Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival History

 

In 1990, David Bourdier founded the Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival to raise money to help build a museum.  The first festival was held in 1991 at Kemper Williams Park.   Carol Vinning, Frank Guarisco, Charles Campbell, Derrick Jennings, C.C. Stewart, and Greg Price were the first festival volunteers.

There were many problems associated with this site such as no electrical power and water.  Cleco installed light poles and a transformer on their main power line.  Each year, Cleco would come and run the overhead power lines and return to take them down.  Cameron donated large floodlights; Greg Price loaned electrical wiring and assisted in wiring the booths.  St. Joseph’s Catholic Church provided the booths and Williams, Inc. provided lights for some of the tents and booths.  The St. Mary Parish Council gave $5,000 to help with the start-up cost.  The second year the Board requested and received $10,000 from the Parish.

In 1993, the weather was so cold and windy it blew down the Arts and Crafts tents.  Rebel Amusements asked the Board if they would like to try to hold the festival again the following weekend.  An announcement that the festival would run the following weekend was made on Sunday.  Holding the festival two weekends in a row, proved to the community that the Board was serious about creating a good, family oriented festival.

In 1995, Cleco decided to put underground wiring for the festival.  A trench of 1800 feet was dug and PVC pipe was installed for the wire.  Once this pipe was in place, Cleco sent in a contractor to install the above ground transformer and wiring.  The cost of the job, $25,000, was donated by Cleco to the festival.  This donation made the park useable for other functions.

The Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival is truly a family oriented and community event.  The festival consists of a midway with amusement rides and games, arts and crafts show, car show, poker run, fun walk, gumbo cook-off, softball tournament, fishing tournament, golf tournament, petting zoo, old engine display, RV camping, lumber jack show, musical entertainment, passé partout contest, and much more.

After the festival’s third year, Carol Vinning suggested that the festival crown a king and queen to promote the festival throughout the State of Louisiana.  The festival board agreed and festival royalty were named in subsequent years as follows:  1994 - David Bourdier & Kitty Leonard; 1995 - Carol Vinning & Selena Johnson; 1996 -  Arvin Alleman & Ginger Alleman; 1997 – Levy Roy & Angelina Swords; 1998 – C.C. Stewart & Sharon Kerry; 1999 – Charles Campbell & Amanda Arceneaux; 2000 – Robert Greenwood (deceased) & Bronwyn Gay; 2001 – Derrick Jennings & Jamie Smith; 2002 – Peter “Dutch” Vandenaardweg & Randi Landry; 2003 – Arthur Roy & Kristen Hebert; 2004 – Jack Smith and Leslie Rulf; 2005 – C.J. Arceneaux, Jr. & Brandi Jones; 2006 – Steve Bierhorst & Kristen Chauvin; 2007 – Travis Bourdier & Erin Hymel.
           
The festival has grown over the years to be one of the Top Twenty Eventsin the Southern Tourism Society.  In 2003, the Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival was chosen Festival of the Year in Division 1 by the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals and again in 2006.  The festival has won many awards and honors over the years including a marketing award for its “Wooden Koozies”.  Holding the festival at Kemper Williams Park has resulted in the park being awarded many grants to expand.

The dream of opening a cypress sawmill museum took a giant step in 2003 when the Board of Directors of the Wedell-Williams Memorial Foundation joined hands with the Cypress Sawmill Foundation to build a single edifice with separate galleries to preserve the history of both the aviation and sawmill industries of Patterson.  After completion of the building in 2005, the aviation collection was moved from the original building at the Patterson Airport to the new facility at Kemper Williams Park.  The Sawmill collection, which had been gathered over a period of years and held in storage, was also placed on display in the new facility.  This was great news for festivalgoers in 2006 as a tour of the Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum became a major added attraction to the many festivals activities.

The festival is always held the first weekend in April, with attendance estimated at about 35,000 for a three-day event.  The festival is also a moneymaker for several local organizations who staff our food and beverage booths.  Each group gives a portion of their sales to the festival.

The Board of Directors take pride in their family-oriented festival and will continue to work on upgrading and promoting the festival in order to support the museum, which is filled with memories that preserve the history of cypress and aviation in Louisiana, as well to sponsor educational exhibits and programs throughout the year.