Watch Country Roads editor James Fox-Smith on WAFB's 9 News This Morning as he discusses some of the unique events in our area one can explore in the coming month. Visit WAFB.com for times and dates!

Events for the month of November 2008:

FAIRS & FESTIVALS

November 1—2
Giant Omelette Celebration, Abbeville, La

There's more than one way to crack an egg. And Abbeville residents might need every way possible if they're going to fill that twelve-foot skillet during the town-wide feast day, which springs from a tradition that apparently began in Napoleon’s time. According to legend, when Napoleon and his army were on the move through the south of France, they rested for the night near a town called Bessieres. The diminutive commander dined on an omelette prepared by a local innkeeper that he judged so delicious he ordered the townspeople to gather all the eggs in the village and to prepare a huge omelette for his army. The event spawned a tradition of feeding the poor of each village using a giant omelette each Easter. It has also become the symbol of a worldwide fraternity known as the Confrerie. Members are towns in which a giant omelette is prepared and shared each year. Towns include Bessieres and Frejus, France; Granby, Quebec; Malmedy, Belgium; Dumbea, New Caledonia; and Abbeville, Louisiana. As it has each year since 1985, the town celebrates with music, food, an art show, antique cars/farm implements, kid's world, and tour of homes. The festival concludes on Sunday with the parade of the eggs and bread at 1 pm and the cooking of the giant omelette, served to the crowd, at 2 pm. This event is part of the Louisiana Main to Main celebration.

And in the interest of always providing Country Roads readers with new culinary challenges, here’s the recipe:
5,020 eggs
50 lbs. onions
4 gallons onion tops
2 gallons parsley
1 1/2 gallons cooking oil
6 1/2 gallons milk
52 lbs. butter
3 boxes salt
2 boxes black pepper
crawfish tails (a lot)
Tabasco (to taste).
10 am–5 pm each day. 337-893-0013 or www.giantomelette.org.


FAIRS & FESTIVALS

November 14—16
Highland Games of Louisiana, Jackson, La

More haggis! Bigger athletes! Faster sheepdogs! And shorter kilts for sure! Back in the heart of Jackson, Louisiana, the annual Highland Games of Louisiana promises a quintessentially Celtic pageant of Scottish competition, culture and traditions in the Louisiana highlands, also known as the Felicianas (which are higher than most bits of Louisiana, after all).
You need not be a thistle-munching redhead with a predilection for tartan to enjoy these games. Scottish or no, there’s plenty of fun and food from Friday morning, when the competitions get underway, and onward through a rollicking weekend.
Saturday’s competitions, ceremonies and demonstrations include:
A parade and piping competition; highland dance competition, traditional athletic events, sheep dog demonstrations, piping workshops and country dancing. There's an explosively noisy pipe band competition, too. On Saturday night there’s also a traditional Scottish Ceilidh, featuring music, dancing and humor from 7 pm. Scottish clans and societies set up tents at which visitors can trace their ancestry; musical entertainment comes courtesy of John Taylor and Smithfield Fair. Central to the festival is the sixth annual North-South Challenge, which pits massive, bekilted gentlemen from either side of the Mason-Dixon line against one another in displays of strength and dexterity during events such as the caber toss, sheaf toss, the hammer, and the putting of the stone. The competition takes place throughout the day on Saturday, but for the curious, there’s an open competition on Friday during which anyone can sign up to find out how hard it really is to throw a caber or hammer halfway across a field. Those interested may download an entry form from the Web site below.
Sunday morning is reserved for the traditional Kirking of the Tartans, held at Jackson Presbyterian Church at 10 am. Admission to Friday’s games is free. Tickets for Saturday are $10 for adults, $5 for kids 6–12. Group discounts are available. Tickets to the Ceilidh are $10 each. All events are at the Games Grounds in Jackson. (225) 927-2944 or www.lahighlandgames.com.

FAIRS & FESTIVALS

November 23
Double Stuffed Po-Boy Festival, New Orleans, La

Organizers expect this second edition of last year’s wildly successful New Orleans Po-Boy Preservation Festival to be twice as meaty. This celebration of Louisiana's most famous sandwich will be held again in a five-block section of Oak Street between Carrollton Avenue and Leonidas Street.
The festival was founded as a celebration of the storied sandwich and the role it has played in New Orleans’ culinary culture, and it highlights the ongoing revitalization of the Oak Street business corridor, which in 2006 was designated a National Main Street by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a Louisiana Main Street by the Department of Historic Preservation, which authorizes the program.
Proceeds from the festival go toward the Oak Street Association’s work to promote, preserve, and revitalize Carrollton’s historic Oak Street neighborhood and commercial corridor. A portion of proceeds will go to benefit and further the restoration of Ladder 7 Fire Station at 2430 S. Carrollton Avenue.
The festival attracted more than ten thousand attendees in 2007 and this year will again feature two stages of live music, arts and crafts, a silent auction, a children’s section with games and prizes, panel discussions covering the history of the po-boy (starting at 10:30 am) and, of course, the best tasting po-boys in New Orleans. Noon– 6pm. Free. (504) 228-3349 or www.poboyfest.com.