Cast Iron Cookoff

Centerville High School hosted its first annual Cast Iron Cook-Off and 5K Color Fun Run on Saturday. Proceeds will benefit various programs at Centerville High School.
The event drew 37 runners and seven cooking teams. The Color Run took place at 9 a.m. on a course that took participants around Centerville and Yellow Bayou Road. Color stations blanketed the runners in a rainbow of colors as they passed. The finish line was at Centerville High School’s back parking lot, where the cooking teams were in full swing.
A crowd of people were on hand to enjoy smoked boudin, cracklings, popcorn balls, pralines, snowballs, baked goods and samples of the cooking teams’ hard work. Full servings were also for sale. The winners of the competition were aiming for cash prizes.
Unique trophies made of cast iron flat skillets were given to first place, second place, People’s Choice and honorable mention. Centerville artists Wesley Callegan, Diane Nugent and Malinda Yoshida offered their talents to decorate each of the trophy skillets.
Franklin Foundation Hospital won first place for their shrimp and grits as well as second place for their jambalaya. Team Grand P won People’s Choice for their roadkill jambalaya. Centerville Fire Department won honorable mention for their chicken and sausage jambalaya and their white beans. St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office served as judges.
The Centerville High School administration, teachers and staff want to express their sincere thanks to everyone who helped and participated in the event. Agricultural Instructor Steve Nugent managed the cooking competition, and he also had a student-led team in the cooking competition as well as running some of the games.
“The weather today was perfect for this,” Nugent said, “The only thing better than the aroma is how great each of the different foods taste!”
According to Nugent, the school’s administration and faculty met last year and decided to sponsor a unique community-based fundraiser. The cook-off and fun run not only serves as a fundraiser, but it functions as an opportunity to share community fellowship with the school as the focal point.
“Judging from the attendance, we consider this first event a big success, but we do hope to have a few more runners and teams involved in the future,” Nugent said. “Tentatively, we are looking at Oct. 28 as the next event date… and we have six teams that have already verbally committed to participate.”