News

Calvin High School FFA competed at the District LDE Competition at LaSalle High School recently. They did an awesome job and brought home several award. Congratulations to all of you. Those that placed were: . Sienna Box placed 1st in Creed Speaking, Rebekah Dupree placed 1st in Prepared Speaking, Gianna Conzonere placed 2nd in Prepared Speaking, Brooklyn Teddlie placed 2nd in Employment Skills, Lauren Chandler placed 4th in Employment Skills. Congratulations to all of those from Winn Parish that competed in this event.

This year the annual Goldonna Christmas in the Park will feature an all day festival that will end with a parade and fireworks.

Events will get kicked off at 10am on Saturday, December 9 at Goldonna Town Hall located at 3159 Main Ave. in Goldonna.

There will be live music from 11:00am-4pm and the parade will begin at 5pm. Following the parade the evening will end with a beautiful firework show.

Vendors will be set up that the pavilion that is located right by the old rail road tracks. Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be on hand to visit with the kids. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join in on a day of celebrating the Christmas season.

The Winnfield Christmas Parade sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, the Winn Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Winnfield took place Friday, December 1st at 6 PM on Main St. There were over 50 entries in the parade which had the theme of Piney Woods Express.

Grand Marshal of the parade was Carolyn Phillips former Cooperative Extension Agent and Director of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame. Mrs. Phillips has been an integral part of the community since 1962. Prior to the parade a reception was held at the Winn Parish Library honoring Carolyn Phillips as the Grand Marshall. She received a plaque from Kiwanis President Margaret Coon commemorating this event. Mayor Gerald Hamms and Councilwoman Chiquita Caldwell surprised Mrs. Phillips with a “Hammie” for her years of service in the community.

The election of October 14, 2023, was the subject of Winnfield’s Rotary meeting on November 15, 2023. Bryan Kelley, Winn Parish Registrar of Voters as well as a longtime Rotarian, gave the club members the low down on the voting statistics for the day.

At present, Winn Parish has 8,417 registered voters, of which 35.25% are registered Democrats, 37.91% are registered Republicans, and almost 27% are registered as other or no party. Of those registered voters, 4,657 or 55.33% voted in the most recent election. Only 52.44% of registered Democrats voted, whereas 66.69% of registered Republicans voted.

Early voters comprised 43.23% of all voters in the October 14, 2023, election, and 56.77% of those voting did so on election day itself. Republicans were the largest percentage of those voting early, with 46.65% of early voters, and early voting Democrats were only 33.23% of the total. 23.92% of all registered voters voted early. Early voters include those voting by mail.

Tuesday, November 21st was the day for the Winnfield Kiwanis Club to say goodbye to the Michies.

We have enjoyed serving with them for the past two years and will miss them very much as they go home to Moses Lake, Washington. Ethel Howell spoke about how they came to Winnfield to help at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Dr. Jerry Williams talked about being their landlord at the house they were living in and Dr. Bill Gaddis spoke about peas and strawberries and help in the garden. The Kiwanis club benefited from having Les and Janine as members of our club and as members of our community. Janine and Les thanked us for making them so welcome. We enjoyed a gumbo lunch followed by a beautiful cake inscribed “You’ve been a Blessing, Les and Janine”. They were presented with a painting by Gail Shelton that included places where they served and lived in Winnfield. We know that the Michies are excited to be going home but we will miss them.

This year the annual Goldonna Christmas in the Park will feature an all day festival that will end with a parade and fireworks.

Events will get kicked off at 10am on Saturday, December 9 at Goldonna Town Hall located at 3159 Main Ave. in Goldonna.

There will be live music from 11:00am-4pm and the parade will begin at 5pm. Following the parade the evening will end with a beautiful firework show.

Vendors will be set up that the pavilion that is located right by the old rail road tracks. Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be on hand to visit with the kids. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join in on a day of celebrating the Christmas season.

The Winn Parish School District had a reason to celebrate as they left for the Thanksgiving holidays on Nov. 17. The Louisiana Department of Education released school and district performance scores and Winn saw growth across the board.

Winn Parish Schools earned a “B” ranking on their 2022-2023 district performance scores, a growth of almost two points from 2021-2022.

Winnfield Primary School was top of the list of growth in the district. WPS grew 6.5 points and earned a “B” ranking for their school performance score. That’s not only impressive for Winn, but also for the state as a whole. The Louisiana Department of Education named WPS a top gains honoree, a distinction given to schools that demonstrate excellence in student progress from one year to the next. WPS’ growth also attracted the interest of Dr. Cade Brumley, the Louisiana State Superintendent of Schools, to visit last month.

DARE Officer Stephanie Lawson Young and Sheriff Cranford Jordan made a special visit to see the little ones at First Baptist Church in Winnfield on November 16. The children got to hug the DARE bear and hear the siren on the DARE patrol vehicle. Officer Young read them a story as the sheriff passed out stickers to the children. DARE is a substance abuse prevention program designed to equip school children with skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs.

The Winnfield Senior High School Student of the Year Honor has been awarded to Alyssa Van Blaricum. Congratulations to Alyssa and to all of the contestants. Alyssa will now go on to the District Student of the Year competition.

Dodson High School Student of the Year winners. Anna Worthington (12th), Hayden Stoner (5th), and Judson Jordan (8th). Congratulations to these great students.