The Future of Bayou Pigeon

The  Bayou  Pigeon  Heritage  Association

With  Pride in our Past 

And  Faith In Our  Future

We  are thrilled to  announce  the signing of a long term lease with   the  landowner, A. Wilbert son's  LLC  and taking ownership of the structures  of the former  St  Joan  of  Arc Catholic  Church  complex,  donated to our  Association by the  Catholic Diocese  of  Baton  Rouge.

You are  cordially invited to  come celebrate  with us and get tons of information on the plans and future  activities for these facilities.

Please join  us  on  Feb. 28, 2020   2 P.M. - till at  the Bayou Pigeon  Heritage Hall

This event will take place inside the  Bayou  Pigeon Heritage  Hall.  Displays on the  History & Heritage  of  Bayou  Pigeon will be presented.

We will feature Architect  renderings of future  renovations  and ideas  for the  future  economic  rejuvenation of  Bayou Pigeon.

All of that with  musical entertainment, food and  drinks.  Ideas, suggestions  and  comments  on all topics  will be  taken.

Door  prizes of the award-winning book, ‘Bayou  Pigeon, LA.,  Spirit of the  Atchafalaya”  and  follow up  book,  “Heritage of the  Atchafalaya”, as well  as  copies  of the book “Michel Family  of  Bayou  Pigeon”  will be  awarded.

Look  who we have  as guest  speakers.  Parish  President, Mitchell Ourso, Sheriff Brett  Stassi, Klein  Kirby , President of  A. Wilbertson’s, Parish Council Members,  Chasity Easley, Pete  Kelly, Matt Jewell, State Representative  Chad  Brown and others.

Our hope  is that the Bayou  Pigeon  Heritage  Association  will  start a domino-effect of  clean up  and  economic improvement for the  community.

Circle  your calendars

Dépêchez-Vous, Allons au Pigeon 

BPHA update - 1 22-2020

Newsletter Jan. 22, 2020 - Bayou  Pigeon  Heritage  Association 

Pigeon  Facebook  Friends...

The Bayou Pigeon  Heritage  Association ( BPHA)  officers  and  Board of Directors after reviewing  the calendar  and available work days  on cleaning  up Facilities.  We have come up  with a date  for a celebratory Lease  signing event.  of  Feb. 28, a Friday,   from 2 - 5 PM at our Heritage Hall ( church).  Open to the  folks  who belong  to the  Pigeon  Facebook group,   and  the general public. It  will not cost to attend.

Preliminary plans  are  that Catholic Church  officials   and other VIP's, eg.,   the Parish  President, Sheriff, Assessor,  Parish Council members,  will be invited and  Refreshments  / food will be  served.

Health permitting  we will ask Mr. Calvin  Leblanc to play a a couple of  songs , The song about  Bayou Pigeon, by  Lou Millett,  and in honor of Roy  Leblanc, the Poor  fishermen,  and maybe one or two more.

We  will have displays  of   our Master plan   with artist renderings professionally  done  of the future development on  display  for  all to see  and  comment and provide suggestions  for improvements and advice... before  we  finalize  anything. 

We have a short video's  on the Heritage of Bayou  Pigeon.

We  will be releasing more  detailed communication on the  event  before  Feb. 1, 2020.

We are asking  for everyone  to Please mark your calendars and hold this date  open.

The date  was  set with the Mardi Ball  season, in mind, which is quite extensive in  Iberville parish, to mitigate conflicts with other parish  wide events..

Preparation  for this  Lease  Signing Event

We  will have a crew working on  clean up  and repair of the  site, every Sunday between now  and  Feb. 28 from 9:00  am until the  afternoon.  The officers  and  board of  directors  will meet at the  end of the  clean up approximately  4 pm,  to review / discuss  any new business  and plans  for the next clean up.

If anyone wants  to help please just  show up  at the  site in your  work  clothes.  Chris Daigle, President,  and other officers  and  directors  will be their to guide  activities.

Special Thanks 

To everyone who helped the with the clean up at the Bayou Pigeon Heritage complex last weekend (Jan. 17 - 20. 

Rick and Patty Phillips  and others worked many hours on  the clean up of the Heritage Hall and the house (former rectory). Some unsightly  bushes  and trees  around the main building  were removed and trimming the Oak tree in front of the house, was  done.  Patty Phillips and Rick  spent   much time cleaning the inside of the  Chapel /  Prayer Room and light fixtures, etc.

Chris Daigle and Rick Phillips made another detailed walk thru of the site and taking notes identifying all the things that need to be looked at repair including the Outdoor  Pavilion and fixing the back door entrance to the  GYM, where the vandals  got in..

Chris Settoon has the electrical power restored and the street lights working and trimmed the  Rose plants in  front of the  church, improving  security.

Steve  &  Mary Toups repaired the  water lines  and the  water to all  buildings turned on where  we can  now start power washing the  site.

Rick  has  some of the power turned on in the GYM.   The main lights in the gym  work but the power to the classrooms is not complete  yet.  Plans  are to get on that repair ASAP.

Chasity  Easley is planning  a house to house effort at Bayou  Pigeon to recruit membership (very  soon), if you  would like to help just give her a  holler!  we are having a new handout printed to facilitate that effort.

Paying  Dues  for membership

Several people have  asked this past  week.  How can i pay my dues?  I  don't  do Internet electronic payment  and / or  Social media  very much!

You can give  your dues to any Officer  or  Board of  Directors... we prefer a  check  so as to act as your receipt.

Our official membership is  now over 50 members, please  consider  joining the association ASAP.

Become Bayou  Pigeon  Proud.

If anyone has  comments or  suggestions on how  we can do better  do not hesitate  to contact any officer  or director.  You can use the comment  section on this message to send us a message.

 I  am Bayou  Pigeon  proud

Cliff ( Chachie ) LeGrange

Update on Bayou Pigeon Heritage Association

News  Letter Bayou Pigeon Heritage Association

On Nov. 18, 2019,  after a 18 months of working on  forming Bayou Pigeon Heritage Group  a lease between A. Wilberts LLC  and the donation of the  buildings and non movable  structures owned by the  Catholic Church to the BPHA is complete ... it is a  done  deal.

We own the buildings outright and are now responsible for Insurance, Utilities and Maintenance.

Signed in   the A. Wilberts LLC  office ... Chris Daigle, President of BPHA , Cliff  LeGrange, Dean Deslatte, and Kline Kirby President of  A Wilberts.

Special thanks to Our attorney, Kenneth Blanchard, who carried the ball over the  goal line for us.  His  services were pro bono and without his help I do not know if we  would have made it

Kenny Blanchard on right

We  have meeting this week  (Jan. 9) with Mr. Stan Routh ,  nationally recognized illustrator  to begin artist renderings on potential renovations  to the Heritage Hall (church) and the  Activity Center (Gym).

We have spoken with Brad Guerin, Architect  he has  volunteer to do any drawings we need  for renovations pro bono. As  soon as we reach a decisions on what to do and have  drawings to obtain permits and  some idea what funds we  will have  we will be  starting that process.  We hope to do as much of that with  community volunteers.  Steve Toups, Contractor who lives at Bayou Pigeon, has  said  he  will help as much as he can. He is a talented remodel expert.  hoping to start something by mid year.

If anyone has a talent and wants to help with future renovations, please contact me at 225 776 2686  or Chris Daigle at 225 776 4122.

Our next Board of Directors meeting is at Heritage Hall, this  Sunday at 5 p.m. Where we will start planning our schedule  and organizing some initial action items. However if anyone from General Public who receives this message or hears about the Board meeting and wants to come provide input, they are  invited.  One caveat, if you want to comment, you have to be a  voting member, which requires paying your annual dues.  We can collect them right there.

 Not waiting on Sunday, we will start general cleanup every Saturday in January.   Chris  and I will be there at 8am this Saturday.  We are praying that some brave Bayou Pigeon Facebook friends will show up to help us and bring some tools to help clean up the outside.  Of  course in the event of bad  weather, we will start cleaning the inside. Please bring any tools that will facilitate general clean up with you, ie., brooms, vacuum cleaners, extension cords, trailers to haul trash, etc.  I think Chris is bringing his lawn mower.

Membership Drive

We have not been having people  rushing to pay dues and become official Charter members. We are  doing this  for the community to rejunvate the community and Esprit  De Corps of Bayou Pigeon in general.  We realize we just have finished the holidays, but it is time to step up to challenge.  We recruiting brochures  available contact any officer or board of director to get hard  copies. If every member took a brochures and  signed up one family member or friend you would be doing your fair share.

We are looking into governments grants available to the BPHA as  a 501c3 non profit.  If anyone in  social media world has Grant application writing  skills please contact me (Cliff LeGrange 225 776 2686)  or Chris Daigle 225 776 4122)

In  closing

Bayou Pigeon friends if you have not viewed our web site ( http://www.bayoupigeon.com) and looked  at our two videos, (https://explee.com/video/molqvym)

Please do so,  they are very educational, undertand the Heritage  we are trying document and preserve. Show it your teen age school children.

If you have not paid your dues to join this Bayou Pigeon Heritage group please  consider joining ASAP.  

Become a life time member and receive a free copy of the  award winning "Bayou Pigeon, La. , Spirit of the Atchafalaya book".

Become a Benefactor member and receive a free copy of the new book "Heritage of the Atchafalaya - A Natural and Cultural History of The  Atchafalaya Basin".

The  interest in  the and participation  in Christmas parade sponsored by Chasity Easley , proved there is a lot of interest in reviving traditions  and culture in the Bayou Pigeon community.

Save our community bu joining Bayou Pigeon Heritage  Association

For the Together Eveyone  Achieves More

Chachie  ( web site adminstrator_