Giant Omelette Celebration is back!

After a two-year absence, the Giant Omelette Celebration is happening in Abbeville this weekend.
The Omelette Celebration took time off the last two years because of COVID.
The Omelette Celebration will take place on Saturday and Sunday in downtown Abbeville.
The Celebration begins Saturday morning with the 5-K run, and the following will be the start of the arts and crafts show, along with the food show.
The Saturday events will stop at 5 p.m. and start again Sunday at 6 a.m. with a bike ride.
The official mass will be held at 9 a.m. Sunday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church.
Starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, the procession of chefs and eggs will be held around Magdalen Square.
At 1:15 p.m., the TABASCO Girls will dance, and the cooking of the eggs will start at 1:30 p.m. and continue until 4:30 p.m.
The first Grand Maitre, Whitney Atchette, spoke to the Abbeville Rotary Club Wednesday morning and educated the Rotarians about how the Omelette Celebration came to be.
Atchette said that, according to legend, when Napoleon and his army were traveling through the south of France, they decided to rest for the night near the town of Bessieres. Napoleon feasted on an omelette prepared by a local innkeeper, which was such a culinary delight that he ordered the townspeople to gather all the eggs in the village and to prepare a huge omelette for his army the next day.
From this beginning, the omelette became a tradition to feed the poor of the village at Easter. It has also become the symbol of a worldwide fraternity, rich in friendship, tradition and cultural exchange, known as the Confrerie.
In 1984, three members of the then Abbeville Chamber of Commerce (Emery “Bichon” Toups, Tracy Kays, and Sheri Meaux) attended the Easter Omelette Festival in Bessieres, France. They were later knighted the first of Abbeville’s Chevaliers.
They returned home with the determination to bring Abbeville closer to its French Heritage by hosting an omelette festival and joining the sisterhood of cities that celebrate the omelette - Bessieres, France; Frejus, France; Dumbea, New Caledonia; Granby, Quebec in Canada.; Malmedy, Belgium and Pigue, Argentina, later joined the fraternity, bringing the number making seven locations to celebrate this festival annually.
Abbeville has had 38 Omelette Celebrations over the years.
A total of 5,038 eggs will be cooked on Sunday.
This year, the 5,038th egg added is named. “Egglita Eggbert.” Seventh Ward Elementary Student Emilia Guillot coined the name. She will carry the egg and lead the procession on Sunday.
Chevaliers will crack and mix the eggs in pots for the next two hours. Then, non- Chevaliers will break the bread and dance in the streets.
Once the eggs are blended and the ingredients are added and stirred, the pots of eggs are carried to the 12-feet wide stainless steel skillet.
A total of 5,038 eggs, 50 pounds of onions, 75 bell peppers, four gallons onion tops, two gallons of parsley, 1.5 gallons of cooking oil, 6.5 gallons of milk, 52 pounds of butter, three boxes of salt, two boxes of black pepper, 15 pounds of Louisiana crawfish tails, and tabasco sauce all go on this 12-foot skillet.
The giant omelette is cooked over a wood fire in the middle of the street.
Second Grand Maitre Elray Schexnaider is in charge of getting the fire hot.
The fire will be lit around 11 a.m. so it can get nice and hot by the time they begin cooking the omelette, which happens around 1:30 p.m.
The Chevaliers will take turns stirring the eggs.
Once the eggs are cooked, they are handed out to the public for them to eat.