shirts and banana themed bandanas, and a photo contest was held to raise awareness for Rescue Dogs. It was the first year of Nannerfest so we tried stay realistic with our expectations. We didn’t think we would get a huge showing. We anticipated that we’d get a good number of our tribe participating in the Nannerfest Photo Contest, but we were blown away by the actual number of people who participated in the photo contest and who donated to the cause. I guess it goes to show you that realism doesn’t have a place when you’re on a mission from dog…ha! 
Through Nannerfest 2015, we were able to donate several hundred dollars to the Bull Terrier Rescue, Inc. and the Recycla-Bull Terrier Rescue Organization. We were able to raise awareness for Rescue Dogs.
YEAR TWO (2016) 
In 2016, Summer created our designs and Kellie was all set up as home based business screen printer and was able to give her go at screen printing our NannerFest 2016 swag. I can truly say, my (Kelie here) love of bull terriers and this community got me in to screen printing!
We were able to donate a total of $1,050.00 between the RECYLA BULL TERRIER RESCUE ORGANIZATION, THE BULL TERRIER RESCUE ORGANIZATION, THE NATIONAL MILL DOG RESCUE, AND TO THE BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY.
YEAR THREE (2017): 
In 2017, @Bubull created the design for NannerFest 2017. We donated a total of $1,756.60 between the Bull Terrier Rescue Organization, Inc., Don't Bully My Breed, Second Chance Rescue, and to help Bull Terriers like Kobe who had emergency medical needs.
YEAR FOUR (2018) 
In 2018, Kellie came up with the design at like 3:30AM in a dream hahaha! We donated a total of $1,781.00 between the Bull Terrier Rescue Organization, Inc.; Operation Delta Dog, Inc.; Pet Aid Columbia; and the NannerFest Fund. In 2018, we started the Nannerfest Fund and have been able to help a lot of dogs out. There are always animal rescue situations that come up that we would like to help contribute to and we have decided to start doing that this year. Sometimes a family has trouble paying for an emergency operation for their animal or there is an animal in dire need of temporary housing until a foster can be found. We have decided as an organization to dedicate 25% of the funds we raise this year to helping where we can for those in need. As always, we will be completely transparent with all of you with where these funds will be directed. Our goal is to eventually become a non-profit and this is one step closer to that goal.
YEAR FIVE (2019)
In 2019, we were honored to have Patrick and Sara O'Connell with Bully Doodles work with us and create this design. The NannerFest 2019 logo was based on the Chinese 2019 Year of the Pig...because Bull Terriers are often called Pig Dogs, Piggies, etc. Pat even designed the bull terrier to look like our sweet Angel, Dexter! And below is a screenshot of the funds we were able to raise in 2019. 
YEAR SIX (2020) 
2020 was a year that all of our worlds seemed turned upside down. We banded together and kept on truckin' though with NannerFest, but this time in the form of NannerWeen! We thought it would be fun to do NannerFest around Halloween time vs our usual July timeframe; plus it awarded all of us a little more time to adjust to what 2020 was throwing at us. Summer came up with the designs for NannerWeen and this time we did a chest logo (humorously "jabbing" a certain unwelcome icon of 2020) and a back logo. We donated to Live Like Roo, Bull Terrier Rescue Australia , Texas Gulf Coast Bull Terrier Rescue, and the NannerFest Fund.
YEAR SEVEN (2021)
It's 2021 and our community has been hit hard with so many losses of not only our beloved animal companies, but more losses than we know how to handle it seems. My (Kellie) absolute best friend, Homer passed on March 19, 2021 from cancer. Summer & Pattie helped me through it and let me dive into this design, which in its own way helped me heal. I had been working on the back logo design since April and although it changed over the months, the concept of our bullies watching over us, loving us, and living on in our community remained in the design. Homer did everything with me. He was my shop-dog, my best friend and we LOVED watching movies & eating popcorn together. I wanted to pay a little homage to him & create a Sci-Fi-esque movie poster design since our favorite movies were the Star Wars movies. Summer designed the chest logo (Bully in the Moon!), and we incorporated Pattie's beautiful slogan "Spreading Love Around the World One Bully at a Time". It was such a beautiful group effort and I'm so grateful for these ladies and our community. Thank YOU for helping me get through the hardest year of my life.
2021 we raised money for the following non-profit rescues and organizations:
Bull Terrier Club Rescue of America
World Animal Protection Organization
Bull Terrier Rescue, Inc.
NannerFest Fund
Year Eight (2023)
For 2023 we wanted to involve y'all! We did a survey and got y'all to help us pick our theme, products, and non-profit organizations to donate to. The consensus was: going retro! Summer designed our NannerFest Retro Beach theme and added in a few of our angel-friends. And here are the following non-profits we're donating to:
Bull Terrier Rescue of Central Florida
Vancouver Eco Village Therapy Dog Program
One Banana at a Time
We are all so different. That is what makes our world beautiful. One thing that brings us together is bananas, a fun treat that many bull terriers, bullies, and other dogs love. We want to help other dogs find happy homes where they can eat their bananas too. Let’s do some good and be a part of something meaningful through raising awareness and donating to rescue animals. Let’s build some connections and have a sublime and memorable experience.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Nannerfest each year - it means the world to us and to all the animals who have received aid these past few years
Our Bullies are Bananas, but we are Bananas for all dogs! I believe Gwen Stefani said it best…“This S#!t is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S”, and yes, the number of dogs in rescue and adoption shelters is B-A-N-A-N-A-S! We can’t save the world, but we can save those that mean the world to us. Let’s make a difference, one Banana at a Time.