Visitors flock to Lighthouse festival

BERWICK — Crowds flocked to the first two-day Lighthouse Festival held in conjunction with the Tour du Teche race finish in an event that consisted of a program on Berwick’s history, lots of food and craft vendors, and live music.
The town of Berwick hosted the Lighthouse Festival Saturday and Sunday. This weekend was the first time Berwick hosted the two-day festival.
Berwick Mayor Louis Ratcliff said Tour du Teche officials were “thoroughly impressed” with Berwick’s facilities and the amount of participation in the festival.
Town of Berwick Bookkeeper and Event Coordinator Misty Pillaro said the Lighthouse Festival had a great turnout, especially Saturday. The festival had a slightly smaller crowd on Sunday due to the colder weather, Ratcliff said.
Each of the past two years, roughly 1,000 people came to the Tour du Teche finish line celebration in Berwick. “This year was way more than that,” Pillaro said.
About 50 food and craft vendors participated in the festival, and the Cypress Corvette Club held a car show with 25 entrants, Pillaro said.
As part of the festival, organizers put on a History of Berwick Program Saturday morning. Parker Felterman portrayed Berwick founder Thomas Berwick during the program.
Former Berwick Volunteer Fire Chief and State Fire Marshal V.J. Bella was guest speaker at the event. Bella also used to be a barber in the area.
Bella, 88, who now lives in Baton Rouge, served as Berwick fire chief for 41 years and later became a state representative and state fire marshal. On Saturday, Bella arrived on the “Betty G,” a 1946 model fire truck the town purchased while he was a Berwick firefighter. Bella became chief in 1947.
Bella had wanted to be a firefighter since he was a kid, and his father was also a firefighter. As chief, Bella worked to improve the town’s fire rating and grow the department, he said.
For a community its size, Berwick is fortunate to have the fire department resources it has, Bella said.
In 1966, Bella was invited to speak in Memphis to discuss the mutual aid program Berwick had established to help assist other departments.
“Y’all should be proud of this fire department. … The Berwick Fire Department is known all over the country,” Bella said.
Also during the History of Berwick Program, St. John Baptist Church was honored for recently celebrating its 150-year anniversary.
With the success of the first two-day Lighthouse Festival, town officials plan to continue to hold the festival in conjunction with the Tour du Teche finish, Pillaro said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.