Morganza Christmas Celebration & Gumbo Cookoff Morganza, La Dec. 9, 2012

There’s a lot of spirit to go around at the Morganza Christmas Celebration & Gumbo Cookoff – both the holiday spirit expected at a winter festival, as well as a healthy dose of competitive spirit.

Held each year the second Sunday in December, the Morganza Christmas Celebration & Gumbo Cookoff, located outside Morganza Town Hall, offers all the best elements of a small town festival – good food, friendly people, exciting events, a strong sense of community and some pretty heated cooking competitions, including a gumbo Cookoff and a popular cake bake-off.

Though the majority of festival activities take place on Sunday, the festivities really get underway Saturday night with an outdoor street dance from 7-10 p.m. Music will be provided by a local band.

Sunday morning, gumbo Cookoff participants arrive at 6 a.m. to prepare their entries for the noon judging, while judges weigh in on the cake bake-off at 9 a.m. Winning cakes will be selected in a variety of categories, such as prettiest cake and best-tasting cake. (Make a note of the best cakes, as they will later serve as birthday cakes during the town-wide birthday party that happens at 4:30 p.m.)

The official opening ceremony is from 10-11 a.m. Santa arrives after the opening ceremony to hear Christmas wishes for two hours. We bet quite a few people will ask for a Gallon Jug of TABASCO® Sauce this year! Also at 11 a.m., the Fine Artisan Row opens alongside the Church Hall, featuring the work of Morganza residents – woodworking, quilts, paintings and more.

Rides, including a large carousel, a rock-climbing wall and a miniature train that travels around the City Hall block, will operate from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Local bands will perform throughout the day, finishing up at 5 p.m., just in time for the closing ceremony. In addition to sampling gumbo Cookoff and cake bake-off entries, fest-goers will dine on all the eats typical to a South Louisiana festival – crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, cracklins, hamburgers and hotdogs, nachos, sausage poboys, BBQ beef poboys and much more.

Directions: Morganza is located roughly halfway between Baton Rouge and Marksville on LA-1. After entering Morganza on LA-1, look for Plauche Street, which is near the town’s only grocery store. Take a left on Plauche Street if you’re heading west (a right if you’re heading east). Morganza Town Hall will be to your right across Highway 3050.