The evening of April 20 was unlike any other for the Teche Electric Supply company. Founders Pete and Mac Hays and their wives Jerry and Madeline Hays arrived to their electric superstore in a stretch white limousine. Party Girl, being a fortune hunter as well as avid partygoer, was flush over their themed party "Casino Royal" that commemorated Teche Electric Supply's 45th year in business. I was among the 700 guests that attended and tried their luck at the table games. Everyone enjoys playing games (and winning, of course) and that's what Party Girl did if you count earning casino chips. Off to the blackjack and roulette tables! Visiting with the vendors and guests was fun and made me a bit famished, and I needed to place some bets on dinner and a little dancing. The food was tasty and the live entertainment "Side Show" filled the room with some spunky music that met to my specification for grooving. "This will be an open house for our customers, guests, and employees to remember," says Chad Sonnier, marketing director for Teche Electric. I tried my luck at several games but didn't win that rolling ice chest I had my eye on! Oh well, better luck next time. The big winner was UL Lafayette, as Teche's 45th anniversary was dedicated to Mac Hays with the announcement that an endowed scholarship was created in his honor in the electrical engineering program at the university. Congratulations Teche Electric Supply on your 45 successful years, and hope you have many more.
Grand visions filled Party Girl's eyes on April 21 at the Visions Art Gallery & Studio, located on West Congress Street. The grand opening of the art gallery was a visually stimulating event, and several well-known local artists joined many guests who showed up in support of gallery owners Walter and Bonnie Camos. How encouraging for the artists to have several pieces sell that evening, especially up-and-coming artist Dwight Green, who sold two paintings in his debut exhibit. Artist June Aycock sold three of her oil paintings, Bonnie Camos sold four encaustics; and Fred Daspit, the iconic retired professor from UL sold a few of his "Reliquary" pieces. Catherine Robichaux from Catherine's Great Catering supplied delectable nibbles for all the spectators. The consensus of the evening was that it was a great success, and people are gearing up for the different classes available this summer at Visions Gallery. Time for Party Girl to dust off those old paintbrushes. Among the guests were Natalie and Sany Maillho, Tommy Champagne, Dolly Pellessier, Shome Dasgupta, Goldie Boutte, Johnny Jay, Cynthia Alleman and Sandry Labry.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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