Covid Christmas in St. Francisville:

Covid Christmas in St. Francisville:
Six Feet Y’all

By Anne Butler
           
For decades, St. Francisville’s wonderful Christmas in the Country celebration has drawn excited crowds to escape mall madness and celebrate a safe small-town holiday the first weekend in December. Its historic charm shone as tiny white lights climbed Victorian gallery posts to turn this little rivertown into a magical venue, its lavishly decorated shop windows filled with alluring gift possibilities and a delightful parade lending its theme to the whole shebang…Walking in a Winter Wonderland, or Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, or something equally upbeat.

Not this year. Pandemic issues have upended the whole celebration, but the resourceful sponsors have figured out innovative ways to ensure the safety of guests, even if it means unseating Santa from his comfy inside throne for outside photo ops with children and a special spaced-out parade marching to the theme of “Six Feet Y’all.”

Events kick off Friday evening, December 4, as retiring longtime mayor Billy D’Aquilla hosts his last lighting of the town Christmas tree at the St. Francisville town hall, complete with fireworks, the United Methodist Church Children’s Choir performing on the front porch (5:30) and a Welcome Walk-Thru. The First Baptist Church puts on a Drive-through Live Nativity at its location at the intersection of US 61 and LA 10 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Private homes throughout the National Register-listed Historic District on Ferdinand and Royal Streets encourage peeping Toms to peer through windows to admire Christmas decorations inside; signs designate homes participating in what’s called “Peep into our Holiday Homes” on Friday and Saturday nights from 6:30 to 8.

Be sure to drive through the West Feliciana Parish Hospital’s lighting display from Burnett Road to Commerce St. and enjoy cookies and cocoa; this will be a popular drive-through all month.  Also on Friday, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., Hemingbough hosts the Holiday Brass concert featuring the Baton Rouge Symphony.
Saturday, December 5, Anytime Fitness underscores its understanding that fitness bolsters both mental and physical health, especially in this time of Covid19, by sponsoring 5K and Fun Run races. Benefitting Cancer Services, Christmas on the Run begins at Town Hall on Ferdinand Street, 8 and 8:30 a.m. In downtown Parker Park, live music and interesting vendors will be onsite both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; over 50 unique artists and vendors sell woodworks, jewelry, bath products, paintings, food and much more.

Santa in the Park is the new outdoor event on Saturday, December 5, at 11 a.m. Featuring opportunities to take pictures with Santa in a fun socially distanced way, this event has been moved by the sponsoring non-profit Women’s Service League to the expansive West Feliciana Sports Park just off US Highway 61 at the north end of St. Francisville and will also feature the West Feliciana High band and cheerleaders plus theater students performing. Advance tickets are available online at www.wslwestfel.com or Facebook:WSLofWestFel; refunds will not be made if bad weather cancels this event. Bring your own picnic foods, lawn chairs or blankets.

There will be book signings for the new Soul of St. Francisville volume, full of fascinating history of iconic faces and places plus beautiful portraiture, at the West Feliciana Historical Society museum on Ferdinand Street on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at The Conundrum bookstore Sunday from 11 to 1.

Saturday evening from 6 to 8 p.m., Audubon State Historic Site hosts its annual tribute to 1815 called A Jane Austin Christmas with wassail, straight-out-of-the-woods seasonal decorations, period music and vintage dancing by beautifully costumed re-enactors; Oakley House, where artist John James Audubon painted so many of his bird studies in 1821, never looks lovelier than by candlelight. A Community Sing-Along raises voices and spirits at the St. Francisville United Methodist Church on Royal Street from 6 to 7.

Sunday, December 6, the Women’s Service League is calling its ever-popular parade through downtown St. Francisville “Six Feet Y’all” in recognition of the Covid19 mandate for safe social distancing. Starting at 2 p.m., the parade features floats, marching groups and local politicians flinging lots of candy, with special adaptations in consideration of the peculiar circumstances required this year for the safety of parade participants and spectators. Live music will be presented in Parker Park before the parade, featuring the Fugitive Poets noon to 2 and Nancy Roppolo & Day Trip 2 to 4.

But the big draw this weekend is the wonderful array of shopping opportunities in St. Francisville. There are co-ops bursting at the seams with antiques and one-of-a-kind collectibles, plus art galleries, specialty boutiques, ladies’ fashions, home décor and gift shops, ice cream parlors and candy shoppes, a bookstore, candles and crafts, fine jewelers and more. Many of these are located in charming repurposed historic structures, some of which were private cottages and others carrying on the tradition of several centuries as mercantiles.

All of the shops are ramping up their appeal for Christmas in the Country, with exquisite seasonal decorations, refreshments, music, and lots of special sales. There’s also the fun “Find Me If You Can, I’m the Gingerbread Man” hunt with prizes; cards and directions are available at the West Feliciana Historical Society Museum and Visitor Center as well as the West Feliciana Parish Library, with Sunday noon at Town Hall turn-in card time. An additional incentive to Shop Small Y’All is the offer of a designer tote bag with purchase of $200 at each shop.

Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, andNatchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination.  Several splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens is open in season. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation (a National Historic Landmark) and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19^th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses in St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3688 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224; online www.stfrancisvillefestivals.comor www.stfrancisville.net.

St. Francisville’s Longtime Mayor Retiring After Half-Century of Public Service

 

Mayor D'Aquilla by D. Chitty

St. Francisville’s Longtime Mayor Retiring After Half-Century of Public Service
By Anne Butler

You wouldn’t think growing up in an isolated little community of a hundred or so occupants would be good training for a career in politics, but for St. Francisville’s longtime mayor it provided exactly what he needed as the basis for his half-century of public service…an appreciation for history and an ability to get along with everybody. Those two must have served him well, for he has been elected and re-elected since he moved to St. Francisville in 1959.

 

 Mayor Billy D’Aquilla grew up in tiny Fort Adams, Mississippi, at a time when there were three wood-frame stores (two owned by his father and uncle) where trappers sold pelts and hunters or fishermen purchased provisions and all the country folks 

from cotton plantations and small farms piled into wagons to come into town on Saturdays, sitting on the store porches and shooting the breeze. This was after the Mississippi River channel shifted away from town. Originally Fort Adams had been the important US port of entry before the acquisition of New Orleans. A Jesuit mission had been established there around 1700 to bring Christianity to the local Indians, and in 1798 a military post named for President John Adams was established overlooking the river near the international boundary established between Spanish West Florida and the Mississippi Territory. There was a steep one-mile road down to the port at Fort Adams where cotton from across the central part of the state was hauled for shipment on paddlewheelers to factors in New Orleans during much of the 19th century.

 Working in his father’s store for $3 a day, Billy D’Aquilla recalls not having electricity until he was in the third grade, and listening to the Grand Old Opry on Tuesday nights after it had been broadcast on Saturday. When he left home at age 17 to join the National Guard, he’d already learned the skills he would put to use in the first job he got after moving to St. Francisville in 1959, working as a butcher in Vinci’s IGA supermarket and treating everybody the same…behind the counter, in front of the counter, and on the front porch shooting the breeze. After six years there, he opened his own grocery on US Highway 61, along with some rental houses behind the store, before advancing to travelling sales jobs.

 Meantime he was elected to the town council in 1972 and served for twelve years, 8 of them as Mayor Pro Tem, before running for mayor himself. He winces as he recalls those early days of raw sewerage running in the streets of St. Francisville. Once elected to that demanding position in 1984, he has been returned to office ever since, 12 terms counting the town council, mostly without opposition. Why? He absolute loves his town and absolutely loves his job. He also serves on numerous boards and commissions like the Capitol Region Planning Commission and the Louisiana Municipal Association for which he has served for years as Vice President At Large for communities of 1,000 to 5,000 residents.

 Proud of the many accomplishments made during his lengthy tenure, he says he has always had great people to work with, helping to implement many progressive improvements, including a new sewage system, 500,000-gallon water tower, new fire trucks, ball fields, enhanced tourism promotion. He’s especially proud of the downtown development plan that facilitated the placement of bricked sidewalks, public restrooms, and a lovely oak-shaded park with bandstand gazebo in the center of town, Parker Park, that hosts a myriad of festivals, marketplaces, and other entertainments. He has worked hard to get millions of dollars in grants to carry out projects in town, as well as lots of capital outlay money through the state legislature. He also convinced the state to turn over those portions of both highways (LA 10 and US 61) running through town, but only after the state overlaid both streets and shared $500,000 in surplus funding.

 “We did a lot for the town,” he says, working with a top-notch Main Street program, historic district commission, planning and zoning commission and different boards to whom he gives a lot of credit, including the Zachary Taylor Parkway commission of which St. Francisville was a charter member, so influential in placement of the new Audubon Bridge across the Mississippi. “We used to have a Class Six fire rating, and improved it to a Class Three, quite an accomplishment with a small mostly volunteer department and a real savings on fire insurance costs. Next up is a new waste-water treatment plant, a $5 million project in a new location safe from the increasingly regular floods on the Mississippi River, to be financed by a half-cent sales tax that will be on the ballot in December.”

 Tourism has for years been an economic mainstay for the downtown economy, with visitors coming from around the country to admire the small-town heritage and the preservation of its historic structures in a National Register-listed downtown district. As mayor, D’Aquilla certainly has been the head cheerleader and supportive of projects benefitting not only those within the town limits but also the parish as a whole. Steamboat visitors from around the world get off buses at the Town Hall and often stop in for a chat with the mayor, who is always welcoming. Hospitality as well as history keep this little town at or near the top of regional and national lists of Favorite Small Towns, and the patronage of out-of-town visitors means the difference between surviving and thriving for all the little downtown boutique shops and galleries. A spruced up docking facility planned for the steamboats that regularly visit St. Francisville will provide space for three vessels at once, as well as safe and spacious boat launching for recreational fishermen.

 Age and back troubles have slowed the mayor, and he needs to spend more time with his family, especially wife Yolanda, whom he married in 1962. But as he approaches retirement, he looks back over his long career with the satisfaction of having made many improvements, with incredible help from his devoted staff and town employees. What is he most proud of? “I have always treated everybody fairly,” he says, “no matter what age, color or status in life. I think I am most proud of that.”

 Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination; check locally for coronavirus mitigation requirements, please. Several splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens is open in season. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation (a National Historic Landmark) and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses in St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online www.stfrancisville.us, www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, or www.stfrancisville.net (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).
 

St. Francisville’s Christmas In The Country

Beloved Holiday Tradition: St. Francisville’s Christmas In The Country
By Anne Butler
Rick Bragg, native of Possum Trot, Alabama, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, educator and latter-day aw-shucks humor columnist for Southern Living, confesses to being terrified of the melee and misery of Black Friday, envisioning himself yanking a discounted flat-screen TV from the death grip of a rabid granny snarling through bared teeth, before being trampled by the crazed hordes.

But holiday shopping doesn’t have to be that way, and the longtime sponsors of St. Francisville’s Christmas in the Country celebrate the season by combining great bargains on unique gifts with carols and concerts, home tours and a great parade, food and fun for all ages. This year’s festival is December 6, 7 and 8th with activities throughout the downtown area, where tiny white lights grace gallery posts and trace soaring Victorian trimwork to turn the entire National Register-listed Historic District into a veritable winter wonderland.

The theme of the Sunday afternoon Christmas parade is Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and it sets the tone for the whole weekend, a safe, small-town celebration of its bedrock beliefs---in the goodness of people, the beauty of nature, and the strength of community and faith. Plus it’s just plain fun! Remember when Christmas shopping was actually a pleasure? It still is in St. Francisville, where each unique little store welcomes shoppers with lots of lagniappe: refreshments, music, and spectacular discounted sales.

Friday evening, December 6th, Christmas in the Country is kicked off around St. Francisville’s Town Hall as jovial longtime mayor Billy D’Aquilla lights the town tree and hosts a reception complete with fireworks. The Polar Express Train travels along Ferdinand Street from 5 to 7:30, and participating homes along Ferdinand and Royal Streets, designated by signs, permit visitors to Peep Into Our Holiday Homes from 6 to 8 p.m. both Friday and Saturday.

A fundraising concert called Sounds Of The Season will be held to benefit the restoration of the Old Benevolent Society Building, St. Francisville’s oldest black burial insurance lodge, listed on the 2018 list of Louisiana’s Most Endangered Places. The concert features one of America’s premier bass-baritone singers, Ivan Griffin, a classically trained artist whose repertoire spans a wide range, from sacred and gospel to musical theater, jazz, opera and oratorio. The concert takes place in Grace Episcopal Church from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., and is preceded by a reception in the church’s Jackson Hall from 6 to 7:15. (Tickets: www.eventbrite.com)

Saturday, December 7th, begins with a 7:30 a.m. Community Prayer Breakfast at the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Christmas on the Run supporting the American Cancer Society has a one-mile fun run beginning at 8 a.m. and a 5-K run at 8:30 a.m., both starting at Town Hall.

Little ones can enjoy Breakfast with St. Nick at Grace Church’s Jackson Hall; sponsored by the Women’s Service League, two seatings are available at 8 and 10 a.m., with reservations encouraged and tickets available online ( wslwestfel@gmail.com ).

In Parker Park from 10 to 4, over 50 unique vendors offer everything from food and music to arts and crafts; from noon to 2 there will be live music in the park featuring the Main Street Band. Also open from 10 to 4 will be a Christmas Market in Audubon Market Hall on Royal Street, with offerings from some of the other fine St. Francisville area shops not located in the downtown area.

St. Francisville’s boutique shops and art galleries are the enthusiastic sponsors of this special weekend, offering a wide variety of inventory, from antiques (there are several sprawling antiques co-ops) and art (both original and prints), decorative items, one-of-a-kind handmade crafts, custom jewelry, housewares, artisanal foodstuffs, clothing for every member of the family. Be sure to pick up your Candy Cane Shopping Card from one of the 16 listed shops, featuring discounts and “I Shopped St. Francisville” t-shirts for purchases over $100. Another fun activity for dedicated shoppers started November 22 and ends Sunday, December 8th at noon; “Find Me If You Can, I’m the Gingerbread Man” challenges shoppers to find gingerbread men at participating shops to earn a t-shirt; playing cards are available from the library or the Visitor Center/Museum.

From 10 to 4 on Saturday, the non-profit organization Friends of the Library sponsors the popular annual Tour of Homes benefitting library programs, showcasing five stately homes featuring varied architecture and eclectic décor, plus the decorated parish library and a quilt exhibit in Audubon Market Hall. Homes are scattered in the historic district, The Bluffs, and even “down some ageless tree-lined back roads.” Tickets may be purchased online at www.eventbrite.com, at the library or tour homes; info at 225-635-3364.

Downtown Merchants Open Houses, with music and refreshments, keep the fun and fine shopping going into the evening Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. From 6 to 8 p.m., Oakley Plantation’s Jane Austen Christmas at Audubon State Historic Site features candlelight tours, seasonal decorations, food tastings and vintage dancing to period tunes. From 6 to 7 p.m. United Methodist Church hosts a Community Sing-Along. First Baptist Church (LA 10 at US 61) has a Living Nativity inside the church from 6 to 8 p.m., a real Christmas journey—travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem and rediscover the miracle of the birth of Jesus; children love the petting stable, crafts, and hot chocolate and cookies.

On Sunday, December 8th, turn in Gingerbread Man playing cards from 9 to noon at Town Hall; there will also be a photo booth there. Candy Cane Shopping Card opportunities continue from 10 to closing, with T-shirt prizes available at the Visitor Center on Ferdinand St. (open 9 to 5). Vendors are in Parker Park from 10 to 4, with live music in the park noon to 2 by Nancy Roppolo and Day Trip. The Christmas Market at Audubon Market Hall on Royal Street is also open 10 to 4.

Sunday’s highlight is the Women’s Service League Christmas Parade beginning at 2 p.m., travelling along Ferdinand and Commerce Streets, with floats, bands, marching groups, dignitaries and lots of throws, all under the theme of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Arts For All sponsors the final fabulous event of Christmas In The Country, a live concert in historic Temple Sinai featuring Clay Parker and Jodi James, the perfect acoustics making the restored place of worship a fine location for the perfect blending of voices and guitars by these two young Louisiana artists just back from a national tour. Reviewers praise their use of dense harmony-singing and subtle musical arrangements binding them to the tradition of singer-songwriters with folk and American-country roots. Tickets available at www.bontempstix.com.

Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. Several splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens is open in season. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation (a National Historic Landmark) and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses in St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 o r 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online www.stfrancisville.us , www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com , or www.stfrancisville.net  (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).

Celebrate a Country Christmas in St. Francisville

Celebrate a Country Christmas in St. Francisville
By Anne Butler
Used to be, country folks piled into wagons for a trip to the nearest town in anticipation of Christmas, the youngsters pressing noses against frost-covered storefront windows to dream of china dolls or wooden rocking horses. Today that trend has been reversed, as harried urbanites escape from mall madness and compulsive consumption to ease back into the slower pace and peace of a country Christmas. And there’s nowhere to better experience that than St. Francisville’s Christmas in the Country weekend December 7, 8 and 9th.
Spectacular holiday decorations, with millions of white lights gracing gallery posts and tracing soaring Victorian trimwork, turn the downtown Historic District into a winter wonderland, and carefully planned activities provide fun for the entire family. The theme of the Sunday afternoon Christmas parade, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, sets the tone for the whole weekend, and it’s is highly appropriate. The weekend is a safe, small-town celebration of its bedrock beliefs---in the goodness of people, the beauty of nature, and the strength of community and faith. Plus it’s just plain fun! Remember when Christmas shopping was actually a pleasure? It still is in St. Francisville, where each unique little store welcomes shoppers with Open House lagniappe: refreshments, music, and spectacular discounted sales.

Friday evening, December 7th, Christmas in the Country is kicked off around St. Francisville’s Town Hall as the children’s choir Voices in Motion from Bains Lower Elementary School sings at 5:45, followed by jovial longtime mayor Billy D’Aquilla lighting the town tree and hosting a reception complete with fireworks. Participating homes in St. Francisville’s National Register Historic District along Ferdinand and Royal Streets, designated by signs, permit visitors to Peep Into Our Holiday Homes from 6 to 8 p.m. both Friday and Saturday, and a Holly Jolly Jazzy Christmas Concert featuring Willis Delony and friends, sponsored by the St. Francisville Symphony Association with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, starts at 7 p.m. on Friday at Grace Episcopal Church, with tickets available at the door.

Saturday, December 8th, begins with 7:30 a.m. Community Prayer Breakfast at the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, sponsored by the local church, United Methodist Men, and the Louisiana Egg Commission; guest speaker Abby Cochran is the principal of the local high school, serves on the town’s Board of Aldermen, and is co-chair of the Methodist church’s Missions Committee, evidence of her belief in the power of linking church, school and community. Christmas on the Run for the Relay for Life supporting the American Cancer Society has a one-mile fun run beginning at 8 a.m. and a 5-K run at 8:30 a.m., both starting at Parker Park.

Little ones can enjoy Breakfast with St. Nick at the First Baptist Church; sponsored by the Women’s Service League, two seatings are available at 8 and 9, with reservations encouraged and tickets available online (wslwestfel@gmail.com). The Women’s Service League also offers fresh wreaths on Ferdinand St. from 9 to 5.

In Parker Park from 10 to 4, over 65 vendors offer everything from food and music to arts and crafts; from noon to 2 there will be live music in the park featuring Blu Rouge. The Polar Express train transports visitors through the downtown area from 10 to 2, with a Polar Express movie and fun in the Town Hall meeting room.

St. Francisville’s shops and art galleries are the enthusiastic sponsors of this special weekend, offering a wide variety of inventory, from antiques (there are three sprawling antiques co-ops) and art (both original and prints), decorative items, one-of-a-kind handmade crafts, custom jewelry, housewares, artisanal foodstuffs, clothing for every member of the family. Be sure to pick up your Candy Cane Shopping Card from one of the listed shops, featuring discounts and “I Shopped St. Francisville” t-shirts for purchases over $100.

From 10 to 4 on Saturday, the non-profit organization Friends of the Library sponsors the popular annual Tour of Homes benefitting library programs, showcasing three stately homes featuring varied architecture and eclectic décor, plus a special treat this year. Right in the center of St. Francisville’s historic district beside the iconic Magnolia Café are the 3-V Tourist Cabins, throwbacks to the 1930s automobile age when a tiny garage was provided with each overnight accommodation. Used in the documentary Bonnie & Clyde, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and still renting as B&Bs, these little cabins are on tour this year as decorator showcases, each done up in style by local interior designers Ellen Kennon, Marc Charbonnet and Caroline Alberstat. Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com, the library, or at each home.

Downtown Merchants Open Houses, with music and refreshments, keep the fun and fine shopping going into the evening Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. From 6 to 8 p.m., Oakley Plantation’s Dickens of a Christmas at Audubon State Historic Site features candlelight tours, period music and wassail. From 6 to 7 United Methodist Church hosts a Community Sing-Along. First Baptist Church (LA 10 at US 61) has a Living Nativity inside the church from 6 to 8, a real Christmas journey—travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem and rediscover the miracle of the birth of Jesus; children love the petting stable, crafts, and hot chocolate and cookies. There will also be a concert at historic Temple Sinai (Prosperity St. just off Royal) featuring Nancy Roppolo, Clay Parker and Jodie James beginning at 7 p.m.

On Sunday, December 9th, Candy Cane Shopping Card opportunities continue from 10 to closing, with T-shirt prizes available at the Visitor Center on Ferdinand St. (open 9 to 5). Vendors are in Parker Park from 10 to 4, with live music noon to 3 by the Fugitive Poets. Sunday’s highlight is the Women’s Service League Christmas Parade beginning at 2 p.m., travelling along Ferdinand and Commerce Streets, with floats, bands, marching groups, dignitaries and lots of throws, all under the theme of Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

The following week, Countdown to Christmas draws crowds to the West Feliciana Sports Park on Thursday, December 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. for more free family fun. There will be arts and crafts, bonfires, games, face painting, music and train rides. Santa will make an appearance, a Christmas tree costume contest really does mean dressing as your favorite decorated tree, and concessions and dinner will be available.

Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens is open in season and is spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation (a National Historic Landmark) and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).

What's coming up...

St. Francisville, La., "Happenings Newsletter" -  Entertainment, Festivals and Events.

HAPPENINGS: The newsletter to discover what's happening in St. Francisville and West Feliciana Parish.  Periodically articles from the "Friends of St. Francisville" blog will be added to this newsletter.  Following these article introductions you will find the most updated news on upcoming local events.  A good source to find updates on festivals can also be found on the St. Francisville Festival website. What’s coming up in St. Francisville Take a ride downtown to see the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations.    Music at The Mag    Friday – December 12th – United We Jam                                        Friday – December 19th – Trey Unglesby                                        Friday- December 26th – Delta Drifters   THRIVE – on Commerce St.  December 11th Join us tonight for Late Night Ladies' Shopping until 7 p.m.! Ladies only select any single item to recieve 20% off. (Excludes original art) Other specials throughout & Refreshments served. This is great time to fill out a wish list as well! PATRICK’S FINE JEWELRY Join us every Thursday until Christmas  December 11th and 18th for LATE NIGHT SHOPPING until 8:30pm. THE WINE PARLOR Open every night until 9pm for shopping or sipping.  Gift Certificates, let them pick out their wine!   SUNDAY-DECEMBER 14TH Birdman- From 2 til 4 is our Arts For All December member exhibit and reception.  As a special part of this, two of our members, Anne Butler and Norman Ferachi will sign copies of their new book St Francisville and West Feliciana Parish.   Please join us to visit and view art by our artists and talk with these two about this wonderful book on our history.  I am really looking forward to this!   Later that afternoon, beginning around 5:00 is our Sunday music and supper with The Fugitive Poets!  Help us celebrate the newlyweds Alan and Heather!!!   Christmas at the First Baptist Church Children’s Musical – Sunday December 14th at 10:30am Christmas Cantata – Sunday December 14th at 6:00pm The public is welcome to join, for more information 225-635-6111  12404 La Highway 10.     Your Subscription: {tag:subscriptions} {tag:unsubscribe}

Holiday Cheer, Lets Celebrate

St. Francisville, La., "Happenings Newsletter" -  Entertainment, Festivals and Events.

HAPPENINGS: The newsletter to discover what's happening in St. Francisville and West Feliciana Parish.  Periodically articles from the "Friends of St. Francisville" blog will be added to this newsletter.  Following these article introductions you will find the most updated news on upcoming local events.  A good source to find updates on festivals can also be found on the St. Francisville Festival website. What’s coming up in St. Francisville Music at The Mag    Friday – November 21st – The Nouveau String Band      Friday – November 28th – The Bad Penny Pleasuremakers                      VOTE, VOTE, VOTE FOR WEST FELICIANA PARISH TO WIN A GRANT WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!  VOTE VOTE VOTE   The Levitt AMP (St. Francisville, LA-WF Parks & Recreation) Grant Awards is an exciting new matching grant program made possible by Levitt Pavilions, a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of America through the power of free, live music. With Levitt AMP, the joy of free, live music will be brought to small and mid-sized cities across the country. While Levitt’s signature creative place making program of 50+ free concerts annually at each Levitt venue is tailored to large cities with metro populations of over 400,000 (due to financial sustainability and audience development considerations), the Levitt AMP [St. Francisville, LA] Grant Awards are specifically designed to meet the needs and capacity of small and mid-sized cities. www.amp.levittpavilions.org SHOP SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY – SAVE BIG!!! Shop St. Francisville on Small Business Saturday, Save Time-Save Big!Benchmark Interiors, Grandmothers Buttons, Sage Hill, Harrington Gallery, Femme Fatale, Backwoods Gallery, Thrive, Ma Milles, Mia Sophia, The Wine Parlor, Shanty Too, St. Francis Arts & Antiques, La Vie Boutique, Hillcrest, Patrick's Fine Jewelry,True Boutique (inside Sage Hill) , Trends Boutique, Bohemianville Antiques and Backwoods Gallery. BIG JAM IN PARKER PARK – SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30 If you were at the Yellow Leaf, you may have seen our jam session that closed out the weekend.  We saw the beautiful lights on and around the gazebo and decided then and there to have another big jam under those lights!  It will be on Sunday, November 30th beginning at 5:00.  We will begin with a young people’s open mic at 5:00 which will be immediately followed by the jam-  all are invited, bring your instrument or voice and join us!  Listeners are wanted too!  Bring a lawn chair and a picnic if you want… I will be making my big pot of soup and accepting donations all to go to expenses incurred for this event.  In case of rain, etc we will have it at BirdMan.   Christmas in the Country T Shirts are on sale at local shops. Christmas in the Country – BE THERE WITH BELLS ON   December 5, 6 and 7, 2014 FRIDAY – DECEMBER 5TH 5:30pm-First Baptist Church Children’s Choir will sing on the front porch of Town Hall - Ferdinand Street 6:00pm-Mayor Billy D'Aquilla will light the Town of St. Francisville Christmas Tree and will host a Welcome Reception and Fireworks  6:00pm-8:00pm - Peep into our Holiday Homes along Ferdinand and Royal Streets 7:00pm- Baton Rouge Symphony Christmas Concert and Dessert Reception at HEMINGBOUGH.  Tickets available at Bank of St.Francisville VENDORS WILL BE SELLING IN PARKER PARK IN THE EVENING. Check out the downtown shops for late night shopping.  SATURDAY - DECEMBER 6 TH 7:30am - Prayer Breakfast at the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall  8:00am & 9:30am-Breakfast with St. Nick at Jackson Hall at Grace Episcopal Church brought to you by the Women’s Service League.  Two seatings available.  Reservations Encouraged.  Tickets are $8.00. Tickets may be purchased online at www.womensserviceleague.com 9:00am-5:00pm – Women’s Service League - Fresh Wreath & Plantation Country Cookbook Sale – Ferdinand St 10:00am - 5:30pm - Talented Art Walk - West Feliciana Art Classes will display their art at the local shops, some of the art can be purchased, proceeds support the art programs. 10:00am  – West Feliciana High School Performance Choir – United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall 10:00am - Bains Elementary 2nd Grade Choir – Historical Society Museum Front Porch 10:00am-1:00pm – Gospel Singers on the front porch of the Town Hall 10:00am - 4:00pm –Parker Park –FOOD, VENDORS, and MUSIC Homemade Items- Jewelry, Photographs, Honey, Paintings,T-shirts, Calendars, Hair Bows and much, much more. 10:00am-4pm –Colonial Christmas at Oakley Plantation –Cooking Demonstrations Highway 965 11:00am – 11:45am - West Feliciana High School Advanced & Performance Choir – Methodist Church Fellowship Hall Noon-4:00pm - Angola Inmate Traveling Band – across from Garden Symposium Park Noon-2:00pm - Main Street Band in Parker Memorial Park Noon to 5:00pm – Friends of the Library – Christmas in the Country Tour of Homes -  225 635 3364 2:00pm- Book Signing at the Historical Society Museum with Anne Butler and Norman Ferachi titled: St. Francisville and West Feliciana Parish, and it is an Images of America book. 5:30pm-8:30pm-Colonial Christmas at Oakley Plantation – Candlelight Tours, periodic music and wassail – Highway 965 6:00pm-7:00pm -  Community Sing A Long Methodist Church Royal Street 6:00pm-8:00pm -Live Nativity First Baptist Church on Highway 10 & 61  INSIDE THE CHURCH 6:00pm-8:00pm – Peep into our Holiday Homes along Ferdinand and Royal Streets SUNDAY-DECEMBER 7TH  10:00am - 5:30pm - Talented Art Walk - West Feliciana Art Classes will display their art at the local shops, some of the art      can be purchased, proceeds support the art programs. 11:00am-5:00pm – Women’s Service League - Fresh Wreath & Plantation Country Cookbook Sale- Ferdinand Street 2:00pm – Women’s Service League present the Christmas Parade – -  along Ferdinand and Commerce Sts  Betsy Levasseur  cflevasseur@gmail.com 6:00pm - Christmas Concert at Hemingbough -Ultimate Christmas with Greatest Elvis Tributes  tickets can be purchases at Grandmother's Buttons.  hrhpromotions.com For more information visit www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com or call St. Francisville Main Street 225-635-3873. AUDUBON STATE HISTORIC SITE PRESENTS-A Civil War Christmas- The Battle of Alexander’s Creek Journey back into history to the year 1864, when visitors will see a recreation of the sights and sounds of St. Francisville in 1864 during the Civil War Christmas- Battle of Alexander’s Creek on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6 and 7. From 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., walk through the soldier camps and see living history demonstrations of soldier life. You will hear black powder weapon demonstrations of both rifle and cannons. Each day will feature a small reenactment of the October 1864 Battle at Alexander’s Creek which happened on the park. On Saturday night, the plantation comes to life during the holidays as it shows off its seasonal decorations. Costumed guides accompany the visitor in a trip into the past through the candlelit Oakley House. See the glow of the blacksmith at work, take a taste of what’s cooking in the kitchen, or just enjoy the live period music. Included is our yearly Christmas dance and hot Christmas Punch. “Living History events such as this give a glimpse of Louisiana history,” says John House, site manager. “We want every visitor to Audubon State Historic Site to experience the site’s and their own rich heritage.” Audubon State Historic Site is the setting for the 200-year-old Oakley House, temporary home and inspiration to John James Audubon in the 1800s. The park includes a museum, picnic areas, historic buildings, pavilion, and nature trail. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, Oakley House and its lush natural settings are open daily Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Admission for the Oakley House Tour and Grounds is $8 for adults (age 18-61); $6 for senior citizens (age 62 and over), $4 for students (age 6-17), and free for children, (age 5 and under). Grounds-Only Admission is $4 per person (ages 6 and over) and free for children (age 5 and under). Audubon SHS is located 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge near St. Francisville on La. 965 in West Feliciana Parish. For more information, visit  audubonstatehistoricsite@wordpress.com or call 888.677.2838 toll free or 635.3739 locally. Your Subscription: {tag:subscriptions} {tag:unsubscribe}