FRANKLIN — A dugout made of sinker cypress attracted a multitude of attention at the Wooden Boat Show in Franklin on Saturday.
The dugout was made by Jules Lambert of Keith’s Pirogues and Wooden Boats in Denham Springs.
FRANKLIN — A dugout made of sinker cypress attracted a multitude of attention at the Wooden Boat Show in Franklin on Saturday.
The dugout was made by Jules Lambert of Keith’s Pirogues and Wooden Boats in Denham Springs.
And it wasn’t any ordinary boat — it was a $5,000 dugout made for Chef John Folse.
Lambert said Keith’s Pirogues have shown work at every boat show in Franklin, plus boat shows all over the state.
He has been making the boats for 10 years, he said. He and business partner Keith Felder rarely sell boats from the boat shows.
“It’s a hobby for us,” Lambert said. “We do build-to-sell … We come here because we enjoy talking to people.”
Lambert said they get the wood — sinker cypress and marine plywood — from Lake Maurepas, and they make different sizes of boats.
Sometimes they make smaller sizes for caterers and restaurants, who fill the boats up with crawfish, beer and other items for a centerpiece, Lambert said.
Lambert was show onlookers their tools, called adzes. He has different sizes to carve out the boats. He and Felder made the tools themselves, he said, after they had an 87-year-old blacksmith teach them how.
One couple admiring the dugout was David and Leigh Hood of Birmingham, Ala., who were part of the Cajun Classique crew that motored down the Bayou Teche from Breaux Bridge to Franklin specifically for the boat show.
The Hoods rode down the bayou in a 1954 Chris-Craft named the Hoodlum II.
Leigh Hood said they have enjoyed their time seeing the Acadiana area.
“We’ve fallen in love with this part of the country,” Hood said. “They people are so nice.”
Held in conjunction with the boat show was the Black Bear Festival, which is held to educate people about the state black bear.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the state black bear as “threatened,” according to the website.
Posters and displays were on hand to teach people about the black bears. Attendees could compare their “tracks” with black bear track impressions.
Donna Tesi, a surgeon, and Linda Lamaison are the “Bear Repair Team” for the festival. Tesi said they take any stuffed toys, including bears, cats, dinosaurs, snakes and dogs, that need stuffing, eyes or have missing limbs and repair them.
Tesi uses her surgical abilities to repair the stuffed animals. She learned how to sew from her mother and grandmother, she said, which is why she became a surgeon.
Tesi and Lamaison have been doing the repairs since the festival’s inception, Tesi said.
And while she and Lamaison just do repairs on the day of the festival, Tesi won’t turn down animals in dire need of repair.
“If someone came by my office with an emergency, I would be more than happy to oblige,” she said with a laugh.
Lamaison said they typically repair about six to eight stuffed animals a year, but they plan to display fliers at schools so more people know about it.
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