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The river parishes kicked off the holiday season with the 25th annual ‘Festival of the Bonfires’ in Lutcher! The three day-long event featured a gumbo cook-off, live music, crafts, Santa’s Very Merry Forest and carnival rides for the kids. WGNO personalities Anne Cutler and Dr. Rachel Reitan helped judge the gumbo competition. Each night was highlighted by a single bonfire lighting. On Christmas Eve, local families will light the rest of the bonfires lining the levee, lighting the way for Papa Noel as he delivers presents to area kids!   Poultry Gumbo
1st TEAM Moose & Poochie   Brett “Moose” Trosclair
2nd TEAM Foti Financial Casey Laiche & Walt Amato
3rd TEAM Z’s Tackle Joey Zimmer, Lane Zimmer & Mathew Hymel
  Seafood Gumbo
1st TEAM LSR Rashad Albert, Wade Faucheux & Ryan Kliebert
2nd TEAM Noranda Cyle Tullier
3rd TEAM Marathon Stan Bourgeois
  Red Bean Gumbo
1st TEAM Knights of Columbus Boolee Roussel, Garland Landry & Larry Bland
2nd TEAM True Roux Jade Poche, Trudy Leblanc & Melissa Roper
3rd TEAM Late Entry Brennan Roussel, Troy Roussel & Adam Roussel
  Bread Pudding
1st Cheryl Michel
2nd Peggy McCreary
3rd Donnie Zimmer
  Potato Salad
1st Joey St. Pierre
2nd Mary Ann Rome
3rd Lisa Stein
  Best Gumbo of the Festival Seafood Gumbo by Rashad Albert, Wade Faucheux & Ryan Kliebert   Best Gumbo Team Knights of Columbus
Anne left the festival with a belly full of gumbo.  To hear more about what she’s eating around town, follow her on Twitter @AnneCutler!