Parks and Recreation Superintendent Heather Dominique takes photos of the winners of the barbecue competition who stand in a row at the festival.

Despite dreary weather Saturday, more than 400 people turned out to New Iberia City Park for the city’s annual Festival of Live Oaks. 

There were games, music and barbecue all underneath the park’s beautiful oak trees that give the festival its namesake. 

“It’s going well, considering what the (weather) projection was, I’m OK with it,” Parks and Recreation Superintendent Heather Dominique said. “The crowd’s here, the people are here showing how much they believe in the Festival of Live Oaks, so I’m grateful.”

Local arborist and former Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jim Foret said the festival got its start after Hurricane Andrew. 

“In 1992, Hurricane Andrew came out of the Gulf and sat on New Iberia for a long time and swung over to Baton Rouge,” Foret said while enjoying the event. “When you looked around, there was a lot of tree damage, but not as much property damage as could have happened. 

“Some of the people in the community came up with the idea of a festival and some money to repair broken trees.”

That original festival was called Tribute to the Trees, which eventually evolved into the Festival of Live Oaks. A few years later, the family of the late Brudley Kibodeaux began the barbecue competition aspect of the festival. 

This year, the food competition had six categories; ribs, roadkill (anything except ribs and chicken), chicken, brisket, sauce and sides. The big winner of the day was LA Energy Services, who took home the sauce, roadkill and chicken categories. 

Iberia Medical Center also took home two extra awards for showmanship and the people’s choice award. 

Awards were distributed by organizers of the festival near the main stage. There were several musical performances from the likes of zydeco artist Donna Angelle, who regularly plays the festival. 

Besides the food booths, there also were craft booths and snack booths near the entering walkway of the festival. Fun jumps and pony rides were available for the kids, and a dancing area was set up near the main stage for event-goers to have a good time.