Welcome to official website of
The Annual Poke Salad Festival Association
Blanchard, Louisiana
Click here for the schedule of events.
The 35th Annual Poke Salad Festival
May 7th - 9th, 2009
Blanchard, Louisiana
Once again the Annual Poke Salad Festival Association is making plans to bring a great celebration to the Town of Blanchard on Saturday May 9, 2009, with activities leading up to the festival starting with the first daily clue for the Poke Salad Treasure Hunt on Monday May 4, 2009. Long-time Poke Salad Festival sponsors, Tim’s Paint and Collision and American Dust Control team up with the Poke Salad Festival Association on the $1,500.00 prize, making the Treasure Hunt one of the most popular festival events. Check here for the daily clues, usually up before 8:00 each morning.
Considering all of the news and drilling activity related to the Haynesville Shale that has transpired since the last festival, we thought it would only be appropriate to pay tribute to this very exciting news story. With that in mind, the theme for this year’s festival is:
“Poke Salad Festival 2009 - One Shale of a Time!”
For a second year, the committee will be asking store owners in the downtown Blanchard area to decorate their store fronts to show their Poke Salad spirit. Winners of the Store Front Decoration Contest will receive gift cards to Office Depot sponsored by S & J Technologies.
Jim’s Rides Carnival will run from Thursday May 7, 2009, through Saturday May 9, 2009, with the usual arm band nights on Thursday and Friday night. The pre-sale tickets for the arm bands and t-shirts will be available in local retail outlets in Blanchard such as Cliff's Corner, Blanchard 66, Blanchard Insurance, The Gift House, and Pizza King.
New Announcement - We will have the return of American Championship Professional Wrestling at the Pavilion - FREE- on Thursday night May 7th, 7:00 - 9:00 PM.
A Youth Concert featuring Christian rock bands Ben Jenkins, Texarkana band Nova, and Klearview from Blanchard, will be held on Friday May 8, 2009, on the tennis courts at the Blanchard Elementary School Grounds. The First Baptist Church of Blanchard will also hold it’s annual fish fry and auction at the Poke Salad Pavilion on Friday May 8th.
Saturday’s festivities will feature Arts, Crafts, and food vendors from all over the area and two full stages of entertainment, including Gypsy Mountain, The Bertrand‘s, Rockhouse, the Cherokee-ettes, a JuJitsu Demonstration, and Richard Cook as Elvis, sponsored by Accu-Tech Mold and Die. Blanchard’s own rockin’ country band, Dixie Tradition will be the headline performer starting at 8:00 at the Pavilion. Click here for the schedule of events.
Rockhouse 6:00 Dixie Tradition 8:00
The Annual Poke Salad Festival will continue to feature a parade, with a $250.00 Best Float contest sponsored by Doug’s Paint and Body shop. Everyone is invited to participate and create a float for your business or group. Parade Grand Marshall is legendary high school girl’s basketball coach Merle Gore, who lives in the Blanchard area and remains very active in the community. The judging stage will be on the front porch of Pizza King where special guest, Larry Ryan, will be the Master of Ceremonies for this year's parade. Call Sandra West 929-2639 for more information about the parade or to register your float.
The kid’s tent will continue to feature lots of free activities for children including face painting and flower pots for mom sponsored by Baker Machine Company. This year the children will be entertained by the fabulous Jelly the Clown. Other activities on the festival grounds will include free pony rides, a haystack scramble for kids sponsored by Gipson Drafting, and a rock climbing wall for the brave at heart. Puppy Palace is sponsoring the second annual Pokey Pet Parade, so start planning your pet costume now and join the parade. You can call Puppy Palace at 309-8081 to sign your pet up for the parade.
For general information and for vendor information, please contact Neil Kalberg at 309-2647. As always, we sincerely thank the Blanchard community and our sponsors for the support we receive.
