Despite the heat, holiday spirits remain high in New Iberia

If you happened to drive near Bouligny Plaza on Saturday morning, you may have been left questioning the Christmas shirts donned by runners competing in the New Iberia Advent Activity Event’s Feliz Navidad Santa Run.

No, your calendar isn’t showing the incorrect month and yes, the local temperatures are as far from “Christmas weather” as one could imagine, but for the organizers of the run. July was the perfect time to begin ramping up excitement and interest for this year’s Christmas advent activities.

“Considering that we came up with this only about a month ago, I’m thrilled,” said event organizer Teresa Wittig Courtois. “My goal was to have 30 runners and we have more than that, so that’s great. A lot of people were surprised that we were going to be running in July, but ‘Christmas in September’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

The events were designed to raise funds to ensure that this year’s activities are free for everyone.

“Last year was our first year of doing the advent activity, and it was also a quick idea that we had in August,” explained Courtois. “We got word out about it as much as we could and it really beat my expectations, so I think we can double it this year. Starting to talk about it in the middle of the year will help remind people that it’s coming up in December. Last year, I was working with as many sponsors as I could but some of the events still required people to purchase things. I just couldn’t make all of them free, so I thought that if we did fundraisers in the middle of the year we can remind people that it is coming up and we can also make sure that everything will be free for everybody this year.”

The second event on the weekend was a Battle of the Mixologists, held at Bambino’s Burgers on Main St., where participants were provided samples of holiday-inspired beverages and allowed to choose which was their favorite. Several different options were available, including cocktails, mocktails and the venerable Old Fashioned.

After tasting each of the delicious offerings, votes were available for purchase for $1 each. A sampling menu of Bambino’s favorites was also available to purchase, as were full-sized versions of all the drinks on display.

According to Courtois, both activities were great ways to remind the community of the upcoming Christmas events, something that she believes can evolve into one of the area’s most well-known holiday attractions.

“I want it to be the new thing around here,” she said. “You go to Lafayette for Acadian Village and I want people to come to New Iberia for the advent activities.”

The event is already off to a good start. Despite having little time last year to advertise, attendance at the events grew exponentially, culminating in a reading of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by costumed members of The Berry Queens at New Iberia City Hall.

Courtois said that she was astonished by the support the event received from the community and worked hard to provide events that wouldn’t interfere with school or work schedules.

“Some of the nights I was just blown away by how many people were there,” said Courtois. “It’s hard because, for some of the nights, school is still happening. On school nights, people don’t want to be out late, so we try to make sure that we have activities that start after work but finish early enough to get to bed on those school nights. The reaction from the community blew me away last year, it was better than I expected.”

The winners of the one-mile run were Zack Blanchard and his six-year-old son, Wesley. New Iberia Mayor Pro Tem Ricky Gonsoulin won the 5k event with a time of 26:21, followed by Corey Trim with a time of 26:23.

The mixology contest featured several winners, each of whom received an embroidered bartender apron, with the overall winner taking home a leather-accented embroidered bartender apron and copper shaker set with display. The winners are as follows:

Battle of the Mixologists winners

Category winners (decided by number of votes)

Mocktail – Jerre Borland Christmas punch (sponsored by Food N fun)

Cocktail – Luccia Schaubert Candy Cane (sponsored by Bambino’s)

Old Fashioned – Taylon Robichaux (Sponsored by Bambino’s)

Fan Favorites (decided by overall drink purchases)

Runner-up – Velvet Reindeer by Kauri Courtois (Sponsored by Accent Designs by Kauri Clare)

Winner – Old Fashioned by Cole Courtois (Sponsored by Advantaged Assets)