5th annual Tour du Teche this weekend

Tour du Teche — a 135-mile canoe, kayak and pirogue race through the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun Country — begins in Port Barre Friday and ends in Berwick Sunday with a festival and prizes.
Paddlers will pass through four parishes, woods, swamps, cane fields and a dozen communities along the way.
When they arrive in Berwick, paddlers will be greeted with a festival at the Southwest Reef Lighthouse complete with 38 booths of food, music, crafts, and games, a car show and a zoo.
Open to the public, events on the Berwick riverfront begin at 9 a.m. with race awards announced at 1 and 4 p.m., according to Misty Pillaro, town bookkeeper and event organizer.
Jambalaya dinners will be sold as a fundraiser by Berwick Volunteer Fire Department, which also will sell soft drinks and beer.
Other vendors will offer various arts and crafts, shrimp po-boys, brisket sandwiches, gumbo, fettuccini, and frozen daiquiris and margaritas, Pillaro said.
Sno-balls, hamburgers, nachos, baked goods and funnel cakes also will be available.
Music, both live and via sound system, will be provided from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. by Gone Pecan.
Patrons can browse a free car show sponsored by Cypress Corvette Club, view animal demos by Zoo Zoom’s Little Zoo on Wheels and enjoy carnival style games. Berwick Project Graduation will man an inflatable obstacle course as a fund raiser, Pillaro said.
Berwick Chief Administrative Officer Newell “Bubba” Slaughter said Tour du Teche race organizers like the job Berwick does bringing their event to a close.
“It is great for us that we get to showcase a little bit of Berwick and that we have all these vendors coming in. They’re giving their awards at the end of the race, and we’re giving them a great atmosphere to do it in,” Slaughter said.
Berwick Mayor Louis Ratcliff estimated about 1,000 people attended the 2013 edition of the event.
“We don’t have a Shrimp and Petroleum Festival like Morgan City or Patterson has the Cypress Sawmill Festival, so this is our community’s festival,” Ratcliff said.
Now in its fifth year, the race begins at the Port Barre Boat Launch and travels 135 miles down Bayou Teche where it will end in Berwick at the Southwest Reef Lighthouse on the Atchafalaya River.
Tour du Teche will have three racing stages: Stage 1: Gabriel, Port Barre to St. Martinville, 49 miles; Stage 2: Chitimacha, St. Martinville to Franklin, 59 miles; and Stage 3: Roughneck, Franklin to Berwick, 27 miles.
There will be shorter race routes, Voyageur divisions, open for participants which include: Crawfish, Port Barre to Breaux Bridge, 34 miles; Acadian, Port Barre to St. Martinville, 49 miles; Hot Sauce, St. Martinville to New Iberia, 24 miles; Sugar, St. Martinville to Franklin, 59 miles; Black Bear, New Iberia to Franklin, 35 miles; and Oil and Gas, Franklin to Berwick, 27 miles.
Tour du Teche will overnight in St. Martinville Friday and in Franklin Saturday.
For additional information on the race, contact Ken Grissom at 337-394-6232, visit www.tourduteche.com or email info@tourduteche.com.
The car show is being hosted by Cypress Corvette Club and will have a $20 entry fee. Contact Pillaro at 985-384-8858 for additional information on the arts and crafts show and car show.