To the editor:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our generous sponsors and volunteers for making the 8th Annual Carnaval de Mardi Gras Gumbo Cook-off a tremendous success. 

Special thanks to our sponsors: Riverwalk Casino, Dorethea “Charlie” Gholson, Trustmark National Bank, Capital City Beverage, the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation, Waterview Casino, BancorpSouth, Gumbo Pot, McDonalds, Sullivan’s, Super Junior, The Liquor Store, Vicksburg Specialty, Ameristar Casino, Slipin Slidin Water Slides, Corner Market, Waste Management, and Martin’s at Midtown. We would also like to thank our great Cajun Gumbo Cook-off teams! 

The competition was stiff and the gumbo was delicious! We sincerely appreciate the difficult task that our gumbo judges had and we thank them for their time and expertise!  As always, thanks go to Legal Tender for providing the great party music on the street and to Richard McComas for spinning some tunes in the auditorium. This year we were honored to have Miss Vicksburg Alexis Murrell as our emcee and she was outstanding.

Events such as this take a tremendous number of volunteer hours before, during, and after the event. We are particularly grateful for the leadership of our Carnaval de Mardi Gras chairperson, Margaret Thames, who puts her heart and soul into this event every year and put together a hardworking and talented committee. We would not have had such a successful event without committee members Stacey Mahoney, Emily Miller, Tammy Allen, Evelyn Pannell, and Kathe Lawton.

We would also like to thank those who volunteered during the day of the event and the necessary cleanup afterward: Casie Combs, Ronnie Bounds, Denise Garner, Lenore Barkley, Minor Ferris, Kathy Dornbusch, Lori Jones, Dianne McGuire, Norma Massey, Jared Thames, Kevin Mahoney, Isaac Holcombe, Tiffany Rogers, Andrew Miller, Kaitlyn Morgan, Leah Sanders, Susan Nall, Boo Noble, Julie LaBlanc, David Burton, Jason Allen, Rick Pannell, Bess Averett, Addison Averett, Natalie Southerland, Crorey Lawton, and the hard-working group of young people from Americorps. 

We would also like to thank the Vicksburg Police Department, the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, and the Vicksburg Fire Department for their support.

Special thanks to Ronnie Bounds and Dennis Garner for building our new kids games and to Karen Biedenharn and her River Kids for painting them!

Once again, thank you to all those who participated in making this not only a great celebration of Mardi Gras, but a great fundraiser for the Foundation, in its effort to identify, preserve, protect, and interpret Vicksburg’s unique architectural heritage. We look forward to Mardi Gras 2020!

Nancy Bell

Executive Director, VFHP