FPA Party Committee

The Party Committee, chaired by Theresa Kelley, handles preparations for all of the FPA Parties which include the Appreciation Party, Theme Party, Halloween Party, and Picnics. All FPA free Parties are for dues paid up FPA members and their guest only.

New Committee Chair Al "Name" Brand, chaired his first party last month, the 20th Annual FPA Member Appreciation Party at the Lions Club in Harahan. The party helps give back something to the membership for all the volunteer work they do during the year. Although the crowd of 62 FPAers wasn't the biggest on record, they enjoyed excellent food courtest of Angie's Catering, and listened to the tunes spun by FPAer Robert Hunt, who graciously donated his time, at no cost to the FPA. A 8 grand rev of the small block to Robert Dauzat for helping out!!! Damon "Hoochie" Cuccia gave out the '05 Drag Championship Awards that night. Along with FPAers Billy Williams and Keith "Rainmalker" Chaisson who helped out, a bunch of non-members leant a helping hand. Linda Berggren was the "Hostest with the mostest", and Millie Williams and Carmel "Mrs 4 Speed" Babin helped out with keeping us signed in and organized. "Punky" made the sign over the stage, too. The Party Committee will be working to promote future events to increase the turnout, as well as encouraging FPAers to help out with event ideas and location suggestions. We look forward to the start of our 3rd decade of FPA Appreciation Parties next year! And, a BIG THANKS to Al, the entire Party Committee and all the FPAers and wives and friends who helped out this year. And, since I'm now on the Party Committee, I have just 3 suggestions TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

First I would like to send a great big THANK YOU! to Daniel Cognevich, Clyde Guillot, Theresa Vickers, Reggie and Meg Daigle, George and Elaine Daigle, Kenny DeCorte, Robert Dauzat, Cliff Rupert, Donald Mautemps, Carmel Babin, Al Brand, Terry Hibbard and all of the other terrific folks who volunteered their time for this event. I would also like to thank Robert Hunt and friend for providing the great tunes for our enjoyment. For all of the folks who brought the delicious desserts, I'm sure everyone thanks ya'll for the smorgasbord of treats.

We had a great turn out, the weather was beautiful, the crawfish were awesome, and the cars entered in the show spectacular. We had trucks; cars and even a restored fire truck entered the show. Everyone in attendance had a great day. Once again the FPA prevailed with Friendship and Fast Fords, Forever!!!!

To all of the folks who helped pull this event together, again, my sincere appreciation and heartfelt thanks go out to one and all.

Hope everyone had a good time at the Appreciation Party. There was good food, drink, great music and a view of the lights of the city. After adding up the members and guest, there were a total of 93 people who attend the party. All in all, I think things went well. I would like to thank Al Brand for stepping up and chair this event. Also, thanks to Don Normand and his wife for working the sign-in table. So I hope everyone had a good time. Thanks to all the members that helped with all the parties over the last 2 years.

After everyone had eaten and drank to their delight, Damon Cuccia presented and awarded the top ten drag racers of the club. Starting from position ten, Damon introduced and presented plaques to Darryl Giveans, Charlie Robinson, Darrell Devenny, Hodges Mercer, Billy Boyle (Billy was not at the party), Richard Friedrichs, Bobby Frantom, Al Brand, Damon Cuccia, and the champ, Manuel Babin. Here is a photo of the above and their plaques. Damon also presented Manuel with a special trophy, which had a gear shifter as part of the trophy made by Keith Chassion.

On Nov. 6th, a spell was cast over the Knights of Columbus Hall as spider webs, pumpkins, and lots of orange and black decorations were placed about in preparation for FPA's annual "Monster Mash".. Sixty-four members and guests attended the 8-midnight gathering including a "serial" killer, a few graveyard ghouls (including our DJ, Dustin), some medieval nobility, three or four modern-day witches, plus many others dressed in festive- more-than-fiendish garb. In spite of the fact that no vampires were ever sited, we still spotted a couple of red-necks in the crowd. The costume winners were:

couple--Mariana Hall and John Wessel III, male--Louis Orduna, and female--Cindy Pevalta.

No tricks were played as far as I know, but all agreed the treats were great. The party committee would like to thank the KC Hall staff for a job well done! The party chairman, Robert Dauzat, also appreciates those who helped decorate: Darlene, Reggie & Meg Daigle, Kenny and Susan Nunez, plus Millie, Jeremy, and Billy Williams. The sign-in table was adeptly handled by Kenny Knight and Barbara Nobles. Assisting with clean-up were George and Elaine Daigle.

Be sure to mark February 12th, 2005 on your calendars for the Appreciation Party. The location this time will be the LANDMARK HOTEL in Metairie, and Chairperson Al Brand assures us it will be an especially nice evening!

Pictures courtesy of Hodges"Halloween Handy Man" Mercer

Despite the deluge on Sunday, April 25th, a packed crowed managed to make their way to Lafreniere Park and pass a good time! (The preliminary count was 90 people!) It's heartwarming to see what obstacles fellow members will overcome to party with their freinds and talk about or show off there fabulous Fords...

P.J. Breaud, event chairperson, helped keep things running smoothly, and we wnat to thank him (and Robert Dauzat) for all their hard work up front. A multitude of others also need to be thanked for their help that day. At the Sign-In table were Debbie Roch and Don Stout, Sr. (Thanks Susan Nunez for the sign-in sheets!) On Set-up and/or Clean-up were Larry Chedotal, Sr. (and Ryan Chedotal), Al Brand, Sonya Decorte, Kenny Decorte, Reggie and Meg Daigle, George and Elaine Daigle, Debbie Mitchell and Tommy Moran, Darrell Devenny, Cliff Rupert, Darlene LeBeau, Robert Dauzat, plus Jeremy and Millie Williams. A big hand should also go to the Cooks and Servers, which included Joe Chedotal, Harold Chedotal, Robert Dauzat, Reggie Daigle, and Laura Castigliola. Putting on the Crawfish Boil is no small task. Also thanks to the members of the Show Committee and to Justin Bordelon for the loan of the EZ-Up top! And if you want to have a say in upcoming events, be sure to join the Party Commitee when we meet at 7:00pm right before the genral monthly meeting at the KC Hall.

2004 FPA Appreciation Party

Over 125 FPAers showed up at the the Champaigne Room in Harahan to attend the annual Apreciation Party. And why not, there where good eats, an open bar, racing awards and worker pins to be handed out, music and lots of dancing.(In fact, Debbie and Gary Marino got “carried away” entertaining themselves as well as FPA members and guest with there version of dirty dancing.) Anyway, if you couldn’t find one or more reasons to come as suggested on Theresa Payne’s clever flyer (Thanks, Theresa!), you definitely missed a fun evening! Another big thanks goes out to event chairperson, Meg Daigle, and those who graciously manged the sign-in table, Julie and Danny Normand, Eugene Dominque, plus Debbie Mitchell. And I will thank Hodges Mercer for providing the photography from the party. Two of the pictures include the top ten from the 2003 FPA Drag Racing Championship and the FPA Drag Racing Championship podium with Bobby Achor, Greg Parr and Manual Babin. Our next party will be the Crawfish Boil & Car Show, so if you’d like to be an active member of the Prty committee and have some say in that event, future parties, etc. , please contact Robert Dauzat(Party Committee Chairman).