Jim Bradshaw
In the late 1800s, volunteer fire companies were formed in practically every south Louisiana community of any size for the serious job of fighting fires, but they were also social organizations made up of young men who appeared to be just as serious about having fun.
The volunteer fire company formed in the St. Landry town of Washington in the early 1870s was typical. It had been joined by a volunteer hook and ladder company in 1875, when a letter written by “A Member” to the Opelousas Journal recorded “one of the gayest pageants that it has ever been the good fortune of your humble servant to witness.”
The occasion for this celebration was the anniversary of the founding of the company, but the volunteers seemed to be willing to throw a party for almost any reason, or sometimes for no reason at all.
“At ten o’clock, the appointed hour, the Washington Fire Company and the Carel Wolff Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 repaired to their respective houses where the roll was called,” the writer said of this affair. Then the hook and ladder company “drawing their very handsome Truck, most beautifully decorated with ribbons, wreaths and garlands of flowers,” marched to the Washington Fire Company station.
The two companies then paraded to a “long bridge” spanning Bayou Carron and the swampy area near it to greet the Opelousas Fire Company and the Hope Hook and Ladder Company, which had been invited to participate in the day’s festivities. The Opelousas contingent was led by a brass band “discoursing martial music” along the way.
The bridge over Bayou Carron was a toll bridge in 1875, but its gates “were thrown open by the generous proprietor, Mr. [Benjamin] Woodworth,” and the fire companies “followed by a large contingent of people in all manner of vehicles as well as on horseback, and a goodly number on foot,” proceeded to “the most beautiful and picturesque Pic-nic [sic] grounds … situated about a mile from town, removed a little from the Opelousas road in the woods of Mrs. L. Vanhille.”
There, a “magnificent spring” provided “the greatest abundance of pure ice-cold water,” which was welcomed in the July heat.
Woodworth, who was mayor of Washington, led the way “in a neat little buggy,” accompanied by his son who was holding “an immense cake, beautifully iced and handsomely decorated with ribbons.” The writer said he was “reliably informed” that the cake weighed 53 pounds.
At the picnic grounds it was placed on one of a long line of tables “groaning beneath the weight of fresh, smoking barbecued meats, with all the entrees and delicacies that would gratify the palate of the most fastidious epicure.”
After a “most sumptuous” meal, there were speeches by local dignitaries, before the band “struck up some lively strains that could not be resisted by the younger members.” A “dance on the sward [lawn]” lasted until dusk, the conviviality abetted no doubt by “lager beer and good claret which was provided in the greatest quantity.”
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, Cajuns and Other Characters, is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.