• By DAVID J. MITCHELL
• Advocate River parishes bureau
• Published: Dec 23, 2009 - Page: 1A

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LUTCHER —  Sitting next to a campfire on the Mississippi River levee Tuesday, Logan Bourgeois, 7, chopped on a small piece of wood already cut to look like a pencil as his dad, uncle, brothers and cousins did the easy work.

Members of the Bourgeois family slipped long cane reeds underneath wire wrapped and tied around the exterior of a 20-foot tall, teepee-shaped pile of logs and branches.

Capping four days of work by as many as 30 people, family members said, the Christmas Eve bonfire’s finishing touches came hardly a moment too soon, with heavy rain expected by tonight, according to weather forecasts.

Bo Billy Bourgeois, Logan’s uncle, said the cane would keep the kindling wood underneath from getting too wet, would dry quickly and would pop when the bonfire is set on fire.

On Thursday night, if parish officials give the all-clear, Bourgeois said, family youngsters such as Logan would  fire Roman candles into the bonfire to light it up.

It’s a family twist on a River Parishes tradition with roots tracing back to the ancient Celts’ reverence for the winter solstice that was carried over to the New World by French and German immigrants and has become a kind of River Road block party attracting thousands.

“Everybody’s got their little thing. That’s our little thing. That’s how we do it,” said  Bo Billy Bourgeois, 44, of Paulina.

But a record wet December and record-setting high water on the Mississippi for this time of year delayed and, in some cases, trimmed back the scale of levee bonfires because of the resulting lack of construction time, St. James Parish residents and bonfire officials said.

Rhonda Lee, president of the Festival of Bonfires, said the experience scared people who may have taken the parish’s tradition for granted and will now appreciate it more.

“I’m really thinking we’re going to see more people on that levee this year,” Lee said of the Christmas Eve festivities.

The number of construction permits the Festival of Bonfires issued in St. James Parish was about 115 to 116 this year, said Tommy Bourgeois, festival vice president.

That is close to last year’s level when 118 were sold for the parish, where the bulk of bonfires occur.

But the Pontchartrain Levee District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delayed  for about nine days the traditional start of bonfire construction, which normally begins Thanksgiving week.