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OCTOBER 2004 Edition
PRESIDENT’s MESSAGE:
Hopefully as the month
winds down, everyone has made it through the threatening weather without
any problems. Unfortunately, we live in an area that is always giving
us weather changes, whether we want them or not. I do hope as you go
through your many activities, you remember our neighbors who have lost
so much. As the months lead to year’s end, many new queens are being
crowned and those who are giving up their crowns need to be commended
for their tireless work to bring such pride to your Fairs and Festivals
and to our Statewide Organization. Pageant Directors please remember to
submit a picture of your new queen by Email to our web-master so they
can be posted on our website.
I have had the opportunity to visit
with many of you during the year, and wish to thank you all for the warm
and gracious welcome that my wife and I received. I had the honor of
judging the Rayne Frog Festival Pageant and The St. Charles Fall
Festival Pageant in the months of August and September. I must say, I
was very impressed with the many lovely ladies who were vying for the
titles. But also must say the new queens have some hard work ahead to
follow in the previous queens footsteps. I must also apologize to the
festivals that invited me to their events, but could not attend because
of my illness or previous commitments. If I may be of assistance to
your event, please contact me, I really work cheap. I judge, sell
tickets and have been known to wash dishes when necessary.
As we come to the month of October,
the new Fairs and Festivals guide will be going to press soon. If you
failed to forward your event dates or contact information, please do so
immediately, if you don’t, it won’t get into the new guide. It is
your responsibility to get the information to us so that it can be
accurate. If you fail to do so, DON’T BLAME YOUR DISTRICT DIRECTOR OR
LAFF.
Hopefully you are already making
plans to attend the 2005 convention. If you haven’t begun planning, do
so now. Rob Piraro has assured me that the 2005 convention is
progressing well, and will be most educational and enjoyable. Marketing
Awards, Poster Contest and Essay Contest information was published in
the last newsletter. The Queen of Queen’s packets have been mailed, if
you did not receive yours; please contact Janet Piraro to obtain yours.
Time is running out quickly for the
year 2004 for LAFF and I can’t believe that a year is almost gone
already. I could never relate in words how much fun this year has been
for me, and express my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have made me
feel so welcomed at your events. I look forward to the remainder of
this fast-paced year and hope you will call on me if I can assist you in
any way. Please stay safe, busy and profitable as your event proves to
be more profitable and successful this year.
S/Warren
Deemer
***********
Vice
President’s Message
I hope this letter finds everyone
back home and safe following Louisiana’s scare from Hurricane Ivan. We
were truly blessed that it missed us, and our hearts and prayers go to
all those affected in the other states. I know everyone will be elated
when this hurricane season ends.
Janet and I have been enjoying
seeing old friends and making new ones as we travel across Louisiana.
On August 21st, we had the extreme pleasure to judge the
Rayne Frog Festival Queen’s Pageant for Cheryl McCarty. We had a great
time, even with the “mouse” that scared the visiting queens nearly to
death. As usual, Rayne had somewhere around 100 visiting queens to
truly make the night memorable. Thanks to Cheryl for having us judge.
It is always a pleasure to go to Rayne.
On August 29th, we
headed to Gueydan for the Duck Festival. We visited with Ronnie Lougon
and he said their crowd this year was unbelievable. They really do have
something unique at this festival and if you have not attended, you are
truly missing out. It was hot but the people were friendly and the
duck-calling contest was great. Congratulations to their new queen,
Miss Bethany McDaniels.
On September 11th, we
headed north to Natchitoches for the Meat Pie Festival Queens’ Pageant.
This was our first trip to Natchitoches and what a beautiful town it
is. Once again we had the honor of serving as their pageant judges and
we truly were treated like royalty. Thanks Liz and all your crew for
such a memorable weekend. The B&B was excellent as was the food and
friendship. If you ever have the opportunity to go judge for them, make
sure you don’t miss it! It was wonderful!
On September 18th, we
attended the Ragley Heritage and Timber Festival Queens’ Pageant. We
spoke with their President, Ronald Habetz, and their Pageant Director,
Pam Courmier. This festival will be changing its’ dates for 2005 due to
the “love bugs” and we totally understand. Congratulations to their new
queen, Miss CeAnn Jackson.
We will be meeting with the Holiday
Inn Select staff within a few weeks to plan the menu for Convention
2005. We know it will be during Lent and will take this into
consideration when selecting our menu.
We are heading into peak fair and
festival time and we look forward to making as many events as we can.
If we can assist you and your event in any way, please give us a call.
Remember your next
LAFF Board Meeting will be held on Saturday, October 30th in
District 7 hosted by the Louisiana Catfish Festival in des Alemands. If
you would like to attend, please let us hear from you. This is an open
meeting and everyone is welcome to attend.
May the sun continue to shine on
your event and may the crowds continue to grow. Stay safe and stay
happy.
S/Rob
Piraro
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SECRETARY’s REPORT
By now,
you should have received this year’s Marketing Awards with
brochure/entry form. Please take the time to enter.
Did you
have trouble accessing the LAFF web site recently? Our Webmaster
reports there was an under ground fire in the primary Network Operations
Center in Baltimore Marlyand that damaged fiber optic cables connecting
that operation to the internet. By now, everything should be completely
corrected.
I
want to take this opportunity to invite everyone to “my” event - Thibodeauxville
- to be held on November 12th & 13th. Friday
afternoon features a cooking contest then live entertainment into the
night - all in downtown Thibodaux. Saturday, November 13th
has a 5K race at 8:00 a.m., a full day of original arts and crafts, good
food and music on three stages from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.;
additionally a car show that will stagger the imagination with
corvettes, antiques and show cars in between. The day ends with a
(rubber) duck race in Bayou Lafourche. You’re all invited. Come pass a
good time
S/ Al
Dupré
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District #3 Director
Congratulations to the newly crowned
Miss Queens:
Miss Rayne Frog………Mischa Moore
Miss Gueydan Duck …. Bethany
McDaniels
Miss Delcambre Shrimp.De Lannie
Langlinais
Miss Evangeline Oil and Gas….Krystle
Todd
Another month has come and gone,
time sure flies when you are having fun. Several festivals were held in
the month of August, and I enjoyed attending them all. Thanks to all of
the members in District III for making your Festival such a great
event. It was a pleasure to visit with you and I will continue to
assist you in the future, just call if needed. District
III Rocks
S/Dennis C. Mouton - D3D
QUEEN OF
QUEENS' PAGEANT AND COMMITTEE
A CALL FOR PRINGLE CANS
We are
in need of 100 Pringle potato chip cans for Convention 2005. Please
save them for us and get them to your district reps for our October 30th
meeting or give me a call and we will get them somehow. Call me at
337-478-2355 or by Email:
robpiraro@aol.com
############
Upon suggestions received at
last year's Directors' Meeting, several changes will be implemented at
this year's Queen of Queens' Pageant. The main one will be that Queens
will need to bring only one (1) gift with a value not
to exceed $25 rather than 75 items for ditty bags. We are changing the
"ditty bag party" to a "Chinese Christmas". On Saturday afternoon, the
girls will place all their presents in a large pile in the middle of the
floor in Cypress Rooms 1 and 2. Then the fun will begin! Barbara
Horaist from the Louisiana Cattle Festival has volunteered to chair this
event and I am anxious to see how it goes. More details will be sent
when the queens get their final packet in January.
If you have yet to receive
your queen's packet, please contact me to make certain I have your
correct Pageant Director's name and mailing address before October
20th. If your event has changed Pageant Directors, please email me with
the name and mailing address for your new Pageant Director.
Other changes will be that I
will include the name of each queen's parents in the program book. If
you have any additional changes, within reason that we may put into
effect please let us hear from you. We do our every best to make this a
pleasant and memorable event for all the queens, directors, and
parents.
We would like to have people
volunteer to chair parts of the Queen of Queens Pageant. If you are
willing to help, please give me a call or email me at
robpiraro@aol.com.
You may telephone me at 337-478-2355. If I'm not at home, leave me a
message and I will return your call as soon as possible.
Queen of
Queens'
Committee:
Pageant
Coordinator
- Janet Piraro
Interview
Chairman
- Tina Guillory - Louisiana Cotton Festival
Evening
Gown Chairman
- Cheryl McCarty - Rayne Frog Festival & Festival Ray*La*Ne
Chinese
Christmas Party
- Barbara Horaist - Louisiana Cattle Festival
Flower
Chairman
- Mimee Doucet - Courir de Mardi Gras
Hospitality Room Chairmen
- Linda Jennings & Susan Senette - Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival
Queens'
Registration Chairman
- Gina Barnes - Cajun French Music Festival
Stage
Decorations' Chairman
- Kaye Ladner - Washington Parish Fair
We
need a Program Book Chairman and a People's Choice Award Chairman. If
you would like to do either of these, please contact me.
Thanks,
Janet Piraro
*************************************
SEQ CHAPTER
POSTER CONTEST RULES
1.
Subject of poster shall be: “My Fair/Festival”.
Name, location and date of event must be on poster.
2. Any
public, private, or parochial school student may participate.
3.
Poster will be judged in four categories:
A. Grades 1 - 3
B. Grades 4 - 6
C. Grades 7 - 9
D. Grades 10 - 12
4.
Poster must be displayed on 14" X 22" white poster paper. (½ sheet
of standard poster paper.)
5. All
work must be vertical. Nothing horizontal will be judged.
6. All
lettering must be free-hand. Do not use Stencils.
7.
Medium used shall be: Crayon; Water Color; Acrylics, Felt-Tip Pen; or
Oil. Neither Cut-outs nor Collage.
8.
First, Second, and Third place winners in each category are eligible for
state competition.
Limit of Twelve (12) posters per event.
9.
Posters will be judged and points awarded as follows:
Originality 35%
Theme 25%
Neatness 25%
Spelling 15%
10.
Poster Prizes:
Third Place $ 25.00
Second Place $ 50.00
First Place $ 75.00
One Best Overall $100.00
11.
Information cards (5X7 index cards) should include the following:
Name Address Telephone Parents Category
Fair/Festival
This
should be placed on the left top corner of poster in such a way that it
can be flipped over from front to back.
12. All
posters must be presented by 5:00 PM on Friday of the annual convention.
Chairman:
Kaye Ladner, 27280 R. F. Ball Road Franklinton, LA 70438 985-848-5937
Fax: 985-839-9164
Email: wpfairlady@yahoo.com
ESSAY CONTEST
Theme:
SEQ CHAPTER
Life and Style of the 1930's
in Louisiana
Rules and
Regulations:
1.
Essay must contain between 500 and 800 words.
2. Name
of contestant MUST NOT be written on the essay but must be written on a
separate sheet and clipped, not stapled to the essay.
3. On a
separate sheet, contestant should follow this format:
Name: Address: Grade: Phone:
Parent’s Name: School Name: Fair/Festival Represented:
4.
Essay may be handwritten or typed.
5.
Spelling, grammar, phraseology, general interest, continuity and
adherence to theme will be determining factors for selecting the winning
essay.
6. The
categories: A. Grades 6 - 8; B. Grades 9 - 12.
7.
Information used from sources should be acknowledged in a bibliography.
8.
Pictures or diagrams can be included within contest of essay or in
appropriate appendix.
9.
Essay must be in the hands of Chairman no later than
January 6, 2004.
10.
Criteria for judging:
Content (adherence to theme) ........... 40%
Grammar (punctuation, capitalization) .. 25%
Continuity (introduction, body,
Sentence structure, conclusion) .... 20%
Spelling ............................... 15%
11.
Essay Prizes (State Level)*
1st. $150 2nd. $100 3rd. $50
*All fairs should use this theme on the local level for
elimination purposes; only the top three winners should be submitted
on state level.
12. All
essays become the property of LAFF. The first place winners will be
published in a collection by groups.
Chairman: DAVID BOURDIER 985-395-3720
P. O. Box
762 Patterson, LA 70392
ATTENTION, ATTENTION, ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of you men out there who want
to reign as a Queen and experience the Rhinestone Sisterhood, WE ARE
LOOKING FOR YOU! Be all that you can be..
We are in need of contestants to
participate in our 3rd Annual Womanless Pageant to be held on
Thursday February 17, 2005 at our Annual Convention/Queen of Queens
Pageant.
Forms are available on the
web-site. We would appreciate each festival sending at least one
contestant. The best news is that we are waiving the entry fee. It is
free of charge (what an incentive!). Dress code: Please keep it rated
PG-13
KEEP IT
FUN AND SAFE
For more information, please
contact Dennis Mouton - Dist #3 Director
Member News!
The
Bridge City Gumbo Fest is celebrating 31 years of Gumbo on October 8, 9
& 10. Gumbo cooking contest, beautiful child contest delicious Cajun
cuisine, pay one price rides, large midway and…Great Music.
Located on the west side of the Huey P. Long Bridge across the
Mississippi Rives from metro New Orleans. $2.00 admission, children
under 5 free. Free parking. 5K Bridge run.
Friday 6:30 p.m. Top Cats
Saturday 10:00 a.m. Louisiana Kids
12:30 p.m. Alley Cats
4:00 p.m. Chris Gray
7:30 p.m. Jr. & Swamp Pop Players
Sunday 9:00 a.m. Lydna
Montgomery- Reed, Allen Hebert & the Rose Hill
Band
12:30 p.m. Wayne Foret &
Rockin’ 50’s
3:30 p.m. Gary “T”
7:00 p.m. The Chee Weeze
info: 504-436-4712 or 504-436-8473
EVENTS
TO ATTEND
October 1 - 3
St. Tammany Parish Fair - Covington
October 1 - 3
Cajun Country Festival - Labadieville
October 1 - 3
LA Cattle Festival & Fair - Abbeville
October 1 - 3
Gretna Heritage Festival - Gretna
October 2
Arpadhon Hungarian Settlement Cultural Assn - Albany
October 2 - 9
Red River Revel Arts Festival - Shreveport
October 2 - 9
Red River Reel Arts Festival - Shreveport
October 4 - 10
Tangipahoa Parish Free Fair - Amite
October 5 - 9
Beauregard Parish Fair – DeRidder
October 5 - 10
Livingston Parish Fair
October 5 - 10
Louisiana Cotton Festival - Ville Platte
October 5 - 10
North Louisiana Cotton Festival & Fair - Bastrop
October 6 - 10
St. Tammany Parish Fair - Covington
October 8 - 10
Sorrento Boucherie Festival - Sorrento
October 8 - 10
Bridge City Gumbo Festival – Bridge City
October 9
Jennings Alive - Jennings
October 10
Louisiana Tournoi De La Ville Platte - Ville Platte
October 14 - 16
International Rice Festival - Crowley
October 15 - 17
International Acadian Festival - Plaquemine
October 16 - 17
Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival
October 17
Kiwanis Club of St. Martinville Pepper Festival
October 20-23
Washington Parish Free Fair - Franklinton
October 19 - 24
Calcasieu Cameron Parish Fair - Sulphur
October 21 - 24
Tri-Parish Fair and Festival - Eunice
October 22 – 24
LA. Gumbo Festival - Chackbay
Oct. 22 - 24
St. John Parish Andouille Festival - LaPlace
October 22 - November 7
State Fair of Louisiana - Shreveport
October 27 - 31
Louisiana Yambilee - Opelousas
October 28 - November 7
Greater Baton Rouge State Fair - Baton Rouge
October 29 - 31
French Food Festival - Larose
October 29 - 31
Hammond Fest - Hammond
October 30 - 31
Lecompte Pie Festival – Lecompte
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1November
5 - 7
Sabine Free State Festival - Florien
November 5 - 7
Louisiana Swine Festival - Basile
November 6
Bastrop Fall Arts & Crafts Show - Bastrop
November 6
Southdown Marketplace - Houma
November 6 - 7
Abbeville’s Giant Omelet Celebration - Abbeville
November 11 - 14
Port Barre Cracklin Festival - Port Barre
November 12 - 14
Westwego Fest - Westwego
November 12 - 13
Thibodeauxville Fall Festival - Thibodaux
November 13 - 14
Destrehan Plantation Fall Festival - Destrehan
November 26 - 27
Cajun Christmas Bayou Parade - Breaux Bridge
November 27
Claiborne Parish Christmas Festival - Homer
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Remember, our 2005
Convention theme:
“Stepping out with
L.A.F.F.”
Holiday Inn Select -
Baton Rouge
February 17 – 20, 2005
Make your plans to
attend
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