ZWOLLE, La. (KALB) - The Zwolle Tamale Fiesta marked its 50th anniversary with food, music, carnival rides and a mud bog from October 8-10.
Tamale lovers turned out for the annual festival, with vendors working through long lines of people seeking the local favorite.
The festival was founded by Roger Luke and celebrates the cultural roots of the Zwolle area.
“He wanted to put on display the Mesoamerican heritage of our area. So, Native American culture mixed with the Spanish in the area from Los Adaes, and they made us in Zwolle. So we have Hispanic, Native American and Anglo-Saxon, and that’s the unique culture of Zwolle, Louisiana,” said Nicole Ebarb, a festival representative.
Pollie Brandon, the third Tamale Fiesta Queen, said the event has grown since its early years.
“It was just a lot smaller, too. But it’s just, every year, it just gets a little bigger, a little better. Then we add more to it. It’s just so much going on,” Brandon said.
Five decades later, the festival grounds included vendors, families and live entertainment.
“Standing here as the 50th anniversary queen, I’m honoring five decades of hard-working men and women who have poured their love and time into the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta,” the 50th anniversary queen, Kaylee Chreene, said.
The festival also featured a mud bog, where pickup trucks drove through mud to see how far they could go. Some made it through, while others got stuck and needed help getting out.
“People in Zwolle like to have a lot of fun. So as you can tell by the mud, my mom and dad used to get in trouble when they got stuck in the mud. Now people come to a festival to run through the mud and see who can make it through,” mud bog organizer Pam Meshell said.
Wade Minter traveled from Nacogdoches, Texas, for his first Tamale Fiesta. His truck got stuck in the mud bog.
“This is probably the best family place you can go to, and everybody treats you like family,” Minter said.
Organizers said the festival is held every year on the second weekend in October.
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