Retirement mecca? Morgan City ranked high among La. retiree destinations

A study has ranked Morgan City No. 9 among the top 10 best places to retire in Louisiana, according to an email.
The study, which was performed by SmartAsset.com, considered four main factors including taxes, both income and sales tax, the number of doctors’ offices, and opportunities for recreation and a social life.
“People come down here for the weather, recreation and assets that we take for granted like our vast waterways, beautiful lakes and rivers and a good hometown spirit with a lot of friendly people,” Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi said,
St. Mary Chamber of Commerce President Donna Meyer said the parish has one of the larger AARP groups in the state, which is positive for retirees in the community.
“The way that we’re situated here in the Morgan City, St. Mary Parish area, is that we
have the small hometown atmosphere, and we are very close to New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette,” Meyer said.
People are attracted the safe community compared to other larger cities in the state, Meyer said.
Many people who worked locally in the oil and gas industry or U.S. Coast Guard have chosen to make Morgan City home when they retire, said Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau Executive Director Carrie Stansbury.
“In the tourism industry, they always say that most people who choose to retire are usually visitors first, in a lot of cases,” Stansbury said. “We get a lot of people who go to Lake End Park in their RVs who winter with us.”
RV travelers will go all over the country until they find some place to call home, and spend the majority of their time there, Stansbury said. Cajun Coast’s target market for visitors consists of people from ages 45 to 75, she said.
“So a lot of what we do is targeting towards that mature market and those getting ready to retire and those that have retired,” Stansbury said. Morgan City is a good place to retire “because the cost of living is not so expensive,” Stansbury said.
Morgan City is close enough to larger city so residents can participate in activities that much larger cities have yet still have the benefits of living in a small city, Stansbury said.
Richard Parrish, 69, of Salem, Illinois, and his wife, Cathy, have been parking their RV at Lake End Park each winter since 2006, he said. The couple spends February and March at the park, Parrish said.
Parrish has met a lot of people and made friends since he’s been here, he said.
Parrish and his wife happened upon Morgan City because they were looking for places to get out of the snow, he said. He plans to leave around April 1 or when it stops snowing, he said.
“I’d stay around longer, but they raise the rates the first of April,” Parrish said.
Parrish’s wife enjoys visiting antebellum homes and old plantations in the area, he said. Parrish plans to keep coming to Morgan City every winter, and is considering whether to stay permanently or find a place in Florida, he said. Parrish and his wife also like the Stephensville area and have friends there, he said.
Gary Winders, 82, of Anamosa, Iowa, who has been coming to Morgan City during the winter for 25 years, said the weather and the food brought him and his wife Marilyn to the area. Winders also has his RV set up at Lake End park. “I like the Cajun people. I like the Cajun food,” Winders said. Winders spends about six months out of the year in Morgan City from November to April.

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