State

Elementary Teacher of the Year candidates from left are Olivia Guillory (WW Stewart Elementary); Eric Fontenot (Ville Platte Elementary School); Josie Guillory (Vidrine Elementary School); Faith Ducote (Pine Prairie High School); Amber Aymond (Mamou Elementary School); Lauren Thidodeaux (James Stephens Montessori School); Beth Brown (Chataignier Elementary School); and Kassidy Sanders (Bayou Chicot Elementary School). (Gazette photo by Heather Bogard)

Evangeline Parish District Teachers of the Year announced following competition

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor Evangeline Parish Teacher of the Year School winners competed before judges throughout the day on Friday, September 29.

Le Roi Earnest Anderson (left) and La Reine Bernadine Fontenot (right) enjoyed the festivities at last year’s Contradanse to kick off the 2022 Cotton Festival. On Tuesday evening, October 10, they will crown the next Le Roi et La Reine of Heritage Manor to participate in this year’s Cotton Festival events. (Gazette photo by Heather Bogard)

Le Roi et La Reine: Reigning over the Contradanse to kick off the Cotton Festival

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor For reigning La Reine Bernadine Fontenot (86) and Le Roi Earnest Anderson (83), serving as the Heritage Manor Cotton Festival Royalty was a fun experience.

CALHOUN TALKS COTTON FESTIVAL - Katelyn Yates Calhoun (center) was the guest speaker for the October 3, meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club. She is shown with Rotarian Annette Johnson (left) and Rotary President Brian Ardoin. (Gazette photo by Heather Bogard)

Ville Platte Rotary: Calhoun shares Cotton Festival plans

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor Rotarian Annette Johnson welcomed Katelyn Yates Calhoun with the Cotton Festival Association as the guest speaker for the October 3, meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club.

Queen Cotton LXVIII Amber Hope Borne

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor For Amber Hope Borne, being crowned Queen Cotton LXVIII last October was the culmination of a five-year journey attempting to claim her dream title. Borne shares, “My journey to becoming Queen Cotton took five years.

King Cotton Eric Smith

Smith, state FFA advisor, is set to be crowned King Cotton

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: TONY MARKS Editor King Cotton LXIX will be Louisiana Future Farmers of America State Advisor Eric Smith. “I feel honored to have been nominated by the community,” Smith expressed. “It’s not something I applied for or sought. It kind of found me.

Colonel Cotton Pat Derouselle

Former association president now serves as colonel cotton

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: TONY MARKS Editor Born in 1964 to the late Leola “Blondie” and Ellis Derouselle, Patrick Derouselle has been a lifelong resident of Evangeline Parish. Upon graduating from Ville Platte High School, he served as a legislative aide for the Louisiana State legislature from 1984 to 1987.

Grand Marshal Kim Deville

Deville, 4-H youth agent, will lead Grand Parade of Cotton as marshal

News Staff

Monday, October 9, 2023

By: HEATHER BOGARD Associate Editor 4-H Youth Development Agent for Evangeline Parish Kimberly Deville has been selected by the Cotton Festival Board to serve as Grand Marshal over the Grand Parade of Cotton to close out the Cotton Festival Week festivities on October 15.

A hoot and a hoorah is held at Lakeview

News Staff

Thursday, October 5, 2023

Lakeview Park and Beach, for the second year in a row, was the host site for Le Grand Hoorah. The festivities began on Saturday, September 30, and ended with a French Mass at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday with Fr. Keenan Brown, of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Basile, officiating.

Abigail Fruge, the reigning La. Swine Festival Queen, poses in her full regalia at the Music of Basile mural in old downtown.

Swine Festival queen has strong Basile roots

News Staff

Thursday, October 5, 2023

By: DARREL LEJEUNE LSN Editor Abigail Marie Fruge, a name not synonymous with pigs but rather with grace, intelligence, and talent, has worn the crown of the Louisiana Swine Festival Queen with honor and distinction for the past year.

Ricki Lafleur (left) is pictured with Evangeline Parish Sheriff Charles Guillory after receiving an academic scholarship from the Louisiana Sheriff’s Scholarship Program. (Photo courtesy of EPSO)

Lafleur receives scholarship

News Staff

Thursday, October 5, 2023

Sheriff Charles R. Guillory announced Ricki Lafleur, of Evangeline Parish, has been named the recipient of an academic scholarship from the Louisiana Sheriff's Scholarship Program. She resides in Mamou and plans to attend ULM and pursue psychology as a field of study.

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