L'Anse Grise Community Website

Everything is set, our Possum Cook-out (Cook-off wasn't quite appropriate) is scheduled for Sunday, February 14th. Turtle sauce piquante and deer gravy are on the menu. It appears that the weather will be good for the cookout and Mardi Gras. I am very much looking forward to it. More later.

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Where has the time gone? 2009 is already coming to a close and 2010 is almost upon us. We hope that everyone had a great Christmas. One of our favorite holidays is now just around the corner - Mardi Gras - February 16th. We have begun to plan our annual Possum Cook-off, which will be on Sunday afternoon/evening, February 14th. I don't know if a possum will show up for the pot, but, we will have something else as a back-up. If any of you are interested in attending, just contact me at dowell@lansegrise.org or dowlaf@gmail.com or Bryan at blafleur@hotmail.com , to put your name in the pot so that we're sure to have enough cooked. More later.

I have heard from the Vidrine Church group and they tell me that they're planning to put on their Children's Mardi Run again this year. I'm looking forward to their visit again. Randy Deshotels or Father Sibley are the ones to contact for more information.

Have a safe and Happy New Year.

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Our 2009 Possum Cook-off, held on Sunday, January 22, 2009, was a success this year. Again, no possums showed up, so, we substituted squirrel. There was plenty to eat and drink. Bryan made us a batch of gratons that were delicious. I cooked a batch of boudin and Pinky had prepared 4 of her great sweet-dough pies, one coconut, one blueberry, one fig and one syrup. All were declared good. The cooking started at about 2 o'clock; the music got started at about 3 or 4 o'clock and didn't stop until about 9-10 that night. We had a very good turnout. Besides my wife, Pinky, and I, attending were, Mike Hébert, and his girl friend, Dana, Cory McCauley and his wife, Lisa, Roland Guillory and wife, Rosabelle, Brian Marshall, Tod Marshall, Tom Marshall (the Marshalls are from Houston, Texas) Darrel "Blue" Fontenot, Sr. and Darrel "Te Blue" Fontenot, Jr. To our chagrin, Rocky Sexton (Ohio/Illinois), after 16 straight years of attending Mardi Gras in south Louisiana, was unable to attend because medical problems in his family. We sincerely hope that he will be able to get on tract next year and join us again.

We are also very excited to learn that the Vidrine community church has put on their first of, what hopefully will be an annual, Children's Mardi Gras run. We were privileged to receive a visit from them this morning (Tuesday). We watched as they had fun dancing for us, and doing a chicken chase in the yard. Pictures of their visit can be seen here: 2009 Vidrine Children's Mardi Gras.

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The 2009 L'Anse Grise Boucherie last Saturday (January 17, 2009) went pretty much without a hitch, except for a slightly chilly wind, which kept a few invitees from attending. Our goals, as far cooking a bevy of pork boucherie dishes, were accomplished. A side of pork (with ribs) was cooked in a "Cajun Microwave," a pork stew, which was really good, rice dressing ("farre"), graton, hogs head cheese, with quite a few sweet potatoes, all went pretty well. There was plenty of music by Cory McCauley, Jude Moreau, Bryan Lafleur, Bobby Michot, Roland Guillory, and even I got in a few licks. Looking forward to possibly inproving the boucherie for next year.

There are a few pictures of the event here: 2009 Boucherie

Below is a YouTube video of the boucherie.

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The 2009 Boucherie

As of this writing, it appears that we will have another invitational boucherie, which is scheduled for January 17, 2009. This one will be a "faux-boucherie," in that, like our first one 2 years ago, we will buy a half hog ready to be cut up to fix the different dishes that we plan to have, such as gratons, boudin, rice dressing, backbone (pork chop) stew, and probably a side of hog grilled over a fire. Last year's full boucherie was mired by rain and cold temperatures. This, combined with a late start, made for an "almost" flop, but, the music and the fellowship was outstanding. More later.

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New information on the name, L'Anse Grise, was recently discovered while searching the Evangeline Parish School Board minutes. (See About L'Anse Grise below) In the minutes of October of 1916, "L'Anse Grise School" is mentioned. This research has not been completed yet, so, more information is possible. The L'Anse Grise school was located on the northwest corner of Rocky Lane and Lariat Lane, 1/2 mile west of Highway 13. The school was in operation before 1916, but no exact date has been found as of yet. The school was still in use at least until sometime around 1933, and maybe a little later. More later, hopefully.

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For those of you who have been looking for the Ville Platte Gazette on line, they have heard you. Check this link Ville Platte Gazette. The Gazette had been on line a few years ago, but then, went off. Now they're back. Thanks to Mike Hébert for this information.

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The 2008 Boucherie

(21 January 2008)

On Friday, 18 January 2008, son Bryan and friend/neighbor, Andy, arrived to L'Anse Grise pulling a trailer carrying a roughly 200 lb. pig. Saturday morning greeted us with temperatures in the 30s, and a steadily falling rain. Everything had been planned, and many people invited, for this day, so, we had a major decision to make...go for it or cancel. I talked to a couple of our invitees about the weather, and both assured me that the rain would quit at about 9 o'clock. Lo and behold, the rain did stop at about 9 o'clock! We then joggled our options for a little while then made the decision to make an attempt to salvage the outing, even though we knew that there would be many that would probably not come, and the ground would be wet and muddy, and to add to the problems, we could not accomplish everything that we wanted to do in the way of cooking. We also knew that everything that we did would be about 3 hours late. Slaughtering the pig went fairly well, and we were able to get a good batch of gratons cooked, and cheated a little by picking up a few pounds of boudin at the store to help things along. A portion (rib and front portion) of one half of the pig was prepared and put on an electric rotisserie grill, borrowed from Mike Triplett. We soon had fire built and the rotisserie was put into action at about noon. This meant that the side of pork would probably not be cooked until about dark, and would have rely on the gratons and boudin that we had. We thankfully had quite a few of the invited guest that showed up. After the meat cutting, the musical instruments (accordions, fiddles and guitars) were pulled out, and in spite of the cold and mud, the music started flowing. Musicians present were, Bobby Michot, Bryan Lafleur, Corey McCauley, Rick Reid, Robert LaBlanc and Roland Guillory. I also threw in a few licks with the guitar. Everything blended well and sounded super. Music almost always works, no matter the conditions. Many thanks to these guys and all of our guests for joining us. Burnell Vidrine, thanks for cooking that delicious batch of gratons. Thanks to Rick Reid, wife Christine, her parents, Bill and Jan, for bringing a few side dishes.

The big regret was that the food was too late, and many of our guest left without eating the main course, grilled pork. See the link on the left, titled "2008 Boucherie Pictures" on the left under "Pictures" for pictures of the boucherie. Also see the following website for more (and better) pictures by Mr. Rick Reid and family: Mosquito.com.

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Cancellation of the 2008 Children's Mardi Gras Run

(15 January 2008)
It is with much regret that I announce that the Children's Mardi Run will not take place this year. A little lack of interest, and an earlier date than usual (February 5), are partly to blame for the cancellation. I hope more interest can be generated next year, and that someone will take the lead in spearheading the run. If it's re-activated in 2009, I will continue to support and help in putting on the run in any way that I can, even though I no longer have any grand children who think that they are young enough for a children's run, and, after all, the run was and is intended for the children.

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Our invitational boucherie has been reset for January 19 2008. This one will be full boucherie, in which a hog will slaughtered and dressed. I'm hoping to get a few pictures for posting to the website. More later.

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Activities in L'Anse Grise have been at a stand still. A building and re-population boom is occurring, though, with new houses being built, and/or trailer houses being situated. Red Fox Lane has seen one new house built by Shane and Shelly Lafleur, a trailer house moved in by David and Lori Courville, and preparations for a trailer house being made by Paula Vidrine Guillory. There also appears to be plans for the building of another new house on the old Youton and Martha Guillory property. More later.

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A few more pictures have been added to the 2007 Children's Mardi Gras Photographs. I apologize for the quality - they were scanned pictures and came out a little out of focus.

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On January 13^th, 2007, the local Children's Mardi Gras group met to plan this year's Children's Mardi Gras Run. The run will be on February 18^th, 2007. The procession will leave the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dowell Lafleur at 9:00 o'clock, and, after a short excursion through L'Anse Grise, proceed to the Percy Fontenot subdivision off of Highway 10 and then on to Reddell and back to L'Anse Grise around noon. We hope to have some fun with the children dancing and chasing chickens along the way. There will be a chicken and sausage gumbo waiting for the runners when we return for those who are ready to eat. Live music (mostly French) will be provided for a good part of the afternoon, after we return, by Roland, Big John, Edmund and Dowell. I will have a full report, and hopefully some good pictures of the run here.

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On Saturday, December 2, 2006, we succeeded in putting on a small boucherie with a few shortcuts. Instead of getting a live hog and go through the rigorous job of dressing one from scratch, we bought half of a hog that had already been dressed. It took no time for four guys to cut up the hog and have it ready for the different types of cooking that we had planned, namely cracklins, two types of boudin, two types of rice dressing, backbone (pork chop) stew and barbeque. The whole process, although a lot of work, went rather smoothly.

The two types of boudin that we made were one made from uncooked pork and one made from cooked (boiled) pork. It turns out that there isn't that much difference between the two in taste, but the cooked one was a little easier to make.

One type of rice dressing made was with cooked (boiled) pork, then grounding the meat, adding the rice, green onions and parsley. The other was made by grounding the meat first, cooking it with onions, green onions and parley, for about two to three hours, then mixing with rice, Although there is quite a difference between the taste of the two, but both were rated as good.

The cracklins were very good, as was the stew and barbeque. In my opinion the camaraderie with friends and family was the best part of the boucherie.

We originally were supposed to have a group of musicians to play for us, but they were unable to make because of a death in one of the musician's family. That left the entertainment duties on Bryan's and my shoulders and we gave it a solid try.

The sad part is that it is unlikely that we could handle a larger boucherie because of the work involved and the cost of doing it. It could be done, but only with careful planning and enough help. Time will tell. We may possibly do the small boucherie again next year.

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If you have old pictures, especially those relating to L'Anse Grise, and would like to have share them with us on this website, please write to me or call me at the address or 'phone number below. We would also like to have some background information about the photographs, if possible. Pictures with buildings, and/or country side scenes, in the background would be cherished.

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About L'Anse Grise

L'Anse Grise is a small community located on Highway 13, approximately 1.5 miles north of the intersection of Highway 10 and 13 (Barber Spur), in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana. The population is approximately 200.

L'Anse Grise is French for "Gray Cove." "Anse" is one of the many French nautical terms used in South Louisiana and means "cove." The common erroneous translation for the name is Gray Point, which, in French, would be "Pointe Grise." To date, it isn't known when L'Anse Grise acquired it's name or why, but ongoing research may one day provide that information. The earliest recorded use of the name L'Anse Grise, or its most popular, and incorrect, translation, Gray Point, found so far, is 1928. It is found in the Vidrine Elementary School record of Nelson Johnson, who was living in L'Anse Grise when he registered at the Vidrine school in 1928 (original records and extracts in possession of Dowell Lafleur). Worth noting is the school record of Francis Aucoin, registered at the Vidrine school in 1935, whose birth place is listed as "Grey Cove," which is the proper English translation of L'Anse Grise.

If anyone has more information on the L'Anse Grise name, please contact Dowell Lafleur.

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The website will remain on line to be used for information and news about the area, and for communication through the comments/guestbook page and the message board (forum). Please visit the comments/guestbook page and message board and post as often you would like. Thanks to all who have already signed in and posted. If you have an interesting story about the area that would be appropriate for the website, please share it with the us. My email address is dowell@lansegrise.org; phone no. 599-2046, or 468-5195.

Some of the art work used on this website comes from:
Lara's Mardi Gras Clip Art

Updated 02-08-10
by Dowell Lafleur
dowell@lansegrise.org

The L'Anse Grise Website and L'Anse Grise Children's Mardi Gras Run are non-profit activities.