Started By
Message

South Franklin Catfish Festival today in Wisner Louisiana

Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:49 am
Posted by boudinman
Member since Nov 2019
5046 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:49 am
It was formerly the Franklun Parish Catfish Festival in Winnsboro, but that city stopped having it, and now a smaller version is being held in Wisner each year. Glad to see the festival traditon being continued.

LINK
Posted by Ignignot
Member since Mar 2009
18823 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:50 am to
quote:

city stopped having it,


Why?
Posted by soccerfüt
Location: A Series of Tubes
Member since May 2013
65691 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:51 am to
Traditons are good unless you’re a catfish.
Posted by udtiger
Over your left shoulder
Member since Nov 2006
98816 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:51 am to
Was so depressing when I used to drive through there and they had the abandoned school on the north side of town.
Posted by Cosmo
glassman's guest house
Member since Oct 2003
120268 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:53 am to
quote:

Why?


In some of these small towns festivals bring undesirables and they become more trouble than they are worth.
Posted by Bucktail1
Member since Feb 2015
3188 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:54 am to
Catfish festival used to be great when I was a kid in Winnsboro. Great food
Posted by wasteland
City of peace
Member since Apr 2011
5600 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 8:55 am to
You don’t frick with tradition
Posted by boudinman
Member since Nov 2019
5046 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:05 am to
Winnsboro wanted more more of the festival proceeds to offset costs of employees working that day, and they passed ordinance to require vendors pay a new $200 fee. Up from around $50.

Monies from original festival were used to fund parish scholarships, and to be used to pay for costs for future festivals. The comittee balked and said they would just nolonger have the festival.
Posted by White Bear
Yonnygo
Member since Jul 2014
13895 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:07 am to
quote:

Was so depressing when I used to drive through there and they had the abandoned school on the north side of town.
That was a satellite campus for Northeast. Closed in the mid 90’s.

And Winnsboro is the nicest town on the Monroe-NTZ trip baws.
This post was edited on 5/6/23 at 9:09 am
Posted by OysterPoBoy
City of St. George
Member since Jul 2013
35140 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:08 am to
Catfish Festival used to be all about catfish and fellowship. It’s gotten out of hand the last decade. All anyone cares about now is the money. I know 2 people that rent their house out for the weekend and make enough to pay the mortgage for the year. It’s lost the feel that made it great in the past.
Posted by boudinman
Member since Nov 2019
5046 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:11 am to
That feel is back with the one in Wisner. Harings Pride Catfish, good music, and lots of friendly people.
Posted by Tigers0891
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2017
6575 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:13 am to
The new mayor of Winnsboro was supposedly bringing the festival back and reducing the fees back to the original. Guess it didn’t work out.
Posted by Bard
Definitely NOT an admin
Member since Oct 2008
51618 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:27 am to
quote:

Winnsboro wanted more more of the festival proceeds to offset costs of employees working that day, and they passed ordinance to require vendors pay a new $200 fee. Up from around $50.


That's somewhat similar to what happened to the Art & Folk Festival in Columbia years ago.

The festival was HUGE when I was a kid, bringing anywhere from 50k-100k people into Columbia for that weekend (and anyone whose even driven through Columbia understands how big a deal that would be). The parish had school buses bringing people in from parking lots up to a mile away and for many years a satellite festival had sprung up in Riverton (enough to require police to direct traffic there as well).

As the family who had originally started the festival decades earlier started stepping back from it, others stepped up but their goals were more focused toward making money than preserving culture. They raised their prices while basically telling those complaining "then go somewhere else" (because there were no other festivals at the time, eventually that changed).

Flash forward 30-ish years and now it's held for only one day (instead of 2-3) on Main Street (instead of the rec center grounds across the river) and they have to allow people selling even cheap, plastic things in order to have enough in vendor fees to pay bills.
Posted by lepdagod
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2015
3394 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:37 am to
quote:

And Winnsboro is the nicest town on the Monroe-NTZ trip baws.


Nope… and I’ve been driving Monroe-BR the last 25 years…
Posted by TigerNAtux
Louisiana
Member since Dec 2007
17112 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:50 am to
So…what town do you give the nod to?
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
37752 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:50 am to
Pro tip, hit Smoker Paradise in Winnsboro for some killer bbq sandwiches. Brisket and pulled pork are money, but they also have some excellent smoked turkey. Ribs and chicken ain't bad either. Sides are just ok.
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
37752 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:53 am to
He's saying to drive past the I-20 entrance ramp and enter beautiful, sunny, downtown Rayvegas. The finest city on the Natchez to Funroe jaunt.
Posted by BayouBlitz
Member since Aug 2007
15843 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 9:57 am to
quote:

I know 2 people that rent their house out for the weekend and make enough to pay the mortgage for the year.


What? Is their mortgage $200/month?
Posted by White Bear
Yonnygo
Member since Jul 2014
13895 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 10:07 am to
quote:

He's saying to drive past the I-20 entrance ramp and enter beautiful, sunny, downtown Rayvegas. The finest city on the Natchez to Funroe jaunt.
I bypass Rayville to check the crop/waterfowl sitch on 15.

I do like Alto, too.
Posted by Gee Grenouille
Bogalusa
Member since Jul 2018
4780 posts
Posted on 5/6/23 at 11:40 am to
quote:

Winnsboro wanted more more of the festival proceeds to offset costs of employees working that day, and they passed ordinance to require vendors pay a new $200 fee. Up from around $50.


Sounds like what king Tyrin Truong is doing in Bogalusa. He wanted to charge the American legion $2500 to have the annual 4th of July parade. The farmer that was recently sued by the Washington parish sheriff decided he’d pay the fees, he’s now running against the sheriff that sued him. King Truong backed off the fees and decided to let the parade roll as usual.
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 2Next pagelast page

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitterInstagram