FOCUS FEATURE
Natchitoches … The Getaway That’s Not Far Away

By Latisha McDaniel

The month of July in Natchitoches will not only be hot, but the town will be bustling with festivals and baseball tournaments. In addition to great events, the downtown historic business district is hosting an on-going promotion through December with a monthly $300 shopping spree giveaway. Visit any of the downtown merchants for details.

The William R. Atteridge Civil War/Naval Ship Museum recently opened in the historic district. Located at 200 rue Jefferson, across from Ft. St. Jean Baptiste, the museum has the most extensive collections of handcrafted replicas of Civil War ships in the World. The museum is open Thursday through Monday. For information call (318) 652-0236.

Join us for the 29th annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival being held in the air-conditioned comfort of Prather Coliseum on Friday & Saturday, July 18th & 19th. The Festival boasts folk musicians, artists, demonstrations, food,and the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship. This year’s theme is “Ties to the Isles: British and Irish Traditions in Louisiana.”

Music lovers will enjoy a mixture of Cajun, rhythm & blues, ballads, bluegrass, gospel and Zydeco. In addition, festival visitors will enjoy Irish and Scottish music in keeping with this year’s theme. Traditional craftspeople will demonstrate their work and sell items. Many of these artists carry on traditions that are remnants of rag dolls like those make in Ireland in the late 1800s. Other crafts include baskets, woodworking, weaving and quilting. Narrative sessions will focus on Scottish culture, Irish culture, genealogy, Scots-Irish settlers, north Louisiana food and music. Visit their website at www.nsula.edu/folklife for complete schedule.

Natchitoches will be a host town for the USSSA World Series, 9-year olds, the week of July 13th through 19th. The tournament is sponsored in part by the Natchitoches Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (NACVB) and the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission. Teams will be playing throughout the week and the public is invited to come out to watch the baseball action!

The Old Courthouse Museum, a Branch of the Louisiana System, presents an LSU Sports exhibit to Natchitoches. “Game Faces: LSU Sports” includes LSU trophies, cups and titles. Also available, will be letter sweaters, track shoes, helmets and jerseys won by LSU athletes, some dating back to the 1930s. The BCS Trophy will be on display during the month of August. The exhibit will run through August 23rd. The Museum is located at 600 Second Street and open Monday through Saturday. Call (318) 357-2270 for additional information.

Cane River Green Market continues every Saturday through July 26th from 9:00am – 1:00pm on the downtown riverbank in Natchitoches. Natchitoches' only local farmer's market offers a bounty of fresh vegetables, fruits, breads, fresh roasted coffee, jams and jellies, plants, handmade crafts, live entertainment and more. For more information call (318) 238-7500.

Cane River National Heritage Area Trail includes homes open daily along the Cane River Road including Melrose Plantation and the newest National Park located at Oakland Plantation and the complex located at Magnolia Plantation referred to as the Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

Natchitoches is the “Getaway That Is Not Far Away” and is a great destination this summer for your entire family.

The 2008 Natchitoches Official Visitor Guide is now available from the Convention & Visitors Bureau. The new guide includes enhanced listings for bed and breakfasts, hotels, restaurants, and shopping, as well as tips for visiting attractions in the Natchitoches area. The 48-page full-color guide also includes listings for area spas, libraries and information on retiring in Natchitoches.

To request the 2008 Natchitoches Visitor Guide, please contact the Natchitoches Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) 259-1714 or visit Natchitoches Online at www.natchitoches.net.

Aviation
Gone West

By Ben H. Rushing, Jr.

The Natchitoches airport community began a new tradition in March by hosting the first “Fifth Saturday Jambalaya and Meat Pie Fly-in at the Natchitoches Airport.” Locally, it is called the “Fly-in.” Successful fly-ins require commitment, time, planning, money, hope and a fair amount of luck. In March, there was an abundance of commitment, hope, planning and enough time and money. Adverse flying weather on March 29th kept out of town visitors away. We chalked things up to a mixture of luck, good and bad–good that we had a chance for a practice run, bad that we did not have a huge crowd.

We were ready for the next fifth Saturday, May 31st. As before, I was cooking jambalaya and my new found friend and next-door hangar neighbor, Sam Brunson, was cooking meat pies. My wife, Cathy was helping me. Sam’s wife, Karen, was working, so Sam was stirring the pot on his own. The weather was outstanding as Sam, Cathy and I swapped tales while tending to our cooking chores. We listened for aircraft traffic on Sam’s handheld. By eating time, nearly thirty airplanes bringing hungry pilots and passengers from across the state had arrived. Counting the locals who came out, there was a big crowd. Eating was interrupted only by laughter, conversation, stories and plenty of bench flying. I sat with a father of two elementary age sons who drove in because one of the boys loved airplanes. With dad’s blessing, I took the young boy out on the ramp so he could look at and sit in my airplane. He asked lots of good questions and enjoyed the chance to sit in a real airplane. I hope he found some dreams.

The eating wound down, the tales were suspended and pilots and passengers left for their return home. We did the clean up and unanimously voted this second fly-in a resounding success. The next “Fifth Saturday” Natchitoches fly-in is scheduled for August 30th. Even as we look forward to the good times, there will be a sense of sadness and sense of loss present that day. On Monday, June 2nd, we lost Sam. He and a high-time, experienced flight instructor died in a crash near Houston. Details of the accident are sketchy. We are certain, however, that we lost two good people that day.

A pilot friend of mine told me, “If you stay around aviation long enough, you will lose someone you know.” Losing Sam, a new-found friend, hit me hard. He was someone fun to be around. He was passionate about aviation, but his interests and impact on others went far beyond the airfield. After he died, I discovered that he was a retired firefighter, a musician, a biker and a friend to everyone he met. I am sad that we didn’t have more time; I am thankful for the time we had.

In 1992, twenty-one years after I completed my Master’s Degree, I returned to graduate school. On one glorious summer morning as I walked across the campus in Hattiesburg, I thought about my life to that point. I recalled dreams I had and hopes of things to experience someday. As I went through the list, I discovered that most of my dreams had come true. My bucket list had very few items. The thought hit me to the core, “If I were to die today, right now, I would leave knowing that I had been blessed beyond measure and that life had been great.” I believe that Sam would understand what I felt.

Mark Twain said, “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” Henry David Thoreau said, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." There is no doubt that Sam lived life fully.

In the world of aviation, pilots rarely talk about other pilots dying. They simply say that they have gone west. Sam has gone west. We, who remain, hope and trust he finds fair winds and blue skies and that big grin he so readily shared continues to beam down on us. May it be so.

The 29th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival

The 29th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival will be held July 18th – 19th in Prather Coliseum on the Northwestern State University campus in Natchitoches. The Festival will be held from 1:00pm until 11:00pm on Friday, July 18th and from 9:00am until 11:00pm on Saturday, July 19th. Tickets are $11 for a weekend pass purchased in advance, $8 for an all-day pass, $5 for the evening only and $ 3 for children 7-12. Children six and under admitted free.

The 2008 Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival is supported by grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, the Natchitoches Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council & Louisiana Division of the Arts and Northwestern State University

This year’s theme for the Festival is ‘Ties to the Isles: British and Irish Traditions in Louisiana.’ “This theme will help to highlight the fact that Louisiana is more than just Cajun French and New Orleans culture,” says Sheila Richmond, director of the Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival. “Much of Louisiana was settled by people from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and these settlers brought with them their traditions, music, crafts, and foodways, leaving a lasting imprint on the state, especially in the northern and Florida parishes. These traditions are part of what makes Louisiana truly unique.”

For the fifth year, the Folk Festival will host the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship on Saturday, July 19th, from. 9:00am to 1:00pm on Prather Coliseum’s Main Stage. Fiddlers from around the state will compete for cash prizes and ribbons in two categories – Trophy Division and Championship Division. Fiddlers can enter in either division, but not both. The Trophy Division is not competitive for the state championship and is open for the following age groups: 12 and under, 13-18, and 60 and above.

The top two fiddlers from each group in the Championship Division – ages 0-21, 22-59, and 60 and above -- will compete for cash prizes and the opportunity to be recognized as the state’s best fiddler. The winner will perform that evening at 6:00pm on the Festival’s main stage in Prather Coliseum.

For music lovers, this year’s festival will include Cajun, rhythm & blues, ballads, bluegrass, gospel and zydeco along with Celtic, Scottish and folk music in keeping with this year’s theme. Friday night’s headliners are Smithfield Fair and Don Fontenot and Les Amis de la Louisiane. On Saturday night, the headliners will include Chris Miller & Bayou Roots and the Rivers Revue.

Also scheduled to perform during the Festival on Friday are Becky Birdwell & Roadhouse, Shift, David Sylvester, Jr., Steve Wells, the Back Porch Band, Scotty Pousson & Pointe Aux Loups Playboys and Beaux Fisher. Saturday performers include Red River Pipes & Drums, Muggavian School of Irish Dance, Knight Train, Mauva Belle and Hot Water, The Conlys, Danny O’ Flaherty, Curry Perkins, Louisiana Purchase, the Detention Center Choir, Kim Brasso and Louisiana Boogie and Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys.

Festival visitors are always interested in the crafts area where traditional craftspeople demonstrate their work and sell items. Many of these artists use natural resources such as vines, river cane, white oak, and moss in creating the crafts that are part of their culture. More than 30 craftspeople are expected to attend.

Narrative sessions will focus on Scottish culture and genealogy, agriculture, culture, weaving wool, Scots-Irish settlers, Irish culture and storytelling, north Louisiana food and music and more.

For more information on the Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival, call (318) 357-4332 or visit the Festival website at www.nsula.edu/folklife.

Pineville Family Honored by Special Olympics Louisiana

The family of Mike and Phyllis Mitchell has been selected from nominees throughout the state to receive the “Otto P. Estes Memorial Family Award” from Special Olympics Louisiana (SOLA). This award is presented to families who have shown outstanding support for their intellectually disabled child and the programs of SOLA, setting an example for families everywhere. The official presentation of the award took place at the annual “Sports Awards Banquet” on Saturday, June 28th in Baton Rouge.

Phyllis and her husband Mike, and children, Tonya and Mark Gambordella, have formed an impressive family unit to support Tara Bounds, their child and sibling. Mrs. Mitchell said that when Tara was born with Down’s syndrome and a congenital heart defect, “I wanted her to be able to perform and do things like her peers without disabilities.” When Tara was still an infant, Phyllis went to the very first World Games Special Olympics held in Baton Rouge and was astonished when she saw the athletes competing. “At that point, I knew that I wanted her to have the opportunity to be part of the Special Olympics family and be able to grow in confidence and self-esteem,” said Phyllis. In her 17-year involvement, Phyllis became certified as a coach for her daughter and eventually began coaching other Special Olympics athletes.

When asked what has been her most impressive experience with Special Olympics, Phyllis responded, “There have been so many things, from watching Tara in first competition and seeing how proud she was of her 4th Place ribbon to accompanying her to Shanghai, China last October to compete in the World Summer Games. I got to watch my daughter compete with athletes from all over the world and bring home a gold and a bronze medal. That had to be one of most memorable moments of my life.”

Phyllis went on to say that she encourages others to participate in Special Olympics programs so that they can see what the athletes do and most of all, what they can achieve. “Not only do the athletes benefit, but the coaches, the volunteers and the parents all benefit from the Special Olympics Programs. I would encourage anyone looking for more meaning in their lives to become involved.”

For more information on the programs of Special Olympics, or to learn more about volunteer opportunities, call (800) 345-6644 or visit the website at www.laso.org.

August in Avoyelles

By Marie Lemoine

August is the peak of summer, but the hot, dry weather and weary, dusty trees and lawns bring out the blahs in many of us. Don’t let that happen to you! Buckle up your courage and your seatbelt, and come to Avoyelles to enjoy some cool treats. Avoyelles has many museums that are cheerfully air conditioned for your comfort as you soak up the great variety of educational, historical and just plain old fun they offer. So pack up the kids and enjoy the ‘joy de vivre’ of some great Avoyelles museums.

The 42-acre Marksville State Historic Site, home to the Marksville Pre-Historic Indian Museum, is located on a bluff overlooking Old River. Near the center of the town of Marksville, the Site is considered by many professional archaeologists as a prehistoric Native American ceremonial center of unique national significance. The site features a museum, burial mounds and ceremonial mounds. Also in Marksville is the Hypolite Bordelon House, c. 1820, located at 242 Tunica Drive West. The House is an early Creole pioneer dwelling of basic structure featuring hand dress poteaux, attic rafters, lathing, floor joists, ceiling and exposed beaded rafters. The home is furnished with period furnishings, tools and equipment for the house and the farm yard. It also features a unique small chapel in the yard.

The Tunica-Biloxi Reservation, located on Highway 1, is home to the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Center and Museum. The new museum, currently under construction will house the famous Tunica Treasure that is the most extraordinary collection of Indian and European artifacts from the Colonial Period ever excavated in the Lower Mississippi Valley.

On L’Eglise Street in Mansura is Dr. Jules Desfosse Hosue, circa 1790. The home is believed to have been built by Dominique Coco, Sr., and restored in 1850 by Dr. Defosse in the style of Louisiana French Colonial. The furnished home, owned by the Town of Mansura, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Avoyelles.

To visit a recently renovated train depot, travel to Bunkie on Highway 71 to see the Bunkie Depot and Tourist Center. Home to the Bunkie Chamber of Commerce, the depot, established in 1911, doubles as a welcome center and railroad museum. Also for viewing on the grounds is a war memorial and Union Pacific caboose. Continue on to Evergreen to visit the Evergreen Schools Museum Exhibit housed in the library on Highway 29.

Travel on to Cottonport to take in the Cottonport Museum at 220 Cottonport Avenue. This little gem of a museum is dedicated to promoting and preserving the rich history of Cottonport. Detailed, hand-painted murals, photos, along with tools and documents, as well as household equipment, furniture and quilts make this museum special. Originally the building was the Cottonport Drug Store (Pharmacy) and Kaufman Family Medical Clinic. Many of Dr. Kaufman’s original medical equipment is displayed there, along with farm wagons, cotton bales and many other special exhibits.

In the community of Big Bend is the Adam Ponthieu Grocery and Post Office Museum at 8554 LA 541, Big Bend. This community is about midway on the “Big Bend Loop”, for a distance of 14 miles from either Hamburg or Moreauville on LA 451 (a designated Scenic Byway). The museum is filled with grocery items, medicine, hardware, fabric, animal feed and sewing equipment, as well as the post office with its original ledgers and documentation. In its time, you needed only make one stop to pick up all your farm and home needs, and get the mail as well. The museum is located opposite the Sarto Old Iron Bridge over Bayou Des Glaises. This historic bridge, constructed in 1915, is a steel truss swing bridge for vehicular and boat traffic. The bridge is available for visiting, at any time during the daylight hours.

Just south of Big Bend, is the Town of Simmesport, home of the Atchafalaya River Festival, and the Simmesport Branch of the Avoyelles Parish Public Library System. Located in the library is a museum exhibit of the Commercial Fishing Industry Exhibit on the Atchafalaya River and around the Simmesport area. Simmesport is home to a thriving fishing industry, supplying fish to the local as well as a nationwide market.

As always, Avoyelles awaits your visit with hospitality, food, entertainment and traditions to share. Come by for a day trip, or better yet, plan an overnight stay in one of our hotels, motels or B&B’s. We would be happy to assist you in planning your visit. Come by to see us in our wonderful new offices at 8592 Highway 1 in Mansura. We would love to have you look at our office which is housed in the building with the Avoyelles Extension Office, and the soon to be completed Louisiana 4-H Museum.

For more information on Avoyelles Parish, contact us at the Avoyelles Commission on Tourism. Write to us at 8592 Highway 1, Suite 3, Mansura. Call Mary, Sarah, Jackie, Marie or Wilbert Carmouche, Tourism Director, at (800) 833-4195, or call us locally at (318) 253-0585; or visit us at www.travelavoyelles.com; or e-mail us at tourism@kricket.net.