Assistant to the Mayor of Ville Platte Hilda Edwards to serve as Grand Marshal

Nearly two decades of service to the Louisiana Cotton Festival has paid off for Hilda Edwards as she was selected marshal for this year’s running of the Grand Parade of Cotton.
“It’s an honor to be selected,” she commented. “I’ve been helping out with the Cotton Festival for about 15 years. I helped setting up the stage in front of city hall for people to watch the parade and would provide the water and the drinks. I think we at city hall got more involved with the Cotton Festival when (Mayor) Jennifer (Vidrine) came.”
Edwards remembers coming to Ville Platte for the Louisiana Cotton Festival when she was a child growing up in Washington.
“It was always exciting knowing that the Cotton Festival was coming to town, and we would come to the fair,” Edwards said.
She then passed down that childhood excitement to other generations behind her. Edwards stated, “As I grew older, I would take my kids, and, then, I took my grandkids. Now, I go with my great-grandkids.”
When Edwards is not passing down Louisiana Cotton Festival experiences are setting up for the parade, she serves as the Mayor Vidrine’s assistant for the City of Ville Platte. “It involves helping the mayor in whatever she needs to be done,” she explained. “It involves helping out or getting anything ready that the mayor is involved in or any function that is going on with the city. It’s more or less doing whatever the mayor needs to be done.”
Edwards also expressed what the Louisiana Cotton Festival means to the city. “It brings people to Ville Platte,” she said. “It shows our hospitality and how we really have nice people here.”
She concluded, “It’s really exciting to be a part of it, and it’s really big for the city.”