Morganza Christmas Celebration
& Gumbo Cookoff
Morganza, LA
December 12, 2010

There's a lot of spirit to go around at the Morganza Christmas Celebration & Gumbo Cook-Off – 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 Cook-Off, 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 cook-off and a popular cake bake-off.

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

Sunday morning, gumbo cook-off 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. 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 cook-off 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.

2010 dates: December 12
(2011: Dec. 11)

Admission is Free

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.

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