Blanchard Readies For Poke Salad Festival With Treasure Hunt

The second full weekend of May has always had a special meaning for Blanchard, Louisiana!

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It's Poke Salad Festival weekend! The carnival and most of the activities will be held at the Poke Salad Festival grounds for a full three days beginning this Thursday, May 12 and going through Saturday, May 14.

There will be one big void in this year's festival. We received the notification on the Blanchard Poke Salad Festival Facebook page:

It will be the same as always except there will not be carnival rides this year. We hope to have the rides back for next year but we just don’t know if that will be possible. Before 2021 there were over 2,000 small carnivals in the country now there is less than 1,000. The one we used went out of business and we are looking for another one. Most of the ones that come thru Louisiana are booked up for years or are so expensive we can’t afford them.

That's a tough one, but completely understood. However, in an effort to add a little back to the festival after the loss of the rides, Kiss Country has teamed up with Caddo Parks and Recreation and Lander's Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram to present a huge country concert with Casey Martin this Saturday, May 14 from 7:00 pm through 9:00 pm.

Along with the carnival and Saturday's parade at 10:00 am through downtown Blanchard, there's also the annual Poke Salad Festival Treasure Hunt.

And today we get Clue #1. Good Luck!

No need to dig, climb, dismantle, enter private property, or park dangerously in Fire District One, there you may find the treasure card and be done. Acquire a business card from Doug's Paint and Body, follow instructions, and claim your $1,000 at the Poke Salad Festival Pavilion, Saturday May 14th, 12:30 P.M.

50+ Pictures of Shreveport's Abandoned Historic Fairgrounds Field

Before you know it, Shreveport's historic Fairgrounds Field will be will be exactly that - history. Once the legal wrangling is done, the proverbial endangered-bat-guano will hit the fan and the once glorious Ratchet-City cathedral to baseball will be demolished and gone.

Before it "bats" its final inning, let's take a final look at the glory that once was. I warn you though, it's kind of like seeing that super-hot girl from high school 20 years later - and time has not been kind.

These awesome pictures were provided by urban photographer extraordinaire Ron DeBello.

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.