The Louisiana Pecan Festival takes place on the first full weekend of November each year. The festival board and the Town of Colfax play hosts to 60,000 to 75,000 visitors each year, who come from all over the parish, central Louisiana, the state and throughout the U.S. for three days of fun, great food, live musical entertainment and much more.

The festival grew out of the parish’s Centennial celebration 1969. Grant Parish had been created by legislative act in 1869, carved out of portions of Winn and Rapides Parishes. In 1969, Governor Jimmie Davis was the special guest, and a local girl, Nancy Dean of Colfax, was crowned Centennial Queen. Several thousand local residents and visitors took part in the event, and with its success, organizers began to plan even more activities and festivities for the next year…and the Louisiana Pecan Festival was born.

Why celebrate the pecan? Well, for one thing, many area farmers grow the crop, and pecans were native to the area. Pecans were staples of the diets of the local Native Americans, and when the settlers began arriving here from the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, large plantations grew pecans along with their other crops. Wild pecans were grafted and new varieties cultivated, and soon the crop flourished in the rich river land soils. Local homesteaders also benefited because almost every yard had one or two trees that produced enough pecans to “keep some and sell the rest”, providing them a small money crop in the fall.

During the early years of the festival, which had “Frontier Days” as its theme, special guests were invited, including such popular movie and television stars as Fess Parker (Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett), James Drury, television’s “The Virginian”, Buck Taylor, Dale Robertson and Ken Curtis. The festival goers loved meeting the celebrities, and from all accounts, most of the guests enjoyed themselves as well. Sorrell Booke, “Boss Hogg” from The Dukes of Hazzard, was probably the most popular of all the early guests, and people still talk about his visit.

Until the late 1990’s the festival was a two-day event, but as the festival grew in size, more and more vendors, arts and crafts sellers and visitors flocked to the area, and it was decided to expand to include Sunday.

The Queen’s Pageant, held in mid October, officially kicks off the festival, and a festival queen and teen queen are selected from contestants from all over the state. Girls from as far away as Minden, and Cameron and Houma have competed, and when the queens are chose, they reign over the festival and attend the Queen’s Ball, held on the Friday night of the festival.

The Louisiana Pecanettes are the festival’s ambassadors. This energetic dance team made up of students from local high schools performs throughout the festival and march in Saturday’s parade. They also travel to other fairs and festivals promoting the Pecan Festival.

For the past 23 years, the festival has produced an “official poster” to promote the event. The poster depicts a scene from the area and in recent years has portrayed several of Colfax’s historic homes and special sites of interest.

Festivities include arts and crafts booths, a costume contest and cooking contest, carnival rides, musical entertainment and a fireworks show on Saturday night. Friday is Children’s Day, and area students are given the day off to take part in a family-oriented day that includes games, a children’s art show and a student talent show.

Year after year, visitors of all ages visit The Country Store, where they can pick up homemade pecan pies and pralines, purchase handicrafts such as afghans or homemade soaps, find delicious jams and jellies of all varieties, or just enjoy “cheese and cracker and a sip’ o cider”. The Sausage Stand next door is so popular that it usually sells out each evening and workers scramble to restock for the next day’s rush.

An elected board of directors, made up of local volunteers, oversees the festival and its hundreds of volunteers. The board also contributes 15% of the festival’s profits to the parish’s eight schools, to use any way they wish.

Handicapped parking is available and wheelchair users can navigate most areas of the festival without difficulty.

While early November weather is unpredictable and no one can say for sure if you’ll be wearing shorts and tee shirts or an overcoat and scarf, the festival is sure to entertain, amuse and make you want to come back again and again.