Getting Bayou Teche ready for its closeup

Work has begun behind the scenes to prep Bayou Teche for an unprecedented amount of recreational activity this spring, summer and fall.
This Saturday is the Acadiana Dragon Boat Festival in New Iberia, which is also the scene of a new canoe-kayak race to the Chitimacha Nation in May. A popular cruise for antique motor boats is back this year, coupled with the Black Bear Festival and Bayou Teche Wooden Boat Show in Franklin. And there’s a new set of canoe and kayak races linking the Teche Country with the large community of paddlers in Shreveport-Bossier.
It wasn’t that long ago when the bayou was a dump, literally. Blake Couvillion and his Cajuns for Bayou Teche arrived on the scene in 2009 and removed tons of garbage and debris from the historic waters.
Today, Dane Thibodeaux and The TECHE Project have taken on the task with an ever-growing cadre of volunteers, including musicians, academics and some promotion-savvy folks. The annual Shake Your Trail Feather in Breaux Bridge has made riverine trash-picking cool!
It is largely through the efforts of The TECHE Project (stands for Teche Ecology, Culture and History Education) that Bayou Teche has earned federal National Paddle Trail and the more prestigious National Water Trail (only 18 in the nation) status.
Much of the activity will kick off in mid-April. The second annual Cajun Classique cruise for classic wooden boat cruise will leave Arnaudville on April 13 and wind up in Franklin in time for the Bayou Teche Wooden Boat Show, April 17-19. For more information about the Cajun Classique, contact Cory Werk, (337) 366-0337, or visit CajunClassique.com, Facebook.com/BayouTecheExperience.
Held in conjunction with the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival in Franklin’s Parc Sur la Teche, the Bayou Teche Wooden Boat Show is a venues for both antique and modern wooden vessels and a mecca for people who love such watercraft. More about it is at www.techeboatshow.com.
On Saturday, April 18, Tour du Teche presents “Top of the Teche,” 7 1/2 miles from Leonville to Arnaudville, proceeds benefitting the Arnaudville Chamber of Commerce and Leonville Volunteer Fire Department. Go to www.tourduteche.com for more information.
Also on April 18, Dane Thibodeaux will be presiding over another “Trash Bash and Boogie,” this time in New Iberia’s City Park. Partnering with The TECHE Project will be Project Front Yard-Iberia Parish and the Iberia ON TAP Association to make this serious effort a little more fun. For more information go to www.techeproject.org.
The first-ever Chitimacha Race, 20 miles from New Iberia’s City Park to the Chitimacha Nation, will be Saturday, May 16. Check www.tourduteche.com for details.
Petit Tour du Teche, kayak races for youths, will be at Parc des Ponts in Breaux Bridge, Saturday, Aug. 1.
Sunday, Sept. 27, is the kickoff of two new super-tough races for kayakers and canoeists in Louisiana. Tour de la Rivière Rouge is 275 miles from Shreveport on the Red River to Port Barre on Bayou Courtableau. In itself, it’s an uber marathon for accomplished long-distance paddlers. Combine Rivière Rouge with the 135-mile Tour du Teche, which begins six days later, and the challenge becomes known as the 410 de Louisiane – that’s 410 miles, literally from the top of the state to the bottom, and every inch of it grabbed by a paddle.
Tour du Teche 135, now in its sixth year, is a three-day staged race with finish lines each day and times accumulative – from Port Barre to St. Martinville on Friday, Oct. 2; St. Martinville to Franklin Saturday, Oct. 3; and Franklin to Berwick on Sunday. Oct. 4. Go to www.tourduteche.com for a look at the many one-day side races during TDT 135.