September 1

“Second Choice Is Not So Bad After All!” Fete Rouge 2009 by Carol Pierce

I entered the drawing to win tickets to the Fete Rouge Wine and Culinary Festival on the spur of the moment and soon forgot about it. When the e-mail announcing the winner arrived, I thought aloud, “Oh, well, I wasn’t meant to be the winner.”

Not long afterwards, the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitor’s Bureau sent a very surprising e-mail. The original recipient had declined…their second choice to receive those tickets…ME!!!!

Completely excited, I immediately made that jump now, called, and accepted the tickets. Little did I know all the wonderful rewards coming my way.

Despite having to drive through a rain shower and make a necessary detour to get to the Downtown Sheraton, I arrived before the event officially began. Even more surprising, I discovered the Sheraton offers free parking in its garage and pulled straight into a first floor parking spot which seemed to be waiting just for me.

“Pretty good,” I thought, little knowing even better awaited.

After entering the Sheraton’s huge sunlit atrium to check in for Fete Rouge, I wandered around the many tables displaying an amazing choice of fabulous foods and an enormous selection of fine wines.

What would I sample first? Would it be the jambalaya or the escargot? The duck or the lamb? Perhaps the pasta… or what about that shrimp dish or even the pork sandwiches?

Which wines would I sample? Of course, I’d need to start with the whites and move on to the reds, but the numerous choices were incredible and even featured some really great wines from our own Louisiana vineyards.

But what about dessert? Would it be the white chocolate bread pudding (always one of my favorites) or the caramel cake? How about those cute gourmet cupcakes? So many choices to make!

During the entire time I spent sampling the many delicious foods and fine wines, a Cajun band played lively music that found me singing along and wanting to dance the rest of the afternoon away.

Of course, an amazing wealth of extraordinary choices awaited those participating in the silent auction. Not only would they be donating to several worthy causes, but they would also be bringing home astounding bargains. Would it be one of the many baskets of fine wines? What about the gift cards to those fabulous area restaurants? Or perhaps the services of that very talented interior decorator? Table after table of items made the decision extremely difficult.

Gosh, what a fantastic afternoon filled with so many wonderful choices…not so bad for someone selected as the second choice to win those tickets to Fete Rouge. Heck, I’m willing to be the second choice anytime if that’s what being second choice is really like!

Oh, I forgot to mention the best part of all….the people…not just those attending Fete Rouge, but all those Louisiana vendors who chose to donate their time, their talent, and even their products.

Attending Fete Rouge opened my eyes even more to the enormous wealth of native talent we have who not only choose to stay here in Louisiana to get paid to do what they love to do…but Fete Rouge proves how daggone good they are at doing it!

Hope to see all of you next year at Fete Rouge…Your second choice may prove to be even better than your first…come find out for yourself!

Carol Pierce, Winner VisitBatonRouge.com "Fete Rouge" Giveaway

Carol Pierce is a Louisiana native now living in Gonzales. She is the author of Jump Now, Look Later and is a motivational speaker deeply passionate about teaching our state’s people, businesses and organizations how to become even more successful. Visit her website: http://www.jumpnow.com