A toast to a town, and its tourney

Le Tournoi - an event based on the medieval sport of jousting - has for years been one of the biggest events of the Louisiana Cotton Festival in Ville Platte.

According to local lore, French knights invented the tournoi, and Marcelin Garand, the major in Napoleon's army who founded Ville Platte, brought it to Louisiana.

It is a competition in which, according to the official history, "knights" wearing traditional garb and carrying long, slender lances ride as fast as they can around a quarter-mile track and try to spear seven small rings suspended at intervals from posts.

According to that history, on the festival website, the tournament was introduced to Ville Platte in the early 1800s, was abandoned for some reason in the late 1880s, and was then revived in 1948 as part of Ville Platte's Fourth of July celebration. It continued on Independence Day until 1953, when it became a part of the Cotton Festival.

That may be so, but there was at least one, perhaps unofficial, tournoi during the early 1900s. It was described in a letter to the St. Landry Clarion published Oct. 3, 1903.

The writer, who signed the letter "Sunset," maybe in reference to the St. Landry Parish town, said the tournament was the highlight of a day of activities that included a baseball game (Mallet beat Faubourg in a "spirited" contest), a barbecue consisting of "mutton, beef, and everything else good," and "sweet music" from a brass band.

The big day drew "a vast throng" from Ville Platte, Opelousas, Washington, Grand Prairie, Plaisance "and other places."

The event was held at Fremont Fuselier's place, "about three miles south of Ville Platte," and he served as master of ceremonies, assisted by Numa Fontenot and H.E. Estorge. 

They lured to the tournament, according to the writer, "as fine a bunch of riders as ever straddled a horse, Teddy Roosevelt ... notwithstanding." 

Sunset wrote that "a notable feature of the Tournament was the splendid horses and the excellent manner in which they were handled. ... The time made was fast, and the number of rings taken by some showed wonderful nerve, judgment, and keen eyesight."

There were 15 rings hung at this tournament - not seven as in the modern affair - and Theophile Fontenot was the big winner, "having taken 14 rings out of the 15." 

In Sunset's opinion, Theophile would probably have taken all 15, but his horse stumbled "just before reaching the last one." 

Adraste LaFleur "did excellent riding," and took second place with 13 rings.

All in all, Fuselier and his assistants were accorded "much credit ... for the able manner in which the programme was carried out and the gentlemanly decorum which prevailed during the entire day's proceedings." (Apparently there were no fights.)

"After the day's sport," about 500 people attended a ball "at the commodious hall in Ville Platte."

Sunset apparently enjoyed both the tournoi and the ball. The letter concludes with a toast to "Ville Platte and vicinity, with its aggregation of fine horses, good natured men, and incomparable women."

You can check that out yourself. The Cotton Festival is Oct. 7-12 this year, and the tournoi, according to the festival website, will be run at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12.

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.