Several state and regional dignitaries, as well as other family and friends, will join the Teche Area community this afternoon to celebrate New Iberia’s native daughter, Kathleen Marie Babineaux Blanco, as a historic marker is erected in her honor on Bouligny Plaza.

Although she is known to the rest of the world as Louisiana’s first (and only, so far) woman governor, Blanco’s impact on the Teche Area far preceded her life in the Governor’s Mansion.

She attended high school at Mt. Carmel, on the banks of the Bayou Teche. Later, after earning her business education degree from the newly rechristened University of Southwestern Louisiana, she would teach business at Breaux Bridge High School.

She also spent nearly two decades as a stay-at home mom, raising her six children, before seeking public office in the early 1980s.

In the two decades prior to her taking the oath of office as the 54th governor of the state in 2004, she served in the state House of Representatives, as a member of the state Public Service Commission and two terms as lieutenant governor under her predecessor, Gov. Mike Foster.

Tosday, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser is scheduled to deliver comments on Blanco, her career and achievements as part of the dedication ceremony for the marker. Family members, including Blanco’s daughter, Karmen Blanco Hartfield, are also scheduled to talk about the impact the former governor had on the community at large, as well as their lives in particular.

Additionally, former state Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque, who Blanco nominated to the post in 2007, will read a poem that he wrote, “The Governance of Power,” for her funeral in 2019.

Attendees at the event will be led to the marker in a second line with the Bunk Johnson Brazz Band providing the music. Also performing will be Katelyn Gulotta, who will sing her rendition of former Gov. Jimmy Davis’ “You Are My Sunshine,” a favorite of Blanco.

The marker itself is being placed as a project of the Iberia Preservation Alliance thanks to a donation from Blanco’s sister, Priscilla Cadwell, and her husband, John Cadwell. One side features the traditional brown and brass lettering, denoting Blanco’s service as the state’s first female governor and her wish to be remembered more for “deep faith in God, her strong commitment to family, and her life-long love of Louisiana” than for her public service. The reverse of the marker features a photo of Blanco etched into the finish, with details of her offices held in service to the state.

The unveiling of the marker will be followed by an invitation-only reception.

In addition to the marker, Blanco will also be honored with the first exhibit in the Bayou Teche Museum’s new “Doc” Voorhies addition. According to Bayou Teche Museum Executive Director Marcia Patout, the museum has received Blanco’s desk and chair from her time as governor and will use that as a centerpiece for the exhibit. Patout said the new wing, along with the Blanco exhibit, is expected to be open by the summer of 2022.

• The unveiling ceremony for the Kathleen Marie Babineaux Blanco historic marker in downtown New Iberia will begin at 3:30 p.m. today in Bouligny Plaza, with the Steamboat Warehouse Pavilion as a backup site in case of rain.

• In addition to the reveal of the plaque, several dignitaries, including Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, Attorney General Jeff Landry and former Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque are expected to make comments.

• The unveiling is open to the public. An invitation-only reception will follow the public portion of the ceremony.

Most Louisiana residents know that Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco was the first woman to hold that office. But her career contained several other firsts:

1983 — First state legislator to be elected from Lafayette Parish.

1988 — First woman to be elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

1993 — Served as first female chairperson of the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

1996 — Became the second female lieutenant governor of Louisiana, and first to win reelection to a second term (Melinda Schwegmann, her predecessor in the office, was the first. She resigned to run for governor in 1996).

2004 — Became the first (and so far the only) woman to hold the office of governor in Louisiana.