Beautiful as Bayou Teche is, under its serene surface lies a monster, the mother of prop killers and fly line snarlers. What could be so powerful it could stop a cigarette boat in full throttle? Neither Grendel nor his mother, not the kraken or Charybdis. What lurks on the bottom of the waterway is garbage. Untreaded tires, cast-off hot water heaters, crab traps, coke bottles and sometimes even a Civil War era cannon.
Fortunately a cadre of young Cajuns is teaming up to fish all that trash that most likely their father’s generation tossed into the Teche. Cajuns for Bayou Teche, led by Blake Couvillion, will be holding a fundraiser at Cafe des Amis in Breaux Bridge on Thursday. Currently, the organization is in need of a motor and additional fabrication work to assist in removing large items like washers and hot water heaters. Cajuns for Bayou Teche would like to raise $3,000 the evening of the event.
Couvillion has been working to clean up the Teche for several years now. “Last Spring, we hauled over six tons of metal, tires, bicycles and refrigerators from the bayou,” he says. “It’s ridiculous what people throw in there. The Teche is a part of our lives and our heritage and that’s how we treat it? We have water quality problems to address on the Teche and we also have to get some of this junk out of here. Right now I have my eye on a stove that’s been sitting there for years. Once the winch is ready to go and I have a reliable motor, my guys and I will get out there to pick it up and start hauling debris. We’ll work from Port Barre all the way down to St. Martinville.”
Thursday night, Cafe des Amis will host a complimentary wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres from 6-6:45 p.m. From 6-9, local bands Bon Soir, Catin, Drew Landry and David Greely and Friends will be playing at the cafe. A $25 donation is recommended.
This is a worthwhile effort by folks who are fed up with the state of the environment in their home parishes, and are willing to put in sweat equity to do something about it. The least we can do as a community, if we don’t want to get our own feet wet, is to pony up and pass a good time in the bargain. Advance tickets are available by calling Blake Couvillion at 230-8596.