Showing posts with label Parade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parade. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2015

Run Chicken Run!

3:18 PM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post
I can smell the barbecue pork that’s already smoking on the pit as we meet at the KC Hall, 503 E. Highway 90, in the town of Iowa, Louisiana, around 9 a.m. to pay our $10 fee to ride in the parade. 
Smoked meats like sausage and tasso are popular in Cajun Country.

Everyone is milling around in their Courir de Mardi Gras costumes made of rags and visiting as final preparations are made with the decorations on the trailers.

Cory Cart and Lysa Allman-Baldwin enjoy the festivities atop bales
of hay in the back of a trailer on the parade route!

We are in the small town of Iowa, Louisiana for the Iowa Chicken Run on Mardi Gras Day.  The parade rolls at 10 a.m.
We stop throughout the community with the trucks and trailers, ATVs, and people on horseback and beg for ingredients to make a gumbo.  It’s an ancient tradition of begging where the revelers go from house to house dancing to live Zydeco music for the owners to lend them ingredients for the communal gumbo to be made later that evening.

The parade stops at a member of the community's home while Zydeco music
is played and everyone dances.  If the family approves the dancing skills,
they donate ingredients for the gumbo.
Right as the captain stops the parade at a particular home and blows his whistle, he tosses a chicken in the air and the children in the parade chase the chicken!  There is a lot of whooping, hollering and dancing that takes place during the process! It’s quite an honor to catch the chicken. 

Children chase the chickens in Iowa, La.

Lee Peck with KPLC-TV interviews the child who caught the first chicken.

 It’s a family affair.  Rodney Victorian, Berline and Kimmy Bellard welcome us with open arms.  There’s no pomp and circumstance or sequined costumes. This is a true, Cajun Country Mardi Gras with laughter, festivity and music that gets your adrenaline pumping.

Berline Bellard encourages the cook stirring the gumbo pot.

My favorite part about the Iowa Chicken Run is how it cuts through the lines of age, race and socioeconomics. There is no king or queen.  The chicken run exemplifies true community spirit and living life to the fullest.

 *Note: The chickens are not actually used in the gumbo but the tradition of chasing the chicken is a throwback to the ancient French medieval history of the Courir de Mardi Gras where the highlight of the entire celebration was the last ingredient – the chicken.  

 For more information on the Iowa Chicken Run, click here.


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Location: Iowa, LA, USA
Monday, November 17, 2014

My Cajun Christmas

3:19 PM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post
By Elizabeth Eustis

Southwest Louisiana has planned so many parades, concerts, fireworks, and food events for Christmas this year, it is definitely the place to be to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year. With this abundance of holiday cheer, choosing an event is going to be hard! Attending as many holiday happenings as I can, might become my newest Christmas tradition!

Photo by Lindsey Janies Photography
My mother in law and I kick off our holidays with the Junior League of Lake Charles’ annual Mistletoe and Moss Holiday Market (Nov. 20-22). Those ladies know how to throw a shopping party. I am thinking this year for another shopping treat, we’ll visit Sulphur’s Holiday House (Dec. 5-6), too. Nothing puts me in the Christmas spirit like finding the perfect gifts for my family and friends. And, maybe we’ll even see that “snow” that magically falls at Christmas Under the Oaks (Dec. 5-6).

Photo by MonsoursPhotography.net
Once the presents are wrapped and nestled under the tree; it’s time for a parade! Living in downtown Lake Charles, my family has gone to the Light up the Lake Christmas Celebration (Dec. 6) for years. In fact, we used to decorate and string up dozens of multi-colored Christmas lights around our sailboat and participate in the lighted boat parade. It is such a special and unique parade-if you haven’t been-you need to go! But there are a total of eight parades this year, so I might have to head over to DeQuincy’s “Deck the Halls” (Dec. 5) or Vinton’s “Cajun Christmas” (Dec. 12) to see how they welcome Santa to town.

Speaking of Santa, one of my favorite memories growing up is sitting on Santa’s lap and listing all of the toys and sometimes animals (you know you asked for a pony too!) that I wanted for Christmas. I’ll be making my way over to Westlake for Breakfast with Santa (Dec. 13) to see if Santa can bring me that Kate Spade bag I saw the other day at Stiletto. I hope he can! If not then at least I got some hot pancakes.
There are just so many wonderful activities going on this season, including some beautiful performances like The Nutcracker (Dec. 11-14) and The Little Drummer Boy (Dec. 13); so there is no reason to sit at home. Also, stop by the Convention & Visitors Bureau, 1205 N. Lakeshore Drive, to view the entries for the annual Gingerbread House contest (Dec. 6-30). Be sure to vote for your favorite creation!

Plan your Christmas fun by visiting www.visitlakecharles.org/cajunchristmas for a complete listing of holiday events throughout Southwest Louisiana.

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Location: Lake Charles, LA, USA
Monday, December 17, 2012

My First Mardi Gras

1:45 PM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post

As an individual who grow up in the cornfields of Northern Indiana, nothing could prepare me for the excitement that is Mardi Gras! Sure, we had our county festival that was plenty exciting with rides, entertainment, food and, my personal favorite, the pig races, but the fair never lasted long enough and the parade was generic and lacking.
This brings me to my first Mardi Gras experience that hopefully you can learn from. I was 21 and lured down to Lake Charles by my future wife. I decided that Mardi Gras season would be the perfect time to leave the mundane behind, and I was right!
During my trip I was treated to the legendary southern hospitality, to the point that people I had just met invited me to my very first crawfish boil! I had never eaten crawfish before and my first impression of everyone going crazy about these little mud bugs was that they were nuts. After my first heaping tray full of the little critters, I could see why everyone was crazy… They were delicious!
As the trip progressed I was able to explore the Mardi Gras Museum which is home to the largest collection of Mardi Gras costumes in the world. It was amazing to see all of these very unique and over-the-top costumes that the Mardi Gras Kings and Queens wear at their balls and parades.
After a while I was introduced to my very first King Cake. For those of us not raised in the Mardi Gras culture, it is a delicious cake that comes in a variety of flavors (my favorite is cream cheese and strawberry) traditional served around the Mardi Gras season. My first bite in the cake offered quite a surprise, a tiny plastic baby! Apparently, there is a plastic baby hidden in the King Cake’s that when found offer the finder certain privileges and obligations, such as buying the next King Cake! What a way to welcome a visitor, shove a toy in his food, don’t tell him about it, and then have him buy the next cake! It was a great bonding experience, but be warned, Baby in Cake!
After the cake fiasco, I was finally lead to my very first Mardi Gras parade, the Krewe of Krewes Parade. This happened to be one of the largest parades in Southwest Louisiana. Starting right before dark the excitement was alive with people who had been camping out all day. I quickly learned this was not your typical parade with marching bands, the crazy little guys who fly around on go carts, and beauty queens. Instead, I witnessed these crazy, raised floats pumping out music and a shower of beads, cups, and plastic coins raining down upon my head! People were excited, waving their hands in the air and yelling “Throw me something mister!” It took a little bit for me bust out of my shell, but I quickly found myself having the time of my life.
So, if you’re looking for something different and exciting that you will remember for a lifetime, try visiting Mardi Gras in Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana!

For more info go to http://www.visitlakecharles.org/mardi-gras/



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