Photo by John Williams.
Louisiana’s first and only National Water Trail, Bayou Teche, will continue to make waves this October 17 with the TECHE Project’s annual paddle boat parade. This year, rather than the usual “Paddle to the Party” boat parade down the Bayou, the “Paddle is the Party”! The morning paddle boat parade down the Teche will begin at Poche's in Breaux Bridge at 10am, with the floating party continuing down the Bayou to Parc des Ponts. Like any proper Louisiana parade on land or water, live musicians will escort the paddling partiers for a lively, if unconventional two-hour parade down scenic Bayou Teche. Paddlers will understandably work up an appetite during this aquatic second line, so food and drink will be available at Parc des Ponts upon arrival for participants to enjoy a hamburger or other outdoor-approved delicacy in the safely distant company of fellow kayak and nature enthusiasts.
If paddlers feel like the odds might be in their favor after their morning excursion, at 1pm there will be an opportunity to enter a raffle with the potential to win a state-of-the-art kayak of their very own. While the lunch and kayak raffle are the destination, attendees are encouraged to revel in the journey down the nationally-recognized waterway approaching the park, as well—because nothing says “pandemic-approved” like the great outdoors, particularly given the necessity of social distancing that comes with captaining a kayak or other paddle boat.
The TECHE Project, organizer of the paddle parade, is a nonprofit founded in 2009 and devoted to environmental education and beautification of their namesake bayou. Members regularly conduct litter patrols on the bayou, hold ecological workshops, and otherwise ensure the Bayou Teche National Paddle Trail maintains its serene beauty. The “Paddle is the Party” boat parade is a fundraiser for the TECHE Project, and proceeds will be put toward building the National Paddle Trail, which will place trail-head access docks in all thirteen towns along the 135-miles of Bayou Teche.
To ensure the parade crowd is limited to a safe number, organizers ask that participants register ahead of time on Eventbrite. The cost of registration is $10, which will include an annual event pin appropriately featuring a bird wearing a mask to mark these unusual times. For safety, paraders are asked to wear a mask when not paddling—but that doesn’t mean fun can’t be had with that, too. A Best Bird Mask contest will be held, so come equipped with your beak, in addition to your paddle! Residents who live along this stretch of Bayou Teche are encouraged to join the party from the banks for parade viewing as the paddlers shake their trail feathers down the Bayou. Laissez les bon temps flotter—let the good times float!
More information on the paddle parade, as well as an Eventbrite link, will be available closer to the time of the event at TecheProject.org.
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