Article Image Alt Text

Above, previous year rides into the Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge. Below, one of many boats at last year's Bayou Teche Wooden Boat Festival.

Article Image Alt Text

Festival time is coming!

Bear Festival to again include tours of refuge

Bayou tours and “beary” fun activities on tap with the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service at the Franklin Bear Festival.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Friends of Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge will offer free pontoon boat tours, a canoe tour, and a variety of children’s activities during the 14th annual Franklin Bear Festival, April 21-23.
Live animals, bear skulls from around the world, children’s activities and refuge maps and information will be available on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. under the white U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service tent near the Willow Street Bayou Teche bridge. Be sure to bring the children to the “Beary Patch Game” kids activity located in the Willow Street parking structure near the bridge.
Refuge staff will host free pontoon boat tours of Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. Tours are at 9-10:30 a.m., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 1-2 p.m. and 3-4 p.m. Tour registration is required, held on a first-come first-served basis, and will be located at the white U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tent near Willow Street near the Bayou Teche Bridge. Boat tour registration hours are: Friday, April 21 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday, April 22 from 9 a.m. until full.
A free canoe tour of the refuge will be held Saturday morning from 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Canoes are provided or bring your own canoe or kayak. To register for the Saturday morning canoe trip, call 985-860-6681.
More information at www.fws.gov/refuge/bayou_teche
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the world’s premier system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife and plants.

Classic craft at boat show

Wooden boat owners and enthusiasts will gather along historic and scenic Bayou Teche in downtown Franklin for the seventh Bayou Teche Wooden Boat Show set for April 21-23.
This year’s show is the seventh event. The 2015 BTWBS would have been the sixth, but severe weather prompted cancellation. It was then held in 2016.
“It’s an idea that grew out of a breakfast table discussion at a local diner and has taken on a life of its own,” said co-organizer Roger Stouff. “We’re truly astounded at the growth and participation.”
Stouff, Gary Blum and Larry Couvillier began with 12 boats, half of which belonged to themselves, and the rest from both local residents and owners outside of St. Mary Parish. By the fifth show, participation had quadrupled, with boat owners from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and more in attendance.
The BTWBS has become one of the fastest-growing venues for wooden vessels both antique and modern in the Southeast, but has managed to remain a laid-back event held in conjunction with the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival, both set along Parc sur la Teche in Franklin. “There’s nothing else like it,” Stouff said. “Gary, Larry and I started all this to share our love of wooden watercraft with this community, people who might never have seen these vessels and their outstanding craftsmanship. We’ve succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.”
Past shows have featured hand-crafted Cajun skiffs and bateaus of cypress, wooden sailboats, classic Chris Craft, Garwood, Correct Craft, Lyman and Thompson runabouts, cypress pirogues and dugouts as well as many other varieties of boats from various regions of the United States and abroad. “It’s astounding to see the variety,” Stouff said. “It really makes you realize how much the history of much of the world has been molded by vessels made of wood, far longer than boats and ships have been constructed of any other material.”
The show begins Friday, April 21, at 5 p.m. and continues through Sunday at about noon. Saturday is typically the best day to see the most boats, as many of our out-of-town and out-of-state guests arrive Friday afternoon and depart Sunday morning. Bayou Teche has recently been named an America’s Scenic Byway and part of the National Park Service Water Trails System.
Visit the BTWBS website at www.techeboatshow.com.

ST. MARY NOW

Franklin Banner-Tribune
P.O. Box 566, Franklin, LA 70538
Phone: 337-828-3706
Fax: 337-828-2874

Morgan City Review
1014 Front Street, Morgan City, LA 70380
Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255