Editor’s Picks

TPSB nixes Common Core opt-out request
March 11, 2015
Irish bard comes to Bayou Playhouse
March 11, 2015
TPSB nixes Common Core opt-out request
March 11, 2015
Irish bard comes to Bayou Playhouse
March 11, 2015

Beauties benefit challenged at pageant

March 7


Beauty is in bloom and just in time for the Schriever Lions Beauty Pageant.

Set for March 7 at the Evergreen Cajun Center, the ninth annual fundraiser is truly about beautiful hearts. Proceeds from the event help send local physically and mentally challenged youngsters and adults to summer camp. Last year’s event helped nearly 50 people attend the Louisiana Crippled Children’s Camp in Leesville.

Event organizer Denise Callais said the pageant offers 13 categories, ranging from 1-day-old to the Golden Girls, who are 40 and older.


“But it’s our ‘Special Needs’ group that is near and dear to my heart,” she said. “It is based entirely on personality; there is no modeling involved. We bring in someone to do their hair and makeup for free, and their entry fee is waived.

“I can’t tell you how much joy it brings to see these girls,” she added. “The 2 year olds are cute and the 14 year olds are pretty, but it’s the ‘Special Needs’ category that really shines.”

The entry fee for all others is $50. Callais said contestants can sell opt to sell raffle tickets to avoid the expense.


For more information about the event, call Callais at 985-291-2854.

Irish-Italian parade set to roll in Houma

March 15


Terrebonne’s Irish-Italian Parading Club takes to Houma’s streets at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, March 15.

King Sean and Queen Rae Ann Boudreaux will lead the 13-float affair from Cannata’s Market parking lot, down Park Avenue to Hollywood Road, traveling downtown along Main Street and ending at Town Hall on Barrow Street.

Throws include cabbage, potatoes, onions, pineapple and bananas. Joining the caravan are DJs, dance teams, antique horses and the Bayou Riders Club and their horses.


Crafters converge upon Southdown Marketplace

March 28

It’s time again for what’s become a bi-annual tradition in the Houma-Terrebonne area: Southdown Marketplace, an arts and crafts fair conducted on the grounds of the Southdown Plantation Museum since 1978.


“Over 30 years has made it generational,” says Southdown Executive Director Rachel Theriot, who notes that 300 vendors and thousands of shoppers participate year after year. Homemade products range from works of art to embroidered baby items, from jewelry to jams and jellies, from wood crafts to garden items to books by local authors and numerous other creations.

“The best show is when you have the best mix of products,” she said. “It appeals to a broad spectrum of people.”

The Marketplace is a vital element for the nonprofit Terrebonne Historical & Cultural Society and Southdown Plantation & Museum; the event – conducted in the spring and fall – is its primary fundraiser, helping to pay salaries, maintenance and new exhibit costs.


Southdown Marketplace takes place rain or shine; the entrance fee is $5 per person, with children under 12 admitted free. Children’s activities (some free) are co-sponsored by Kids in Motion Playhouse Discovery Museum.

“Marketplace keeps us able to be open every day,” Theriot said, and it exposes people who may not have thought to visit the museum to its cultural historic offerings. Museum admission is $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and students; $4 for teenagers 13-18 and free for children under 12.