Work yourself into a Fall Frenzy as Morgan City goes Main to Main

Fall Frenzy isn’t an event about setting up a massive domino chain reaction or skydivers.

Fall Frenzy is an event designed to revitalize interest in Morgan City’s downtown area, its Main Street, specifically.

The event features late-evening shopping and dining, an early morning walking tour of the city’s historic downtown, performances by the bands Tabaskeaux and Born Ready and the airing of the LSU-Alabama game on a JumboTron under the U.S. Highway 90 bridge.

“We’ve decided to go with an outdoorsy, entertainment, football, tailgating atmosphere,” said Morgan City Main Street Manager Steve Morell.

The event happens Friday night, Nov. 2, and throughout the day, Saturday, Nov. 3.

On Friday night, Tabaskeaux will perform from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the corner of Front and Freret streets.

The shops and restaurants on Main Street will also stay open late.

Saturday morning kicks off with a historic walking tour of the downtown area. It begins around 9 a.m.

“We’re just going to do a fun walk,” Morell said.

Brochures detailing the history of the area will be handed out for the walk. And the stores and restaurants will, again, be open early and late.

But after that, everything is still up in the air, because the remainder of the activities revolves around the time of the LSU-Alabama game, which was not set at time of press.

“We don’t know what’s coming first, the chicken or the egg,” Morell said.

Whatever the case, the band, Born Ready, will perform around the game to keep the public entertained.

The LSU-Alabama game will be shown on a 16-by-19 foot JumboTron near the corner of Front Street and Greenwood Street, under the U.S. Highway 90 bridge.

Morell said the JumboTron is just like the one used at Tiger Stadium and is very weather resistant.

“It’s absolutely fabulous. It’s unbelievable,” he said.

Visitors can choose bring their own food to fit in with the tailgating atmosphere or just eat other people’s food – whichever works.

Morell also said electrical outlets will be available for public use under the bridge. And visitors can grill under the bridge.

The LSU-Tennessee game was shown last year in the same way.

Considering this year’s game is the LSU-Alabama game, Morell wouldn’t comment directly on whether authorities would discourage burning a certain college football coach in effigy.

But he did say some of the rules would be relaxed.

“We’re overriding most of our ordinances that weekend,” Morell said.

Fall Frenzy is actually part of a larger state-sponsored event, done through the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism’s Louisiana Main Street program.

It is in its second year and the program currently recognizes 28 Main Street communities.

Some 24 of the communities are putting on events like Fall Frenzy this November as part of Louisiana’s Main-to-Main campaign.

The Blues and Barbeque on the Bayou event in Houma is also part of the Main-to-Main campaign.

The Department of CRT spent $300,000 promoting and sponsoring the campaign.

It awarded $5,000 to each of the Main Street communities it recognizes and ran a seven-state advertising campaign to promote the events.