Plaquemines Parish Orange Festival

09/07/2026

Today we honor the hardworking men and women across our country, state, and community. 🧡🧡🍊🍊❤️💙

09/06/2026

Interesting read…but we are resilient, strong and continue to bounce back! 🍊🍊🍊

Louisiana lost an entire industry over one Christmas, and most of the state never noticed it was gone. 🍊

Plaquemines Parish grew citrus. Not as a novelty. As a living. Navel oranges and satsumas ran down both sides of the river below New Orleans, on the narrow ribbon of high ground along the natural levee, and families there had been in the fruit for generations. Roadside stands, church fundraisers, trucks headed into the city, a whole seasonal rhythm built around a crop most Americans do not associate with this state at all.

Then came the last week of December 1983.

An Arctic air mass drove all the way to the Gulf and sat there. Temperatures in south Louisiana dropped into the teens and stayed below freezing for the better part of three days. Citrus trees do not merely lose fruit in that. The water inside the wood freezes and the tissue ruptures. Bark splits. Trees that were forty and fifty years old, planted by a grandfather, were simply dead standing up.

And the fruit stayed on the branches. That is the image people down there still describe. Whole groves hung with oranges nobody could sell, skins split, going soft and brown in the cold sun. ❄️

A freeze like that is not a bad season. A field crop can be replanted in the spring. A citrus tree takes years to bear. A grower who lost his trees at sixty was not going to see another full crop in his working life, and the arithmetic on replanting only works if you are young or stubborn or both.

Some families replanted anyway. There is still citrus in Plaquemines, still satsumas that will ruin you for the grocery store kind. But the scale never came back, and then Katrina took another bite, and then the saltwater began working its way up.

A hurricane makes the news. A freeze just makes an old man walk out into his own grove in January and start counting what is left.

The cold did in three days what nobody had managed in a hundred years.

09/02/2026

Don’t miss an opportunity to join our sweet royalty! 🧡🍊
Young ladies of Plaquemines Parish:
Teen 14-16
Miss 17-23

Applications are due Monday, September 7th and can be found on our website:

https://www.orangefestival.com/applications

08/28/2026

It’s not too early to get your golf clubs and teams ready to have a swinging good time at our annual Rotary / Orange Festival Golf Tournament on Friday, October 23rd at Timberlane Golf Club! ⛳️⛳️🍊🍊

We hope to see you there and have a zesty fun time!! ⛳️⛳️🍊🍊

Printable applications can be found on our website:

https://www.orangefestival.com/applications

08/22/2026

We are SO Citrusly EXCITED!! 🍊🍊🍊
We are so happy for you Ben & Ben Becnel, Inc.!🍊🍊🍊🍊
Please shop local and support local farmers! 🍊🧡

08/19/2026

Thank you to all of the beautiful young ladies who came to our information meeting last week! 🍊
We spent time learning what it means to be an Orange Queen and what it means to represent The Plaquemines Parish Orange Festival. 🍊
Do you want to continue the legacy by becoming our 80th Plaquemines Parish Orange Queen or 2026 Teen Orange Queen. 👑👑🍊🍊
Reminder all applicants must be a resident of Plaquemines Parish.
Teen ages : 14-16
Miss ages 17-23
Applications are now available on our website: https://www.orangefestival.com/applications
Applications are due by September 7, 2026
For any questions concerning our selection please contact our pageant director, Stephanie Hymel at [email protected]

08/16/2026

We would like to take this time to offer our sincere condolences to the many families affected by the recent tragic events of our community members.
We are ONE community, ONE family and together we offer prayers of HOPE and HEALING during these devastating times. 🙏

08/14/2026

Sending citrusy sweet birthday wishes to our zesty Blossom Mia. 🎊🎉🍊🧡
We hope you have a great day! 🍊🧡