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Forget the calendar;  it's carnival time in Montegut    By AMY WOLD, Houma Courier, 8/6/99

Paulette Henry works on a flower arrangement  Wednesday at the Montegut Recreation  Center in preparation for the Mardi Gras  tableau to be held there Saturday. The  tableau is part of the Congrès Mondial Acadien.  Photo by BRYAN TUCK/THE COURIER.

                     People in south Louisiana love any excuse to have a parade. Whether it
                     involves tossing beads during Mardi Gras or throwing cabbage on St.
                     Patrick's Day, a parade is a good way for people to get together and
                     have some fun.

                     That's why the bayouside town of Montegut will be throwing a
                     down-home Mardi Gras parade for locals and visitors at 6:30 tonight.

                     "It was a chance for Montegut to put on a free show for all our guests,"
                     said Paulette Henry, one of the volunteers who helped get ready for the festival. 

                     With the theme of La Vie du Bayou a'Montegut, or "Life on the
                     Bayou in Montegut," the parade will cover a two-mile parade route,
                     starting and ending at the Montegut Recreation Center on
                     Recreation Drive.

                     Gayle Riche, organizer of many of this weekend's events in
                     Montegut, described the parade floats as "Cajun homemade."

                     "It's not like the big floats you see in New Orleans and Houma,"
                     Riche said. "It's a small-town parade."

                     However, this small town parade is still going to provide a number of
                     things to see. The parade will include a king and queen float, and
                     nine throwing floats - giving visitors and locals a chance to catch
                     beads, toys and wooden nickels, which were made especially for
                     this parade.

                     In addition to the floats, the parade will include the

                     South Terrebonne and Ellender high school bands, the Shriners, a
                     Boy Scout troop and the Plantation Rider Club, the members of
                     which will dress in antebellum clothes and will be riding through the
                     parade on horses.

                     The grand marshal of the parade is Louis Robichaux of Nova Scotia,
                     who is past prime minister of New Brunswick and now a senator.
                     King La Vie for the parade is HTV news anchor Lonnie Thibodeaux
                     and the Queen La Vie for the parade is Glenny Lee Buquet,
                     chairwoman of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary
                     Education. Both are from Houma.

                     "We do it because it's free fun. It's a tradition that's been handed
                     down forever," Riche said about parades.

                     "You almost have to experience Mardi Gras. You see it on TV, and
                     it looks like a lot of foolishness," Riche said. But, she added, once
                     you've attended a Mardi Gras parade you're hooked. "It's hard to
                     stay home when there's a parade going on."

                     After the parade, a tableau will be held inside the Montegut
                     Recreation Center. Tickets are $3.

                     "Tableau is the presentation of the court," Riche said. "It's just like
                     a real royal court would receive their guests and the peasants."

                     Volunteers have transformed the Montegut Recreation Center gym
                     and stage into a scene from the bayou for this tableau. A stuffed
                     alligator, cypress trees and all kinds of decorations in the Mardi
                     Gras colors of green, gold and purple help give the gym a festive
                     flavor.

                     It will be during the tableau that Montegut will be officially twinned
                     with Saulnierville, Nova Scotia.

                     "Somebody who had visited up there had noticed a likeness
                     between the two communities," Riche said. Riche and her husband
                     also visited Saulnierville and said that they found the town shared
                     many characteristics with Montegut, including that both are small
                     fishing communities. 

                     "It's just like Montegut," Riche said. 

                     Although the parade and twinning are big events, they're not the
                     only things going on in Montegut during the weekend.

                     For the most part, the events are inside air-conditioned buildings
                     and the activities are within walking distance of the Montegut
                     Recreation Center. 

                     "We've got enough facilities here to keep people inside all the time,"
                     Riche said.

                     On Saturday, the Robichaux family reunion will be taking over the
                     Montegut Recreation Center, but visitors are welcomed. As part of
                     the reunion, a portion of the center will be turned into a Cajun
                     museum with a collection of antiques.

                     Also on Saturday, Riche said, there will be Cajun woodcarvers,
                     artists and crafters doing demonstrations and a Cajun dinner served
                     in the Montegut Lions Home starting at 11 a.m.

                     In addition, at the local Council on Aging building nearby, senior
                     citizens have been busy creating a variety of crafts that will be on
                     sale during the weekend, along with homemade cakes, cookies and
                     candies.

                     On Saturday and Sunday, antique automobile clubs will be at the
                     center showing off their cars, and there will be a small engine
                     exhibit.

                     On Sunday, the Montegut Lions and the Pointe-aux-Chenes
                     Knights of Columbus will be serving a barbecue chicken dinner,
                     starting at 11:30 a.m. for $5 a plate at the Montegut Recreation
                     Center. 

                     Entertainment will start Sunday afternoon with performances from
                     three local bands playing, a Nova Scotia dance team "La Baie en
                     Joie" and a performance and a presentation from two United Houma
                     Nation dance groups.

                     There will also be two French Masses, one held at 5:30 p.m. on
                     Saturday and one held at 9 a.m. Sunday at Sacred Heart Catholic
                     Church in Montegut. 

                     "This is the next biggest happening on this side of the Atchafalaya,"
                     Riche said.

                     Amy Wold is a staff writer at The Courier. She can be reached at
                     850-1148