GARYVILLE, La. — It is Cajun tradition that on Christmas Eve residents in St. James Parish light hundreds of bonfires along the Mississippi River to guide the way for Papa Noel, aka Santa Claus.
But before that happens, artist spend serious amounts of time constructing miraculous structures. This year's biggest bonfire is a pelican. The large bird stands 15 feet tall and includes baby pelicans in a nest that can be moved with a crank.
Building the elaborate structures for the Christmas Eve bonfires is a tradition Josh Weidert has grown up with.
"It is definitely something that we look forward to every Christmas," Weidert said. "We've grown up doing this, so this is pretty much all we know during Christmas Eve."
Weidert added that for 2018 he wanted to stick with the Louisiana animal theme that the group has used for the past four years.
"This year was the pelican because we kinda wanted to do something that symbolized our state. That was a pretty good animal, and we felt that we could come up with a pretty good design and make it work. It really came out pretty good."
In 2017, Weidert helped build a large wooden snapping turtle that moved. Last year he said that design would be hard to beat.
"Each year we have challenged ourselves to try and do better than we did the year before," Weidert said.
The pelican bonfire will join more than a hundred other tepee bonfires when they all go up in flames at 7 pm on Christmas Eve. It is free to the public, so if youget a chance, check it out for yourself.
WWL-TV reporter Meghan Kee can be reached at mkee@wwltv.com; Follow her on Twitter at @MeghanKeeWWL.