The  Board of Directors of the Friends of Palmetto State Park recently  approved our piggy-backing an iris bloom event with their Stir the Pot  event!  Come out to Palmetto Island State Park and join the Friends  group in celebrating 11 years of Stir the Pot, with its wild game and  seafood cook-off, music, live auctions, raffles, nature talks and family  fun!  AND FOR THIS ONE YEAR THE ABBEVILLE RED IRISES WILL BE IN BLOOM  AT THE NEARBY BOARDWALK SWAMP THAT DAY!  (The Stir the Pot event is  always held one week after Easter so its on a different date each year  that doesn't always happen while the irises are in bloom.)

The  Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative will have a canopy right there  on the boardwalk in the center of hundreds of blooming Abbeville Red  irises.  We'll have some of our volunteers available that can answer  your questions about this rare irises whose only native habitat is in  the Abbeville Swamp of Vermilion parish.  We can answer your questions  on the work LICI is doing in their partnership with the Friends group to  increase the number of Abbeville Red irises at the park's boardwalk  swamp and how our long-term goal is to increase the irises in the  threatened Abbeville Swamp where they originated from.  Of course, we  can also answer your questions of how you can help with the cause.

As  a special treat, Patrick O'Connor, a nationally recognized Louisiana  iris expert will give a presentation on the Abbeville Red iris in the  nearby meeting room at noon.

The  park will wave their fee to enter the park, but it will cost $10 per  person to enter the area of the park where the Stir the Pot and the  blooming irises will be.  BUT, the $10 allows you to sample ALL of the  food prepared by the competitors in the cook-off.  Arrive early to make  sure you get enough to eat before they run out.  The food starts being  served at 11 AM.

An outdoor stage will have a live cajun band that begins playing at 1 PM, so bring your lawn chair and make a day of it!

Feel free to email us with any questions; licisaveirises@gmail.com