Gallegos, Hamer are 87th Shrimp & Petroleum Festival royalty

Jordan Gallegos and Greg J. Hamer Sr. were named the 87th Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival king and queen during coronation festivities Saturday at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
The Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival will officially begin Thursday with a ribbon cutting at 5:15 p.m. under the U.S. 90 bridge in downtown Morgan City near the carnival grounds. Festival festivities run through Labor Day.
Highlights include free live music, arts and crafts, a Cajun Culinary Classic, a Children’s Village, Car Show by Cypress Car Club, Mass in Lawrence Park followed by the Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday and much more.
Reigning over the event, are Gallegos the 18-year-old daughter of Dallas and Jose Gallegos of Morgan City. The Berwick High School graduate attends Nicholls State University pursuing a degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. At Nicholls, she is a member of the Kappa Alpha Chapter of the Delta Zeta sorority.
Hamer is chief executive officer of B&G Food Enterprises in Morgan City. The LSU graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in 1968 in business administration. He was active as a manager, contractor and owner in the oilfield service industry for more than 25 years.
Hamer and his wife, Brenda, created B&G Food Enterprises in 1982 with their first Taco Bell in Morgan City. The company now has more than 3,000 employees that operate more than 160 restaurants — Taco Bell, KFC and Long John Silver — in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
He is in leadership roles in national, state and community organizations. Hamer’s public service includes 12 years in elected office at both city and parish levels. He has served on numerous boards and commissions, among them a public hospital board and several state boards, including the Louisiana Coastal Commission and University of Louisiana System Board of Trustees.
The director emeritus of the National Restaurant Association, Hamer was the 2017 chairman of the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation. During his long tenure with LRA, he served as president, inducted into the LRA Hall of Fame, named Active Member of the Year, and Chapter President of the Year.
In addition to serving on the Taco Bell Foundation board, Hamer is a member of the Community Foundation of Acadiana Board and served as the chairman of the Community Foundation of Acadiana’s St. Mary affiliate.
He is a board member of the Mardi Gras Krewe of Hephaestus, a fourth-degree member of the Knights of Columbus, and a member of the Legatus International.
Among other honors, he was named St. Mary Parish Citizen of the Year in 2017 and the Morgan City Rotary Citizen of the Year in 2019.
In 2010, B&G created a corporate scholarship fund for family members of employees and established a fund to support the community when tragedy strikes. A longtime LSU supporter, Hamer is a member of the E.J. Ourso College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, serves on the Tiger Athletic Foundation Board of Directors, and is an active member of the LSU Alumni Association.
The Brenda and Gregory Hamer Sr. Endowed Scholarship supports students in the Ourso College of Business, and the Hamers are members of the LSU Foundation Laureate Society. He was inducted into the Ourso College of Business Hall of Distinction in 2014, and the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction in 2000. B&G was recognized in LSU 100: Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses in 2019.
They are the parents of three children, Valerie Ann Leblanc, Tracie Margaret Hover, and Gregory Hamer, Jr., and have nine grandchildren.