Independence Day, plus one: Morgan City, Berwick celebrate Fourth on Fifth

The barbecue booth at Sunday’s Rock the Fifth celebration at Morgan City’s Lawrence Park bore a big Marine Corps League sign. But David Martin, the commandant for both the Morgan City and Louisiana league detachments, didn’t want to mislead anyone.
“The only reason we have the Marine Corps League flyers up is so brother Marines will see it,” Martin said.
Corps members provided volunteer labor. Don and Mata Tellman of Tellman Barbecue, who were running the booth, planned to give half the net proceeds from Sunday’s sales at Lawrence Park to the Marine Corps League.
“It’s a celebration of independence,” Don Tellman said. “It’s Independence Day.”
It turned out to be a celebration of community, too.
This year’s Rock the Fifth was the second for which Morgan City, where the event began with the Main Street Project, and Berwick shared the cost of the fireworks over the Atchafalaya River, which closed the celebration Sunday night.
Bands played on both sides of the river for the first time in Rock the Fifth history. And, in addition to the donation by Tellman, concession customers could support the Berwick Volunteer Fire Department as well as Central Catholic High School.
The Tellmans, transplanted Missourians, wound up in Morgan City after Dan Tellman, now 81, spent 24 years in the Navy. He went into shipbuilding here and returned after stints with shipyards in Australia.
Now the Tellmans participate in competition barbecuing and donate their time to a variety of causes.
“We’ve always cooked for the VFW, the American Legion and the Marine Corps League when they have events,” Tellman said. “It’s giving back to the community.
“We love it here. You need to make people proud of this place.”
It’s not uncommon for politics to break out on a Fourth of July, and the current state of the union adds some urgency to Tellman’s feelings about the holiday.
“It’s Independence Day,” he said. “We’re losing a little bit of that, especially with our current government and political correctness.”
The Marine Corps League’s Martin is a veteran of the first Gulf War. He said hearing patriotic music often evokes strong feelings about what Independence means.
“It makes me think about my brother Marines who have gone before me and paid the price for us to have what we have,” Martin said.

This story was written by Bill Decker of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at bdecker@daily-review.com.