Present day visitors find the two-day Louisiana festival now includes such activities as skeet shooting, goose and duck calling, muskrat skinning, oyster shucking and a gumbo cook-off. In addition, spectators enjoy carnival rides, plenty of regional food, live music and dancing.

Each year, a different industry from a list of nine is chosen to be honored at the festival. The list includes fur, shrimp, cattle, oyster, farming and rice, menhaden, fur, hunting and wildlife, alligator and oil. A pageant is held to choose a queen for the current festival. Likewise, a man is selected as King Fur each year to be a representative of the particular industry that is presently being honored.

The festival actually began on the whim of Congressman T.A. Thompson in 1955. He was challenged by a fellow Congressman to send one of Cameron’s best trappers to try his hand at the National Fur Skinning Contest. He placed fifth, and that ignited a huge interest in holding a local contest.

Later that summer, a group of people met in Cameron to begin talking about holding a skinning festival in Louisiana. The first festival was held with nearly no budget, and in the middle of the bitterly cold winter, but was still highly successful. From there, the Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival only grew in size and stature. It soon became a festival akin to the National Fur Skinning Contest, and the two events began trading contestants and pageant winners for extra publicity.

Today the festival endures as one of the most beloved events, as well as being the oldest, in the entire state. It is still funded through donations and money earned in previous years, and still pays homage to the trappers and skinners who serve as an economic backbone in Cameron.

One of the highlights of the Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival is the Cajun music and dancing. Several live entertainment acts are set to take the stage. People always enjoy the oyster shucking and skeet shooting competitions, as well.Get more information here. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/18/4569131/renamed-cajun-festival-spices.html Other contests include trap shooting, muskrat skinning, duck calling and goose calling contests. The Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival features pageants each year, where local babies, children and teens compete for trophies and titles. The Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival Queen is also crowned at the end of the pageant. The dog trials are a favorite part of the festival for many people and are back for the first time since Hurricane Rita swept through the area in 2005.

The gumbo cook-off is the highlight for many festival visitors. Cookbooks are available for sale that feature local recipes and photos from the previous year’s festival. The Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival is steeped in Cajun tradition and is a must see for anyone visiting the area.

General activities

A carnival with games and rides will be set up on the fairgrounds. There will be special bands providing music for dances, and everyone will enjoy eating at the food booths. A city parade is one of the festival’s highlights. Competitions

Competitions will run the gamut of outdoor life in Louisiana. Trap setting, skeet shooting, nutria and muskrat skinning, oyster shucking and duck and goose calling are a sample of what to expect. This year, much to the delight of the visitors, the hunting dog trials were back.

The pageants

Lavish pageants will be held in several divisions. There is a 0-6 year old division, the Miss Cameron division, the King Fur division and the favorite pageant of all: the Festival Queen.

The gumbo cook-off

The competing teams prepare gumbo for a minimum of 20 people, choosing between seafood, chicken or wild game for their meat. A sample will be presented to the judges to taste, after which visitors will have the opportunity to sample the different recipes as well.

For those who aren’t big fans of pageants but love outdoor activities, the weekend is full of competitions that sportsmen can participate in: dog trials where you see which dog is the best at retrieving, duck and goose calling, and trap shooting.Additional information can be found at http://animalblawg.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/4650/. Muskrat and nutria skinning is also a competition that can be found at this festival. The first Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival ever held had a muskrat skinning competition and the winner skinned a total of five muskrats in only 53 3/5 seconds, quite a feat! Oyster shucking is another competition that takes place. While it is fun to compete against each other, it also is fun to watch competitors go for the win.

The Louisiana Fur and Wildlife Festival is a fun event for sportsmen and people who enjoy the outdoors. It’s a festival where everyone can have a good time.

Billed as “One of the Coldest and Oldest Festivals in Louisiana”, Cameron Louisiana has been welcoming visitors each year to this unique festival since 1955. Originally being held with very little money, people willing to follow a dream and not much more, it has grown to a two day festival that offers fun for the entire family at a reasonable cost. The raccoon was chosen as the mascot that year and continues to be honored as such each year, to the delight of many.

Cameron, Louisiana is a small town without many residents. Devestated by hurricanes in 2005 and 2008, the proud residents have continued to host this event. It is an important event that is symbolic of the pride associated with Southerners, in their roots, their families and themselves.

The festival offers a range of activities and attractions for festival goers to enjoy. Some of the events include: Muskrat and Nutria Skinning, Trap Setting, Oyster Shucking, and Dog Trials. Other attractions include duck and goose calling competition, a parade and a pageant.Want more? Click here{{/tag}