Contributed by:
Danny Summers
on 2/21/2007
For a few hours last Saturday, Manitou Springs was the western version of New Orleans.
Gumbo was cooking, beads were dangling and balloons were flying high as the Mardi-Gras celebration had the city partying.
"This is as big, if not bigger, than last year," said Floyd O'Neal of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce.
The day began with the Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo Cook-Off as 18 competitors gathered under the gazebo at Soda Springs Park near the famous Cliff House.
YourHub photographer Kirk Speer and YourHub Westside Community Journalist Danny Summers took part in the Gumbo tasting.
"Is that a real mud bug?" said Speer as he chomped down on a crawdad. "It was sure crunchy."
The Gumbo was made in true New Orleans style, according to the cooks.
"I learned how to cook gumbo in 1987 when I was in New Orleans," Tom Zimmerman said. "I was taught at the New Orleans School of Cooking.
"There are a lot of different things that go into making gumbo. There's the roux (flour and oil), trinity (onions, garlic pepper, celery) and stock (seafood, chicken, sausage)."
The Winners in the Professional Division were: 1st Place - Wild Horse Casino; 2nd Place - Oscar's Bar & Baithouse; 3rd Place - The Margarita at Pine Creek.
The Winners of the Amateur Division were: 1st Place - Jamee Forsythe; 2nd place - Wendy Kirkpatrick; 3rd place - Manitou Springs Kiwanis Club.
The Showmanship award went to Michael Goad, while the Peoples Choice Award was awarded to the team of Chris Meyer & Greg Ruben.
The judges for the event were: Jim Berry - The New Peak FM 92.9; Shaun Elliot - Uintah Gardens Great Clips; Todd Nagel - Edward Jones Investments; Martin Anderson - Cul Peppers Louisiana Kitchen
"We had to turn cooks down because we couldn't fit 'em in," O'Neal said.
Each cook made five gallons of gumbo so that the crowd of hundreds could sample their delight. The public tasting began at 11:15 a.m. The gumbo was gone by 12:30 p.m.
But not everybody was satisfied with the way the gumbo was prepared.
"I'm not impressed," said C.J. Adams, who recently relocated to Parker from New Orleans. "These chefs ought to be ashamed. The texture is not what it should be. I'm going to come back next year and cook my own gumbo."
The Kiwanis Club of Manitou Springs has cooked gumbo for 12 years.
"This allows us to get out in the public and let them know who we are," said Kiwanis president Bill Stewart.
Secretary Lew Archer said the gumbo festival helps the town maintain its unique identity.
"There's a lot of community spirit out here,' Archer said. "We want to keep our town humming along."
Meanwhile, thousands or people were gathering on nearby Manitou Ave. in anticipation of the 15th Annual Carnivale Parade. Street vendors hocked their merchandise and other local businesses promoted their events.
"You know, when this thing started, we didn't even have a permit, so we went down the sidewalk," puppeteer Patti Smithsonian says. "The people watching the parade had to stand in the street."
Since then, the parade has grown both more legitimate and more artistic. Some of the area's best artists regularly create moving masterpieces - one of the more memorable being Smithsonian's giant dragon, which slithers down the avenue each year closing its giant mouth over little children.
Members of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce stopped by Memorial Hospital on Sunday and delivered samples of Gumbo to a mother who recently delivered a child.
The mother, known as Joclyn, is originally from Shreveport, La.,and planned on attending Saturday's fesitivities. Karen Wells, a Labor & Delivery Nurse at Memorial, telephoned the chamber folks and asked if they could deliver some gumbo to Joclyn. Joclyn was surprised when she was given the gumbo.
Joclyn's husband was recently deployed to Iraq and was not around the birth of their child.
After the parade people gathered at local taverns and eateries, as well as Venue 515, Business of Art Center, along 515 Manitou Ave.