By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

GARYVILLE — Over 1,500 people attended Sunday’s Sings and Strings, making the inaugural year of the festival a huge success.

The acoustic music festival was organized as a fundraising effort for the restoration and reopening of the Garyville Timbermill Museum, a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It was a splendid day,” Mike Coburn, president of the Garyville Timbermill Museum Association, said. “It turned out spectacularly.”

Forty musicians participated in the event and nearly 30 craft booths were set up on the grounds. The festival also featured a cook-off competition, with 16 dishes entered into the tasty contest. Fege Boe of Buddy B’s won the best meat entrée with spaghetti and meatballs and R.J. St. Pierre of NALCO won best seafood entrée with crawfish bisque. Nemo Melancon of Fatty’s won best appetizer with corn and crab bisque.

Coburn said the Sings and Strings Festival is among several fundraisers being planned to benefit the restoration effort. 

The Louisiana Secretary of State donated the museum and its surrounding property back to the Garyville Timbermill Museum Association in 2012 after owning the property for seven years. The state donated the property back hoping the community could restore the building and open it for tours and educational exhibits. 

Coburn said the first project planned is a new roof for the building, and that the festival raised enough money for that project. He said plans to restore the entire building are underway, and the association is also working to re-establish its 501(c)3 status.

Coburn added the heating and air to the back annex building has been turned back on, and the association has been meeting in the room.