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Smoked meats like sausage and tasso are popular in Cajun Country. |
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Cory Cart and Lysa Allman-Baldwin enjoy the festivities atop bales of hay in the back of a trailer on the parade route! |
We are in the small town of Iowa, Louisiana for the Iowa Chicken Run on Mardi Gras Day. The parade rolls at 10 a.m.
We stop throughout the community with the trucks and trailers, ATVs, and people on horseback and beg for ingredients to make a gumbo. It’s an ancient tradition of begging where the revelers go from house to house dancing to live Zydeco music for the owners to lend them ingredients for the communal gumbo to be made later that evening.
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The parade stops at a member of the community's home while Zydeco music is played and everyone dances. If the family approves the dancing skills, they donate ingredients for the gumbo. |
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Children chase the chickens in Iowa, La. |
It’s a family affair. Rodney Victorian, Berline and Kimmy Bellard welcome us with open arms. There’s no pomp and circumstance or sequined costumes. This is a true, Cajun Country Mardi Gras with laughter, festivity and music that gets your adrenaline pumping.
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Berline Bellard encourages the cook stirring the gumbo pot. |
*Note: The chickens are not actually used in the gumbo but the tradition of chasing the chicken is a throwback to the ancient French medieval history of the Courir de Mardi Gras where the highlight of the entire celebration was the last ingredient – the chicken.
For more information on the Iowa Chicken Run, click here.