Staff Report
A decision will be made this year on one annual Plaquemine event, while a longtime tradition is set to make its return.
The International Acadian Festival will be back on schedule this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances that could lead to cancelation of the fall tradition.
“We are on track for a full festival on the fourth weekend in October, if nothing changes,” said Steve Smith, speaking on behalf of Knights of Columbus Council No. 970, which has organized the event since its inception in 1969, when it was held as “The Cajun Festival.”
The Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Waterfront Park has been the host site for the festival during the past several years.
February 5, 2021 By Frank McCormack
The mv. Kathleen has been tripping tows through the locks between the Lower Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, La., and the bayous that connect to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) for close to 70 years.
For that entire time, the Kathleen has been part of the Businelle Towing family, now in its fifth generation of family leadership.
Their family story, and that of the Kathleen, is one firmly connected to the waterways of south Louisiana and the maritime industry that thrives there.
“I think they started building it in about 1950, and they christened it in 1952,” said John Wayne Businelle, the third-generation, semi-retired owner-operator of Businelle Towing and Pelican Ship Yard & Machine Shop, where the Kathleen was built.