St. John the Baptist Parish - The 44th Annual Andouille Festival welcomed more than 20,000 guests over the three-day weekend. This year's events included The Dang Douille Eating Contest, The Andouille Gumbo Cook-Off, The Annual Andouille Run, The Gospel Tent and the first-ever RTC/Home Furnishing Football Fan Zone.

The festival kicked off on Friday evening with $1 Night, a fundraiser to benefit hurricane relief. Adult entry, rides and select concessions were $1 with the donation of a non-perishable food item. The weekend featured live music, good times and great food highlighting the festival namesake, Andouille, in dishes as well as local cuisine and festival favorites.

On Saturday, festival goers attended the Andouille Gumbo Cook-Off and the Dang Douille Eating Competition. For the second year in a row, Larry Zeno, an independent entrant, won first place in the Andouille Gumbo Cook-Off. The Dang Douille Eating Competition winner, Chad Duhe, unseated the winner of three straight years, Chris Cancienne, who won second place this year. Jason Montegut placed third.

The 39th Annual Andouille Run kicked off Sunday, the closing day of the festival. Dr. Michael Acuri and Jennifer Palerno placed first for men and women in the 5 mile Andouille run. Following the run, festival goers enjoyed music on the main stage as well as the Gospel Tent. The Children's Tent featured music, performances, and arts & crafts for young festival goers throughout the weekend.

The Andouille Festival presented by Marathon Petroleum Company LP is sponsored by EuroChem, Entergy, Buddy's Home Furnishings, Denka Performance Elastomer,

Noranda Alumina, Inc., Pin Oak Terminal LLC, Reserve Telecommunications (RTC,) Cumulus, Cox Media, Where Y'at Magazine and OffBeat Media.

"I want to thank everyone who came out and enjoyed a little piece of St. John Parish at the festival last weekend, said Parish President Natalie Robottom. "Hats off to the Parish staff, entertainers and vendors for their hard work in hosting a successful festival. Each year we strive to make the festival bigger and better and we will work toward that goal again next year."