The 70th Annual Delcambre Shrimp Festival Queen Alaina Barras stands in the place of the letter, “I.” Barras, with a group of Delcambre volunteers, helped to make the wooden sculpture, “SHR MP” in time for the Shrimp Festival.

Alaina Barras (next to M) stands with some of the Delcambre High woodworking students who helped cut out the letters during school last school year.

Here are the local artists who are standing by the letters they painted. Blair Blancard painted the letters “S” and “H.” Lexi Renard stands next to the letter “R.” Jessica Touchet stands next to the letter “M.” Kassie Duhon stands next to the letter “P.”

DELCAMBRE - Delcambre Shrimp Festival Queen Alaina Barras wanted to do something to help bring back the Delcambre Shrimp Festival with a bang. The festival has been canceled for the last two years because of COVID-19. It will take place on Aug. 17-21. Back in April, Barras came up with the idea of making a three-dimensional wooden sculpture of the word “Shr mp.” However, the letter “I” was left out of the word for a reason. People could stand and fill in for the “I” when they take a photo. On Monday, Barras unveiled the sculpture to the Shrimp Festival Board. The letters were placed on the stage in the Shrimp Festival Building the night before by Alaina and her parents, Robbie and JoEllen Barras. They covered it with a tarp to make sure no board members saw the letters. It was the first time the Shrimp Festival Board saw or even heard about Barras’ idea. “Their jaws dropped,” said Barras. Once she saw the Shrimp Festival Board liked the letters, a ton was lifted off her shoulders. “In my head I was worried the board would not like it,”she said. “I did not fully enjoy it until the board saw it. For four months we had to keep a secret in this small town, which is hard to do.” Barras, who is not an artist, said the sculpture turned about better that expected. “It turned out better than I envisioned, “The detail on the letters are great.” The letters, are made out of wood and stand about five feet tall, will be on display next to the Shrimp Festival Building during the festival. People will be able to stand where the letter “I” is and take photos at no charge. The unveiling of the letters was the end of a four-month project accomplished by Barras, a 21-year-old education major at the University of Lafayette. She began thinking of ways to help the Shrimp Festival in April. Then, she thought about how Lafayette has the sculpture of the word “Lafa ette” with the “Y” missing. She thought about the word “SHRIMP” without the “I.” She presented the idea to her parents to see if it could be possible, and both agreed it was possible. Next, she spoke with the Shrimp Festival queen sponsors to see if they were OK with the project. They loved it. In April, she began laying out the plan to make this happen. First, she met with Delcambre Principal Chantel Helms about getting Delcambre High’s woodworking students to cut out the letters. Barras met with DHS woodworking teacher Jake Broussard before the end of school last year. The DHS woodworking students cut out the letters and made the platform for the letters to stand on. That took about four weeks. Once the letters were cut out, she found local artists to paint on each letter. She had a vision of what she wanted on each letter and she also wanted to use pastel colors. The artists who painted the letters were: Blair Blanchard painted the letters “S” and “H.” Jessica Touchet painted the “M.” Lexi Renard painted the “R.” Kassie Duhon painted the “P.” Before painting the letters, they submitted their idea to Barras, who had the final approval. Pink shrimp were painted on the S. The Delcambre bridge was painted on the H. The letter R has the traditional Delcambre Reebok, white boots, along with a shrimp boat, shrimp, a white crane, and the words, “Bayou Carlin Cove.” The letter M has the image of the Blessing of the Fleet with a priest, plus an image of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. The letter P has the image of the Delcambre Water Tower, along with the words “Eat Local” and the Delcambre zipcode, “70528.” “Each letter is unique,” said Barras. “Each represents Delcambre and the festival.”

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