On June 21, it will be 70 years since Bayou La Batre was incorporated as a municipality. The 2,000-resident fishing village had been there for two centuries or more before a municipal government was thought to be needed. In 1955, it officially became the City of Bayou La Batre.
Preferred local pronunciation: "By-luh-BA-tree."
There will be some good-natured disagreement about that pronunciation, so here is the official website about the town, including the local pronunciation.
The fishing capital of the South will celebrate its 70th birthday.
Here is your official invitation:
Don’t miss out on a wonderful day filled with fun and community spirit! The parade will kick off at Alba Middle School with Grand Marshal George C. Wallace, Jr., at 10 a.m. and will end at the Bayou La Batre Community Center.
Kids will enjoy the jumpy houses, while food lovers can savor delicious dishes from La Taqueria, Twist Sushi, Somo Ice, and La Fruteria food trucks. Look for updates as more food trucks may be added to the lineup!
Additionally, enjoy live music from the fantastic band Journey2Mars from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Bring your family and invite old friends to join in the celebration of the Bayou! Mark your calendars—you won’t want to miss this event!
Once the parade ends, community members may enjoy family-oriented activities and live entertainment by the band Journey to Mars, which will be at the Bayou La Batre Community Center for the remainder of the afternoon. Food Trucks will be on-site at the Center's grounds.
While BLB has been known to Alabama folks and fishermen for generations, the nation and the world got to know it in the 1994 blockbuster movie "Forrest Gump." The fictitious Gump had served in Vietnam with Bubba from Bayou La Batre, who told Gump about his shrimping business, explaining the different uses of shrimp:
"You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it."
Did Bubba accidentally leave out shrimp cocktail? And shrimp curry? And for breakfast, shrimp omelettes? No, he could not have. In the movie, Bubba said: "I know everything there is to know about the shrimping bidness".
Bubba did not make it back from Vietnam, so Forrest Gump decided to go in his stead to BLB and operate a shrimping "bidness," as Gump pronounced it. It was wildly successful. It also provided the movie viewers more knowledge of shrimping and of "the Bayou" than all the geography classes in America.
You will learn more about the Bayou, its people and its seafood businesses on June 21 at the celebration.
Details here.
Jim 'Zig' Zeigler's beat is the colorful and positive about Alabama -- her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].
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