We are bringing a city wide Christmas themed activity calendar for all to participate in!
I cannot thank everyone enough for a fantastic day!! I will be posting lots of details and pics this week! But wanted to get this out there so that you know I am so incredibly grateful
New Iberia Spanish Festival….oh how appreciated you are!! And I can’t wait to return the help in April
Bambino’s….there are no words for how wonderful you helped make our event
Watch for our recap posts this week!
YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS OUT NEXT YEAR!!
We are busy setting up for tonight’s fun!!
Come have fun on a Saturday night!!!
Food, drinks, and great community mingling
Bambino’s Burgers floating 6-9!
Tonight! Floating event from 6-9
Come try some great drink entries and mingle for a good cause!
You can buy tickets at the door! Don’t have to pre-purchase
Feliz Navidad Santa Run!!
The race is still on!!
We are taking registration up to race time!
Running to raise funds for our December activities
If you pre-registered for our Feliz Navidad Santa Run, you can do early bird check in tonight!!
We will be in the Gazebo in Bouligny Plaza from 4-6 to come get your goodie bags
You can still enter the race if you want! You can sign up tomorrow morning as well
https://my.raceresult.com/298455/
We will see you tomorrow! Booth for check in will be ready at 6:30
One mile starts at 7:30
Water and fresh fruit will be available after the race
Join us downtown Saturday night at Bambino’s Burgers for our first mixology contest to raise funds for our December calendar!
Tickets are available at the door and on the link provided
https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/86fc60a7-140f-4010-a97b-7ce02b13f73f
(There’s an option to pay a “fee”, you can change that fee to zero!!)
We want all activities this December to be FREE for everyone! Come try the drinks and vote for your favorite in each category, and then purchase large size of your overall!!
If you are joining us for our Santa Run that morning, you get one free full drink and $5 off entry! You should have received an email with the code!
Food trays and soft drinks will also be sold
Here is your Competition and Sponsor information for our Battle of the Mixologists fundraiser event!!
We are looking for anyone who wants to enter!! You do not have to be a bartender!!!
You like making drinks at home, or have one that you just love to make and can add a twist to turn it into a Christmas drink?
Do you have the best Old Fashioned in town?
Are you not an alcohol person but love a good mocktail that you want to enter?
Interested in sponsoring a bartender with their ingredients?
Would you like a reserved table to be sure you and your friends have a place for seating?
Here is everything you need to know!!!
Reach out to us for entry forms!
And don’t forget to get your tickets on Zeffy!
(Website fee they post is suggestion, not mandatory. You can change the amount to zero)
https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/86fc60a7-140f-4010-a97b-7ce02b13f73f
Part 2 of our Christmas in July Event is ready to go!! Don't miss a super fun night at one of the new hot spots in Downtown New Iberia, and help us raise funds to provide a great three weeks of free family Christmas fun in December! Come MIX and Jingle! Non-alcoholic category will be included for those who don't or cannot drink, so nobody is left out!
**IF you entered the Santa Run, whether the 1 mile or the 5K, you will receive a code for $5 off entry, AND a free full drink ticket! Don't forget to register, even if it's for a 1 mile fun group walk with your friends!
COMPETITOR AND SPONSOR / FULL TABLE RESERVATION INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW!
https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/86fc60a7-140f-4010-a97b-7ce02b13f73f
https://my.raceresult.com/298455/
Early bird registration for guaranteed shirt ends this week!!
Registries will be open all the way through to race time
Participants get special goodies for our Mixology event!
Help us have a fun day with Santa’s running around town, raising funds for our 21 days of Christmas!
Ok everyone! Info on the first part of our “Christmas in July” fundraiser is now here and ready!!! We hope to have a nice showing of Santa’s en masse running the roads!
We have info for the participants, and info for anyone interested in sponsoring. All proceeds are going to the cost of our 21 days of Christmas events in December
Keep on the lookout for part two of our CIJ day….battle of mixology info coming soon
And you get an incentive if you participate in both events!
Thank you to our local Spanish Festival for partnering with us! Great things happen when multiple local organizations work together!
https://my.raceresult.com/298455/
On to our next Elf on our Advent Team! Linda can be seen all over our city and parish volunteering, participating on multiple boards, and putting all her energy into everything she touches. I love having her help because she has no fear and just goes for all things! A little about Linda….
“Linda Horton along with her husband are the Co-Owners of Iberia Driving Academy.
Linda has been married to Allen Horton for the past 29 years and together they have one daughter. Allie, and three grandchildren. Linda is a board member of The Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce, serving as Chairman of the board this current year. She is also Her -Royal-HIness 2013 Berry Queen and currently serving as Parade Coordinator. As well, she resides on the boards of Iberia Crime Stoppers and New Iberia Optimist Club. She is on committees for The Beneath the Balconies, Iberia Cultural Resource and Night at the Museum. If there is something going on in New Iberia, you can find Linda helping out in some capacity, she is a true New Iberia Girl.”
Q) WHAT intrigued you about the Advent Activity that you felt encouraged to join the committee and help create the event?
A) Any events we can bring to children and get adults involved in our community is a win win. My birthday is December 23rd, therefore I truly love the spirit of Christmas. The twinkle the Christmas season brings to children and adults of all ages is just spectacular.
Q) WHAT was your favorite or "magic moment" during the event?
A) To see the entire Advent Activity each and every evening families coming together brings such joy to me. I remember one parent saying they put their phones away and enjoyed the activity that particular evening.
Q) WHAT do you think this brings to New Iberia, and what are your hopes for the future of the event?
A) This event showcases New Iberia, the wonderful people, local businesses and the support of the community. It is an event that everyone longs to see what the next activity is and brings family time back together.
Be on the lookout next week for all the details! We will be sending out sponsor info, registration info, cocktail competition rules and more!
It’s Christmas in July!!!
Get ready for our two “Christmas in July” fundraisers coming soon!!
If you want to participate in our cocktail contest, reach out to us for details
We are searching for a host venue…that will be posted as soon as we choose one!
Meet our next Elf, Andree Schlicher! Having Andree on our team was huge for our success. She has her talents all around the community in so many different events and groups, and she has great energy to get out there and help get things done! So much couldn’t have been done without her eagerness to help make the year a success. Here is a little about her!
Andree Schlicher has been married to her husband, Rob for 20 years. She is a mom to Chandler, Cohen & Judith and soon to be mother in law to Chandler's fiance Hanna! She has been active in the Iberia Parish community for many years. She is the current president for The Berry Queens of New Iberia where she also served as Her Royal Hi-Ness in 2012. She created the Beauties & Beauxs Homecoming & Prom attire giveaway event. She is the current 1st Vice Chair & Gumbo Chair for the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce board. She is a board member for the New Iberia Optimist Club where she is also a past president. For the 2024 year, she represents the chamber on the IDF board. She is part of Reginae Andalusia as she was Queen Carlota II in 2017. Along with the Krewe of Andalusia, she and Rob are also members of the Mystic Krewe of Iberians. She serves as float captain for the Krewe de Cocodrilo float in the Bayou Mardi Gras Association parade. She serves as the CHS & NISH representative for the Iberia Project Graduation board. She is a Eucharistic Minister at Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church where she also formerly served as the Altar Server coordinator. In the past, she was a member of On Tap, former president of Iberia Habitat for Humanity & former president of the St. Edward School PTO. Celebrating her 10th year of being a realtor, she happily calls McGeeScott Realty "home"!
Q) WHAT intrigued you about the Advent Activity that you felt encouraged to join the committee and help create the event?
A) Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday so anything that I can be a part of to help spread Christmas joy in my community is a win win!
Q) WHAT was your favorite or "magic moment" during the event?
A) I enjoyed watching everyone have fun with their family & friends while exploring parts of our community that opened their doors to our events. Having the children tell us thank you for doing this was icing on the cake and heartwarming!
Q) WHAT do you think this brings to New Iberia, and what are your hopes for the future of the event?
A) This is an event that brings people in the community together during a time where we are to celebrate and encourage peace & joy. It gave folks the opportunity to have "good, clean, family fun" along with many unique opportunities to create new holiday traditions & memories for their families & friends! I hope to see community participation grow more and more each year!
We are looking for a few Eager Elves to join our team for this year's events! Interested persons need to be active in community events (not necessarily volunteering to work, but attending counts), super creative with putting on activities, energetic to put in the time it takes us behind the scenes at The North Pole, and most of all -LOVES CHRISTMAS! Please message us if you are interested!
Happy birthday Teresa!
Your vision for New Iberia Advent Activity Event, your pride for Iberia Parish, and you drive to make our community one of a kind, day in and day out is all unmatched!
We wish you the best year yet!
Time to meet our next Elf!! Cherie Lord was a great asset to our team. She is connected to multiple things in our community and really gave us great ideas, lots of things to think about when planning, and she was in attendance at almost every event making sure things were running smoothly. She is also the BEST Mrs. Claus ever!!!! Here is a little about Cherie:
"Cherie Lord of New Iberia has been married to her husband, Brian for 32 years. She is a mom to Megan and Michael, and Mamere to her new granddaughter, Charlotte. She has been active in the community for many years. First through Les Jeune Amies where she held all board positions as well as chaired the Children’s Art Show for 5 years. She then joined The Berry Queens of New Iberia which led to joining the board of Iberia Habitat for Humanity. She is the former Her Royal Hi-Ness Queen of the Berry and currently is Secretary for the Berry Queen Board."
Q) WHAT intrigued you about the Advent Activity that you felt encouraged to join the committee and help create the event?
A) I LOVE Christmas! I love spending time with my family during the holidays and entertaining friends. I felt this was a great opportunity to help expand those holiday traditions and create new ones with my growing family.
Q) WHAT was your favorite or "magic moment" during the event?
A) I really enjoyed the cookie competition as that is a huge holiday tradition for my family. Meeting new people at the different events and then seeing those same faces over and over again really made me feel like we were doing something good for New Iberia.
Q) WHAT do you think this brings to New Iberia, and what are your hopes for the future of the event?
A) I’m excited that we are the first in Acadiana to attempt a holiday activity of this scope and I would love to see it become a huge attraction for New Iberia by pulling people in from neighboring cities. We’ve got some fun things planned for this year and I can’t wait to share these activities with my granddaughter Charlotte. 🥰
Meet our next Elf!!! As the right hand in the office for the Mayor of our City, Hilary was CRUCIAL in making sure our events ran as smooth as possible. She was available at all times, and worked so hard juggling the City's properties, buildings, and calendars to make sure we could make all the events happen. She is such a benefit to our City!
Here is a little about her....
Introduction:
I’ve worked for the City of New Iberia for the last 9 years, and I’ve had the privilege of contributing to various projects and events that make our city thrive. Outside of work, my world revolves around my family. Happily married to my husband, Chase, who also supports all my decisions to pour my time into the community. I have a wonderful 16-year-old daughter, and two amazing bonus children who are a huge part of my life. If I’m not spending time with them, I’m either playing around with my plants, or traveling every chance I get.
Q) WHAT intrigued you about the Advent Activity that you felt encouraged to join the committee and help create the event?
A) The thing that intrigued me the most about the Advent Activity would be the amount of fun Christmas activities this event would bring to our town. It was something fun that was free for the most part for everyone of all ages to attend. I’m always down for an event in the city.
Q) WHAT was your favorite or "magic moment" during the event?
A) My favorite magic moment is from our hot cocoa night gathering that we hosted. Witnessing the parade of smiling faces, coming and going, while everyone savored their hot cocoa, created an atmosphere of pure sweetness and joy.
Q) WHAT do you think this brings to New Iberia, and what are your hopes for the future of the event?
A)To me, this brings the magic of Christmas to New Iberia. It’s a whole Advent Calendar full of fun activities that families can get together and create memories that’ll last. I can’t thank Teresa enough for bringing her vision to life and letting me be a part of it.
Next Elf is Megan Suire with The Chamber of Commerce. It was so great having her involved as she has an ear to the ground on so many things in the City. She never hesitated to take on so many behind the scenes “little things” that matter in a big way. And she was the best videographer for our Live presentations!!
Megan Suire is a loving mother of 2 girls, Marleigh and Analise and a bonus mom to two funny boys, Wyatt and Tatum. Megan is a newlywed to Mr. Dustin Suire and she enjoys every minute she gets to spend with her husband and family in the town where she was born and raised. Megan has always been a staple in New Iberia, from her time working for Iberia Parish Governemt down to her current title, Marketing and Membership Coordinator for the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce. In her free time, Megan enjoys her family and her puppy Lucy, as well as spending her time volunteering in many different organizations. Megan states "New Iberia Advent Activity Event has brought so much fire and passion back in my heart to better the City of New Iberia, I am so honored to be a small part of something so grand".
Q) WHAT intrigued you about the Advent Activity that you felt encouraged to join the committee and help create the event?
A) The intriguing part is knowing that New Iberia felt like part of a Hallmark fairy tale. I imagined how all of it would work out in the planning stages and our fearless and, oh so festive leader, made it so easy and fun to want to be involved day after day!
Q) WHAT was your favorite or "magic moment" during the event?
A) My favorite magic moment during the event was the caroling night. There was an older couple that dressed in carolers outfits and just seemed like they were in their element of enjoying the holiday season.
Q) WHAT do you think this brings to New Iberia, and what are your hopes for the future of the event?
A) Bringing an event like this to the City brought a sense of community back to one that was a little down on itself. It had everyone coming together and having a GREAT time night after night! My hope for this event is that it continues to grow and to outlive the originators, knowing that we set a great platform for some positive Christmas cheer! Here is to many many more years as a New Iberia Advent Activity Elf!
MEET OUR ELVES!
Over the next couple weeks we will do a spotlight on all the Elves who helped make our events happen
Our Head Elf is Teresa Courtois. She is a transplant here, moving to New Iberia after she married her husband, Chad, who she met while he was in the Marine Corps stationed in 29 Palms. Being from such a bigger city it was an adjustment, but now can’t imagine living anywhere else! She is the proud mother of 4, and 1 grandchild. She and Chad have been married for 30 years and her favorite thing is attending and volunteering at as many community events as possible.
Q: WHAT made you come up with the idea of the Advent Activity Event?
A: I am a Hallmark Christmas movie ju**ie. During Covid, the city in one of the movies had a small scene where they discussed the city wide advent fun. Since all of my adult children had to move back home due to college or work shutdowns, I decided to try it at home with them to give us fun family things to do since it was such an abnormal Christmas. And they loved it
Q: WHAT made you decide to do it for the City?
A: OUR Mayor, Freddie DeCourt has been so awesome about coming up with new things our city can do that others around us aren’t doing to promote visitors and tourism. I was hopeful he would be supportive. I also know so many people think there’s “nothing to do here”, so I knew I could give great family/friend fun, but most of them free to promote the Holiday feeling
Q: HOW were you able to pull it all off?
A: FIRST I had the best team of fellow New Iberia lovers. I had a husband who, thankfully, kept his patience during my craziness of working on it. But even more so, the community was so willing to get behind me. I am a long time member of The Berry Queens, I am on The Optimist Club board, and I volunteer for as many events I can find. Over the years that has helped me build some great relationships with members of our community, and they trusted me to give it my all with their help
Q: WHAT is next for the Activity and will it return for Christmas of 2024?
A: NEXT is Christmas in July! We will be having a fundraising day with two events to help get us some startup money for this coming year. And absolutely we will be back this year! We took a look at things that worked and what didn’t….we are adding new ideas and replacing some that logistically were tough while keeping the communities favorites. I really think we can go bigger and better and I am so thankful the community was patient with us on our first year of trial and errors!!
Our first place winner in our People’s Choice of Christmas decorations is Lucerne Street!
What started out as a childhood hobby in the backyard now brings Christmas entertainment on a large scale for our community!
Congratulations to all 3 of our winners
Thank you to Lee Ball for providing some great photos for us!
Our People’s Choice second place house decorating winner was 823 Julia Street
It’s the best hodge podge “griswold” look of all the things that make Christmas!! They cover every theme you can think of
Can’t wait to see what they add on next year!
Our people’s choice during our Day 19 of Advent Activities:
Third place was the home on St Peter Street
90% of these decorations are hand made by the owner
The detail is incredible, the imagination comes to life, and it’s one of my favorite houses each year
The smell of baked cookies coming out of the chimney on Santa’s house is the topper!!
Our costume winners for our Christmas caroling night in Bouligny Plaza!
We had pizza, popcorn, drinks and Christmas music filling our downtown square
And the kids sang carols in front of our advent tree
Isn’t the Dickens couple just the cutest!!
Our blowup Santa had some pretty great dance moves, and the cutest little Miss Claus with her dress and antlers
Our local Chick-Fil-A was a very generous sponsor for multiple Advent Events!
Please go join on their fun this weekend!!
Lots of things to do in New Iberia!
Good morning!!
If you were unable to join our night driving around looking at Christmas lights, here is the list of houses!
I tried to place them in an order that follows a full circle drive around them all
(All routes had the same addresses just a different order to keep people spread out on that one night)
I hope you get some time this Christmas weekend to see them!
Will be posting photos of the winners soon
City Of New Iberia
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Feliz Navidad Santa Run!!
Ornament hunt fun!!! And just like and Easter egg hunt….takes time to put it all together and out there and they pick them all up in seconds!!! Thank you New Iberia Optimist Club for sponsoring the fun!! Movie time is 4:30 - (or right after as soon as dark enough to see!)
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