The scene has repeated many times in the past 12 months at festivals and pageants around Louisiana.

Erin Duhe takes the stage, promoting our parish and its unique commodity — Andouille sausage. She interacts with festival queens and their families, while promoting our home with various festival board members.

As the 2014 Miss Andouille Queen, Erin has walked many stages in promotion of St. John the Baptist Parish, Andouille sausage and the Andouille Festival.

Riding shotgun the whole way has been Erin’s mother, Donna.

“Erin has done an awesome job promoting,” Donna said. “Every time she steps on a stage and introduces herself and her festival, I just beam with pride. It has been a privilege to travel with her this year and watch her grow into a more confident young lady.”

The transforming experience is one special to our community, which is passed on year to year to deserving young women.

However, recently pageant organizers in the River Parishes have battled low turnout for girls vying for these unique titles. Hopefully, that does not occur with the 2015 Miss and Teen Andouille Queen Pageant, which crowns two new queens Oct. 3 at St. John Theatre.

The deadline to register for the pageant is Sept. 23. To enter, download the application at andouillefestival.com. Call 985-652-9569 or email d.milioto@sjbparish.com for more information.

In addition to competing for the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals Queen of Queens title, the St. John Miss Andouille Queen will travel to Washington, D.C. to attend the Washington Mardi Gras Ball, tour numerous national landmarks and visit with Representatives, Senators and the Governor.

There is also great local travel.

“We have traveled to Colfax for the Pecan Festival, Historic Fort Jackson for the Plaquemines Parish Orange Festival, Morgan City for the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, Breaux Bridge for the Crawfish Festival, Ponchatoula for the Strawberry Festival, Delcambre for the Shrimp Festival and many other places,” Donna said. “However, the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival took us to a drilling platform this past weekend that we were able to tour, and we got a lesson on drilling for oil. It was a very eye-opening experience. It was nice to finally see where the oil comes from and how it is raised up since we live in the midst of the oil refineries who refine what they drill for.”