August 2004
Edition
PRESIDENT’s MESSAGE:
Well,
another month has passed us by and the heat and rain have been
unbelievable. The rain has been so bad around my area that we have
flooded in places that have never before held any rain, sometimes to
the level of three feet on the major roadways. I must apologize to
the Buggy Festival for not making it there, but couldn’t get out of
New Orleans because of flooding. I was told that LAFF had a great
appearance from our treasurer who brought the rain along with him.
Without mentioning Byron Blanchard’s name, I would advise you to
think twice before inviting him, he seems to be like Pigpen from the
Snoopy comic strip. Rain follows Byron like dust and dirt follows
Pigpen. I want to thank the Board members and the Directors for
making so many appearances during the past month. Besides the
weather, I have been on a liquid diet, (not Crown and Water either)
preparing for my surgery on July 28th. I will be out of
circulation from July 25th until August 10th,
and then I will be back in the swing and making Fairs and Festivals
again, providing I have no complications, which I don’t expect. So
as you read this newsletter I will be back home and on the mend from
the surgery and thinking of all the great food and fun I will be
missing. The way I loved food, my surgery could cause some
restaurants to go out of business since I will not be eating much
anymore. I know this is a short response compared to the rest, but
maybe Rob can fill in the extra space with information about the up
coming convention. Until Next month, please stay safe, dry and
profitable.
s/Warren
Deemer
President
***********
VICE-PRESIDENT’s
MESSAGE
Hello:
I hope
this message finds everyone doing well and making preparations to
attend our “Stepping Out With LAFF” Convention and Queen of Queens
Pageant February 17-20, 2005, at the Holiday Inn Select (formerly
Radisson) in Baton Rouge.
On June
19th, we had the pleasure of attending the Swamp Pop
Music Festival in Gonzales. What a wonderful festival for an
important cause! All monies go to Cystic Fibrosis. Let me tell you
the music was great and the people came out in full support of this
worthwhile cause. If you have never attended, make it a point to go
and support this festival. You will not regret it.
On June
20th, I accompanied Janet to judge the Erath 4th
of July Junior Pageant. Delores and Bryan Broussard did a great job
and we thank them for their hospitality and their dedication to this
organization. Bryan and Delores will be stepping down as Directors
for Erath’s 4th of July Pageant but are leaving the
pageant in good hands with Dennis Mouton and his wife Natalie.
Don’t worry; we are not getting rid of Bryan and Delores. They have
assured us they will be ready to help whenever we need them.
On June
23rd, we had the privilege of going up to Rochester, New
York for Janet to judge the Mrs. New York America Pageant. We met
some wonderful people, including the director for the Rochester
Fair. The pageant was held in the dome at their fairgrounds and
what a place they have. It was fun seeing their facilities and
sharing stories about our fairs and festivals with them.
On July
10th, we held our Miss Cajun Music Queen’s Pageant and we
have 11 great new queens for our association. It was very difficult
to say farewell to our outgoing queens as they did such a tremendous
job for CFMA, but we know they will stay active in our CFMA Lake
Charles Chapter. Our new Miss Cajun Music for 2004 is Miss Ashley
Bult from Iowa. Ashley is looking forward to traveling throughout
Louisiana and to visiting as many pageants and events as she can.
On July
17th & 18th, we held our Cajun Music Festival
in air-conditioned Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles. Thank goodness
for air conditioning! It was a pleasure to visit with our District
2 Director, Equalla Victorian, and our LAFF Queen of Queens, Miss
Taryn Sanford. We did not set any records but we had a good
festival.
With my
festival now behind me, I will totally concentrate on Convention
2005. Major decisions have already been made and quite a bit is
already done but we will continue working to insure a great
convention and good time for all. Remember, if you want to work on
any committee or have any comments, DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US.
ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD AT THE CONVENTION. PLEASE CONSIDER RUNNING
FOR A POSITION IF YOU ARE INTERESTED.
Don’t
forget, “STEPPING OUT WITH LAFF” is the theme for our 2005
convention. The Queen’s Packets have been mailed out in early
spring so if you or your director did not receive a packet, please
let us know. The complete convention packet will be mailed out in
November.
Stay safe
and pray for our troops.
s/Rob
Piraro
Vice
President
*********************************
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Many
thanks to the fine folks at the Erath 4th of July
Festival. I had a great day judging the pageant and Mona & I
enjoyed the company of a lot of fine folks.
Our July
Board meeting was hosted by the Washington Parish Free Fair. The
superlatives warm, great and wonderful do not adequately describe
the hospitality, meal and atmosphere of the folks at Washington
Parish! Great Job! Thank you.
Highlights
of the minutes of the 7.24.04 Board Meeting. Financial report by
Treasurer: as of July 24, 2004
ASSETS
Current Assets
Checking/savings
GMAC Demand note 26,030.54
Midsouth Bank 15,912.14
Total Checking/Savings 41,942.68
Total
Current Assets 41,942.68
Liabilities & Equity
Equity
Opening Bal Equity 42,369.60
Retained Earnings 14,190.02
Net Incomes -14,616.94
Total
Equity 41,942.68
Total
Liabilities & Equity 41,942.68
New
members accepted were: Spring Fling – Natchitoches, Slidell Heritage
Festival, Kiwanis Club of St. Martinville Pepper Festival, Festivals
Des Families D’Erath, Louisiana Kids (talent) and Pork-A-Bobs –
Baton Rouge concession. Sec. report: LAFF membership: Dist #1 -
18, Dist #2 - 24, Dist #3 - 30, Dist #4 - 22, Dist #5 - 8, Dist #6 -
13, Dist #7 - 21,. Carnival Assoc – 8, Talent Assoc. - 10 and
Supplier Assoc. – 44 for total of 198 members. Convention Report:
V-Pres. working with hotel room reservations for delegates, queens,
associates; certain portions of pageant will be tightened up, part
of queen’s farewell will be with other queens in afternoon; Karaoke
will be scheduled after “womanless” beauty pageant, no charge on
“womanless” pageant; discussed improvements to trade show; Janet
Piraro noted Queen of Queen’s packets are out and need to be
distributed; evaluation discussed and suggestions for changes to
improve convention; contents of “ditty bags” to be more equitably
distributed; next LAFF Board meeting to be October 30th
Want a
write up of your event, information about your pageant (or queen),
or other LAFF related news in your newsletter? Submit your
information to me at
laffadupre@yahoo.com
or 2402 Elizabeth Street, Thibodaux 70301. I need the information
by the 20th of the month for the next newsletter.
Please
check the web site for new postings. In addition, we are asking for
your event to submit a picture of your queen for the web
site….www.laffnet.org
s/ Al Dupré
Secretary
*********
District #3 Director
Congratulations to Mallory Juneau of Bunkie, La. as being crowned
Erath’s Miss Fourth of July Queen.
The
following festivals will be held during the month of August 2004
Shrimp
Festival in Delcambre, La. Begins August 18-August 22, 2004
Le Cajun
Awards and Festival at
Blackham
Coliseum
in Lafayette, La. August 14-16
Gueydan
Duck Festival, Gueydan, La. August 26-29, 2004
Rayne
Frog Festival , Rayne La. Sept. 3-5, 2004
s/Dennis C. Mouton
D3D
District 4 Director
The more I travel from one
festival to another, the more impressed I am with the volunteers who
make this district so much fun. We are so blessed with events to
attend. The summer heat does make it a little uncomfortable for
someone like me who worships the air conditioner (Not the sun), but
everywhere I go people are having fun. And that is what we are all
trying to accomplish. We provide entertainment.
The Bayou Lacombe Crab
Festival got rain again this year, but the soft shell crab po-boy
was the best I've ever eaten. Dorothy Calderon had an accident
before the festival but she and her co-chairman Therese Pyle and the
rest of the committee did an outstanding job as usual.
The Greater Mandeville
Seafood Festival was wonderful. The fireworks were spectacular and
the crowds were too. The Paper Queen parade and queens' day events
were well attended, I don't know how many visiting queens were
there, but it was very well attended. The folks at both of these
events are to be commended on the outstanding job they do. Not only
do they provide great entertainment, they patronize our great nation
and the job our military has done in the past and is doing today.
We need more events like these.
The Washington Parish
Watermelon Festival was also a great place to be in July. We like
to think that we have the best ever watermelons and they were
plentiful this year. The abundance of rain did make a difference,
the melons are not as sweet as in the past, but they are still very
good. We had a very interesting group of people filming at our
festival. They were the film crew from the ABC series "Switched".
They were following a "Queen" for the day. In reality the girl was
"switched" and was not a queen at all but representing a Louisiana
Festival. Watch for the show in mid-September. Past Queen of
Queens, Clara Victorian and her mother Equilla were both judges for
our pageant and we have two beautiful queens. Thanks ladies.
Don't forget to
start early planning for Convention. Rob has a great program
lined up and we are going to have a Blast! Please remember
when filling out your hotel reservation form to indicate your
"Queen" so that she will be on the second floor with all of the
other queens. This is very important.......the hotel staff has
no way of knowing who your queen is if you do not indicate on the
registration form.
Remember, if I
can be of assistance to any of you at your event, don't hesitate to
call on me. I will gladly help out wherever needed. Contact me at
985-839-7840 or e-mail
wpfairlady@yahoo.com.
Hope to hear from you.
s/Kaye Ladner
District #4 Director
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
ESSAY
CONTEST
Theme: “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, and 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
P. O. Box 762
Patterson, LA 70392
EVENTS TO ATTEND
July 30 -
August 1
Marshland
Festival
Hackberry,
LA 70645
August 4 -
8
Satchmo
Summerfest
New
Orleans, LA 70130
August 6 -
8
Washington
Festival de Courtableau Wildlife cruising on the Bayou
Sunset
August 14
- 16
LeCajun
Awards & Festival
Lafayette
August 18
- 22
Delcambre
Shrimp Festival
August 26
- 29
Gueydan
Duck Festival
September
2 - 6
Louisiana
Shrimp & Petroleum Festival
Morgan
City
September
3 - 5
Rayne Frog
Festival
September
10 - 12
River
Parishes Fall Festival
Norco
September
11 - 12
Cajun
Heritage Festival
Cut Off
September
14 - 18
Red River
Parish Fair & Rodeo
Coushatta
September
15 - 17
Allen
Parish Fair
Oberlin
September
17 - 18
Marthaville Good Ole Days
September
17 - 19
Lockport
Fall Food Festival
September
17 - 19
Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival
September
18
Ragley
Heritage & Timber Festival
Lake
Charles
September
18 - 19
Evangeline
Oil and Gas Festival
Evangeline
September
19
St. John
the Baptist Family Festival
Boutte
September
21 - 25
Red River
Parish Fair and Rodeo
Coushatta
September
23 - 26
Alligator
Festival
Luling
September
24- 26
Cut Off
Youth Center
Cut Off
September
25
St. Helena
Parish Forest Festival
Greensburg
September
25
La Fete d’
Ecologie, Barataria-Terrebonne
Thibodaux,
September
25
Creole
Zydeco Festival
Branch
September
26
Ragley
Heritage & Timber Festival
