Catfish Festival is back on

The Louisiana Catfish Festival will officially be back in 2021.

St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church was set to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the festival in 2020, but the pandemic cancelled that celebration. To make up for lost revenue – the festival brought in an average of $40,000 a year – local parishioners including Sheena Candies pivoted to organizing craft fairs to keep the church afloat.

Candies, who has fond memories of growing up in Des Allemands and attending the Catfish Festival every year, now helps to organize and promote the annual event. She said everyone involved in planning this year’s event is very excited.

“There will be no rides this year, and it will just be a one-day festival,” Candies said, adding the typical festival is three days. “But we’re going to have the usual foods that we have and bands playing. We are very excited, especially to help the church out.”

The 45th Louisiana Catfish Festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021 on the grounds of St. Gertrude Catholic Church from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. The band schedule includes The Elvis Experience featuring Jayson Alfano, Road Kill Gumbo, Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition and the Kerry Thibodaux band.

Candies said there will be free admission, an air-conditioned earing area, games and a craft fair at the festival.

“We have been thinking about it for a while … it’s been in the works,” she said of the fall event. “We were thinking of doing something in September or October when it was cooler … the festival is normally in June. There’s a lot of people working to make this happen. Everyone is just ready to be back to normal, and this is the closest we can get to normal for now.”

For more information on the festival, visit www.Louisianacatfishfestival.com.

 

About Monique Roth 919 Articles
Roth has both her undergraduate and graduate degree in journalism, which she has utilized in the past as an instructor at Southeastern Louisiana University and a reporter at various newspapers and online publications. She grew up in LaPlace, where she currently resides with her husband and three daughters.

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