There will be no Louisiana Forest Festival held in Winnfield when the fourth weekend in April arrives this year. After much consideration, the Forest Festival Board concluded that it is not economically feasible to produce the event in 2024 that would live up to the expectations built on festivals past.

“We understand how much the festival means to all of you and how it brings our community together each year. We share in your disappointment and want to assure you that plans for next year’s festival are already underway,” the board explained. With the hard-hit economy, especially in the timber community that the festival heralds, sponsorships were markedly down.

The board hopes to take this year off in an effort to “regroup and come back even bigger and better next year.”

Most residents are familiar with the festival at the Fairgrounds that since the 1980s has featured games, industry exhibits and woodcutting competitions at both 4-H and professional levels. That’s been on the fourth weekend in April.

But many may not remember that the Louisiana Forest Festival actually began in 1948 when Earl K. Long was governor with the dream of celebrating the industry that so strongly affects the economy of our region. The event was initially held in the fall in conjunction with the Parish Fair. At the time, the legislature provided $5,000 seed money for each festival and the fair in the state. Unfortunately, that funding ended in the early 1960s and so did the Forest Festival.

For nearly 20 years this giant lay dormant. In January of 1980, a handful of citizens got together and breathed life back into the festival. They discovered the original charter was still valid and in May celebrated the first revival of the Louisiana Forest Festival. Beginning in 1981, the date was changed to the fourth weekend in April.

The Forest Festival Board is hopeful that once more the economics of the Louisiana Forest Festival will rebound and another great event can be staged on the fourth weekend of April 2025.