Bonfire building underway in River Parishes

Bonfire building underway in River Parishes
Posted by The Times-Picayune November 23, 2007 2:41PM
PHOTO BY TED JACKSONMembers of the "Bonfire crew" push and cajole a willow through the canopy of other trees after they cut it with a chainsaw in their quest for logs for their levee bonfire in Lutcher. Groups of builders prepared to build Christmas Eve bonfires on the Mississippi River levee in Gramercy and Lutcher Friday.
By Matt Scallan
River Parishes bureau

For many in the New Orleans area, the day after Thanksgiving means lining up outside of a store. But for Dustin Poche' and his friends, it is the day to break out their chainsaws to light the way for Pere' Noel.

This is the day that residents of St. James Parish begin building bonfires on Mississippi River levees to be set alight on Christmas Eve.

"My grandfather built them. My father built them. Now I'm building them," said Poche', a 23-year-old sheriff's deputy, one of a dozen people cutting small trees and hauling the logs that will make an 18-foot-tall pyre.

The annual celebration of the bonfires culminates on Christmas Eve, but for the past 18 years, the parish has worked to capitalize on the tradition with an annual festival, which this year is Dec. 7 -9.

"We realize that everybody can't be here on Christmas Eve, so the goal is give people more time to come and visit," said Jason Amato, chief of the Lutcher Volunteer Fire Department, whose members build their own bonfires.

One bonfire will be lit each night during the festival, but on Christmas Eve, more than 100 will be ablaze, most of them on the east bank of the river, according to the parish office of tourism.

Building the bonfires used to be a seat-of-the pants operation. Volunteers would build their pyres in the shapes of national monuments or during the first Gulf War, of battleships. One memorialized the ferryboat that crossed the Mississippi River between Gramercy and Wallace before the Veterans Memorial Bridge was completed.

But after several of the structures collapsed in unexpected ways during the conflagrations over the years, the parish enacted uniform standards for construction. All the fires must now be in a teepee shape, except for one "non-traditional" structure in Gramercy, Lutcher and Paulina.

"The people who do the non-traditional ones like to keep what it is a secret until the last minute," Amato said.

Whatever happens, the bonfires must be finished before noon on Christmas Eve, just as the narrow streets along River Road begin to become clogged with traffic.

Residents say the tradition helps bind the community together, but the young people tend to do most of the work.

"My dad still comes out, but it's mostly to supervise," Poche' said.

Matt Scallan can be reached at mscallan@timespicayune.com or (985) 652-0953.
STAFF PHOTO BY TED JACKSONMeggan Canale watches from her comfortable seat on the railroad tracks as the boys muscle a timber from the woods to a waiting trailer.