Mile 167.0 - Miles 167-165: LBD Sunshine Anchorage

167 -165 LBD Sunshine Anchorage

Watch for two-mile long anchoring area for freighters on East side of main navigation channel. You can paddle through the center of this anchorage if there is no movement of freighters. But if you see tugboats at work, or freighters in motion, stay clear.

Bonfires on the Levee

Paddlers descending Chemical Corridor in at the end of the year (December) will be rewarded with big bonfires burning on Christmas Eve on top of the levee. It is a custom of local cajuns to celebrate Christmas Eve by lighting huge bonfires on the levee. Wood is gathered for weeks in advance, and stacked around a tall center pole. When the fire is lit, tall reeds called "roseaux" were traditionally tossed into the blaze. They exploded with firecracker noises that gave added excitement to the occasion. Today some cajuns use firewroks instead of the cane, which is now harder to find. These bonfires are intended to light the way for “Papa Noël,” the Cajun Santa Claus, on his airborne journey to the area. Or, according to some sources, the bonfires may have also been a way of lighting the path to the nearest Catholic church for Midnight Mass. The earliest bonfires on the levees were relatively simple in design and assembly, with long logs arranged into a pyramid-shaped cone, some as high as twenty feet. Shorter horizontal logs holding the structure in place gave it a ladder-like appearance. Most of today’s bonfires still incorporate that design, but more imaginative creations have since evolved. Some of the most elaborate structures resemble old Cajun cabins, pickup trucks and other indigenous cultural motifs. At dusk, usually around 7:00 p.m., the structures are doused with flammable liquids and set ablaze, lighting the sky and the surrounding area with towering flames that would be impossible for Papa Noël and his reindeer to miss. The crowds that gather to watch these spectacular conflagrations enjoy a free show and, in some locales, free bowls of hot gumbo are served up by local residents. The blazes are often accompanied by displays of fireworks, set off by the fires themselves. These Christmas Eve bonfires are most commonly found in St. James Parish, where you are now paddling. As many as 100 or more bonfires may be erected in the adjoining communities of Gramercy, Lutcher and Paulina, and more may be scattered in other locations in St. James and neighboring parishes.