How Gonzales got the Jambalaya Festival

From https://www.thecreole.com/

In 1967, Steve Juneau was a 26 year old mortician at Welsh Funeral Home in Gonzales who became frustrated at the Lions Club’s inability to raise funds in support of the charities it supported. His efforts to solve that fundraising problem would lead to the creation of the Jambalaya Festival only one year later. 46 years later the Festival is going strong even though many challenges have arisen along the way.
“The Lions Club was providing eye glasses for those in need and it had completely run out of money,” Juneau remembered. “I happened to go home to Marksville and its Cochon de Lait Festival. At the festival the Marksville Lions Club had a booth which peaked my interest. Then I ran into an old high school friend, Melvin Harris, who happened to be the festival’s president and we got to talking about the money made at the Cochon de Lait Festival. That really got me to thinking.”
Once home Juneau approached his Lions Club mentor, Clarence Berteau, and discussed a new idea. What if the club sponsored a festival in Gonzales. “My fellow Lions Club members were not at all sold on my idea. Clarence to me to do some more homework and get back to him,” Juneau recalled. “And he did. “I worked on the idea for a while without making much headway. Then, purely by coincidence, I ran into another friend of mine in the funeral business, Ray Pellerin. Ray was the president of the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge’.”

Pellerin stressed to Juneau that the undertaking being contemplated was too big for any one civic organization like the Lions Club.

“He told me ‘You need to create an association to handle all the work involved and you need to include other organizations.’ Ray predicted an added benefit. Had we not included the VFW, American Legion, the Jaycees and the Women’s Club the may have been resentful and certainly wouldn’t have been very supportive,” Juneau reminisced. “Another benefit was that by getting them involved they would attend any new function and hopefully get their friends to come.”
The newly formed Festival Association began by selling $2.00 memberships and raised $800.00. “With the initial investment we decided to have a dry run in December of 1967. It started at noon on a Sunday and we only had two bands but we raised $1,800.00,” he fondly recollected. The festival was designated the Jambalaya Festival in honor of all the fantastc jambalaya cooks in and around Gonzales who had impressed Juneau so much.

The first annual Jambalaya Festival was in 1968. “So many people donated their time and spent their money at the festival. We rented booths out for $50.00 and made most of our money from selling beer and jambalaya. At the end all the bills were paid which was a relief because I had signed for $6,000.00 worth of stuff and had no money in my account. Then Mickey Latuso showed up at my office with a P & L and we’d cleared $12,000.00 – in 1968 money,” Juneau proudly said.

For a number of reasons Steve Juneau’s involvement with the festival came to an end very shortly thereafter. The enjoyed quite a successful run at its initial site on Burnside Ave. but fell on hard times after an incident which led to a costly civil suit. Then it was moved around to a number of locations; Reynolds Lambert Park in Sorrento, the American Legion Hall on Cornerview St., an open field on Hwy. 44 just south of Hwy. 30, Sorrento’s Civic Center…none of which succeeded or felt right.

“Mr. Wally Taillon saved the festival,” claimed Juneau. “He was the one that had the idea to bring it to its present location across from City Hall, and he graciously asked me to come back.”
The Jambalaya Festival has been celebrated in its present location since 1999. The ever humble Wally Taillon, who by this time was the JFA President, credits the efforts of Johnny Berthelot and Mayor Barney Arceneaux with making it possible.

“We could not have made the move back without Johnny Berthelot’s help in establishing a great working relationship with the City of Gonzales. Mayor Arceneaux has just been great to work with and very supportive. Everything is centrally located and family oriented and everyone just has a great time. I feel like it’s just been a real success and will continue into the foreseeable future,” Taillon concluded.