Feature
August
26
Shrimp and Petroleum Festival Celebrating 75th Anniversary
Provided by Lee Delaune
Louisiana’s oldest chartered harvest festival is scheduled to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee, 75 years of tradition and family fun, this upcoming Labor Day weekend.
The Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival will be held September 2 - 6, 2010 in Morgan City, only 90 miles from New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Most festivities are held within the beautiful Downtown Historic District and are free to the general public. Great food, continuous free live music, traditional events and children’s activities will highlight this five-day extravaganza.
Thursday, September 2, will be a salute to Morgan City’s Sesquicentennial, the city’s 150th year of incorporation, with a ribbon cutting at Second Street under the US Highway 90 Bridge. Sheauxdown will provide live entertainment from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the music stage in Lawrence Park. Food vendors will be available in the park through out the performance and continue for the duration of the festival. Mitchell Brothers Carnival rides and games will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday evening and will continue through Monday.
Indulge your taste buds and satisfy your appetite at the 22nd annual Cajun Culinary Classic, a showcase of local “home style” cooking featuring delicious Cajun and Creole dishes, as well as a variety of desserts and other cuisines. Local non-profit groups and civic organizations will benefit from the proceeds.
The traditional arts and crafts show and sale will also open on under the US Highway 90 Bridge. The event features over 100 artists and crafters from south Louisiana with unique merchandise and artistic masterpieces.
More information:
The Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum
Festival will be held September 2 - 6, 2010.
The Cajun Culinary Classic is open 5 p.m. to
11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday & Sunday,
and noon to 9 p.m. Monday.
Arts and crafts show and sale Friday, September 3
at 5 p.m.
Children’s Day activities begin Saturday, September
4 at 9 a.m.
The Coronation Court and Pageant will be held
Saturday, August 28, at 7:30 p.m. at the
Municipal Auditorium.
Mass in the Park begins at 8:30 a.m.
Sunday, September 5. It will be celebrated
under the oaks in Lawrence Park.
The Historic Blessing of the Fleet will begin
at 10 a.m. Sunday, September 5.
Fireworks on the River will begin at
9 p.m. Sunday evening.
Children’s Day activities will begin with children’s field and game events. Children of all ages can participate in sack races, three legged races and more. Professional storytellers will entertain kids as well as their parents with wonderful stories after the field and games events. The Children’s Day Mini Street Parade will begin at 11 a.m. Decorated bicycles, wagons, strollers and four wheelers are welcome to participate. The Children’s Day King and Queen will officially open the J. Ray McDermott/Teche Regional Medical Center Children’s Village with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. The McDermott/Teche Regional Medical Center Children’s Village is a magical play land featuring games, prizes, face-painting and more.
Downtown comes alive with continuous free live music performed at the Heritage Music Stage. This year’s theme is “Our Hometown Heritage,” the festival will feature bright, upcoming artists from the area, as well as hometown legends.
Traditional activities include the Coronation Court and Pageant, Mass in the Park, the Blessing of the Fleet and Fireworks on the River.
The Historic Blessing of the Fleet will be followed by the water parade, which features decorated shrimp boats, pleasure craft, offshore supply boats and some of the biggest “muscle” boats of the offshore industry including supply boats, crew boats and tugboats.
The festival began in 1936 when the placid port of Morgan City and Berwick received the first boatload of jumbo shrimp, fresh from the deepest Gulf waters. The festival became the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival in 1967, when the oil industry was firmly implanted into the local economy.
The festival has grown to become one of the state’s premiere festivals. It was voted 2009, 2007, 2006 Festival of the Year in Division III and the best festival in 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1998 by the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals, a top 100 American Bus Association event and a top 20 Southeast Tourism Society event. In July of 1991 “Time” magazine described the festival as “...The best, the most unusual, the most down-home, the most moving and the most fun that the country has to offer.”
Festival organizers invite you to bring your family to Morgan City for Labor Day weekend to enjoy 75 years of tradition and family fun. For more information, contact the festival office at (985) 385-0703 or visit the festival’s Web site for a full schedule at www.shrimp-petrofest.org.
