Photo by Brooke Thorington
With heavy rainfall and windy conditions forecasted for Christmas Eve, Festival of the Bonfires organizers made the difficult decision to reschedule the event to Saturday.
“With the rain and south winds, that’s the worst-case scenario that we can ask for to light the bonfires, so it only makes common sense to either reschedule it or just not light them on that day,” said St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne.
Fortunately, the change falls on the weekend but Dufresne understands the change is still inconvenient when so many have already made plans in advance.
“A lot of people, thousands of people have to reschedule their plans but it’s the most common-sense thing to do to have it on a night where the winds and the weather are favorable so everybody can still come out and enjoy it,” said Dufresne.
So instead of lighting the way for Papa Noel on Christmas Eve, Santa will get directions this year one night earlier on Saturday at 7 pm. Dufresne said it’s the safest thing to do for everyone involved.
“Let’s just be realistic, you know I don’t know how many people would have actually shown up with a 90% chance of rain and go stand on the levee with raincoats and umbrellas. The bonfires wouldn’t have burned very good so,” said Dufresne.
The Cajun tradition dates back to the 1700s.
Traffic in the area will still follow a contraflow pattern around the bonfire viewing area.
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