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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Marksville residents Brent Scallan and Linda Adams demonstrate the correct way of egg knocking in the Avoyelles Parish Tourism Commission office in Mansura. Adams' late husband, Earl Adams, was an organizer of the annual Marksville competition. The key to successful egg pocking is boiling eggs point-side-down.
"You turn them upside down, like this," Sharon Juneau said, removing a dyed egg from a basket. "It makes the egg harder on that end." Why? Because the egg's substance gravitates to the pointed end, where the pocking happens.
Or knocking, as they call it in Marksville, which happens to be the "Egg Knocking Capital of the World." State Rep. John Labruzzo, R-Metairie, left, looks on as Rep.
H. Bernard LeBas, D-Ville Platte, center, Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, and Rep.
Robert Johnson, D-Marksville, compete in an 'egg-knocking' competition on the House floor in 2011, the year the Louisiana Legislature proclaimed Avoyelles Parish the 'Egg Knocking Capital of the World.' Legislative proclamation That's not a self-proclaimed title — the Louisiana Legislature officially awarded the moniker to Avoyelles Parish in 2011, naming it for Marksville's annual egg knocking competition on Easter Sunday. But even with its status as parish seat, Marksville can't take sole credit for this honor.
The egg pocking, or egg-pacqueing, actually begins with Cottonport's Pockin' on the Bayou celebration on the Saturday before Easter. "Pacques is the French translation for Easter," said Juneau, whose late husband, Carl "Pappy" Juneau organized the annual festival. "Our celebration happens on the Saturday before Easter, and it all started in the 1950s with Carl and his friends.
" Competitors of all ages can participate in the egg knocking or egg pocking competitions in Avoyelles Parish during Easter weekend. Here, children compete in the Easter on the Red River celebration in Effie. Started in a local store Carl Juneau didn't take credit for the tradition in a 2017 interview with The Advocate, but his wife is right — Cottonport's annual egg-pocking competition wouldn't have evolved if he, Jack Jeansonne, Leland Gautier and Jack Roy hadn't met up for beers at T-Jim's Grocery and Market.
It was the 1950s. World War II had ended a few years earlier, and life in Avoyelles Parish was just returning to normal. Easter was just around the corner, which triggered memories among the foursome.
They talked about how much fun they once had knocking eggs. So they drove home, each returning to the market with a dozen boiled eggs and began the pocking game. Beers were bet, a crowd gathered and the store owner suggested they start a competition.
Cottonport resident Sharon Juneau tests an Easter egg by tapping it against her teeth. If the egg projects a solid sound, it is ready for egg knocking or egg pocking. Juneau's late husband, Carl 'Pappy' Juneau, was an organizer of the Cottonport Pockin' on the Bayou.
"So, our competition began in 1956," Sharon Juneau said. Celebrations grew The celebration now includes children's activities and food vendors, as does the Easter on the Red River at the Ben Routh Recreational Center in Effie in its 20th year, which also happens on the Saturday before Easter. The Effie festival has an added element of Easter bonnet competitions for both men and women, along with an egg toss for all ages.
Old and young alike turn out for the Easter on the Red River celebration in Effie, where the egg-knocking contest annually attracts more than 700 contestants. But it's the egg-knocking that takes center stage in the Saturday celebrations, culminating in the annual Marksville Egg Knocking on Easter morning, averaging 700 competitors. "Our competition began in 1957," Marksville Mayor Brent Lemoine said.
He sits at a conference table in the Avoyelles Parish Tourism Commission Office in Mansura on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Joining him are Sharon Juneau; Cottonport resident and past Easter bonnet contest winner Elaine Juneau; Marksville resident and longtime egg knocker Brent Scallan; Linda Adams, whose late husband Earl organized the Marksville competition; and Marsha Wiley, chairwoman of the Effie celebration. Marksville Mayor Brent Lemoine, left, and Marsha Wiley, chairwoman of the Easter on the Red River celebration in Effie, prepare to go egg-to-egg in an egg knocking or egg pocking competition in the Avoyelles Parish Tourism Office in Mansura.
Beginnings in Marksville Lemoine and Scallan trade stories across the table of how the Marksville competition actually began in local barrooms, names like Reno's, J.C.'s and Bailey's Nightclub, all located near the courthouse.
The contests were so intense that egg knockers bet big money on each round. "It was serious business, and my uncle would bet $50 and $100," Lemoine said. "Then we started competition on the courthouse square in 1957, and over 300 would attend each year.
" The rules are simple for all three Avoyelles competitions and have never changed. Basically, it boils down to who has the hardest egg — pun intended. The Easter on the Red River celebration in Effie also includes Easter bonnet competitions for both women and men.
Last year, Effie resident Connie Roszell titled her lettuce-draped bonnet, 'Lettuce Pray.' When two competitors agree to do battle, one person holds a hard-boiled egg, usually small, or pointed, end up, and the other taps it with the small end of his or her egg. The idea is for a competitor to crack the competition's egg without breaking his own.
And it's at 9 a.m. Easter morning at the end of sunrise Mass when competitors gather in Marksville's courthouse square for the big Egg Knocking standoff.
A good egg Meanwhile, back in the tourism conference room, Juneau still holds the egg she removed from her basket earlier in the meeting. She gives it to Scallan, who taps it against his teeth. Marksville resident Brent Scallan tests an Easter egg by tapping it against her teeth.
If the egg projects a solid sound, it is ready for egg knocking or egg pocking. Scallan is a veteran competitor in the Easter morning Egg Knocking competition in Marksville. "You tap it against your teeth like this," he said, clicking the pointed side against his front and canine teeth.
"You listen to how it sounds. If it sounds hollow, it's not going to be a good egg." And this egg? "Oh, this one's good," he said.
Scallan, meanwhile, turns to Adams, who stands at the edge of the table holding her own dyed egg. Scallan, still holding Juneau's egg, suggests they demonstrate an egg knocking round. Marksville residents Brent Scallan, left, and Linda Adams demonstrate the correct way of egg knocking in the Avoyelles Parish Tourism Commission office in Mansura.
Adams' late husband, Earl Adams, was an organizer of the annual Marksville competition. Adams holds her egg in a precision grip between her thumb and fingers, with the egg's pointed side facing upward. Scallan holds his egg in a similar grip with the pointed side facing downward.
How it's played This is where rules come into play; the person holding the bottom egg stands completely still while the holder of the top egg does the tapping. Everyone around the table agrees that there's no advantage to holding either the top or bottom egg, because the weaker shell naturally will crack. As does Adams' egg.
Scallan takes on another competitor, then another. He's on a roll. Competitors of all ages can participate in the egg knocking or egg pocking competitions in Avoyelles Parish during Easter weekend.
Here, children compete in the Easter on the Red River celebration in Effie. That's when Juneau decides that she's going to take back her egg. "I'm saving this one of the competition," she said, laughing.
"I'm serious." Finding eggs Juneau bought her eggs from a farmer, which is the standard way of gathering eggs for the competition these days. Some competitors raise their own chickens, supplementing the birds' feed with pebbles and crushed oyster shells, believing the mix will make the eggshells stronger.
Cottonport resident Elaine Lemoine shows off an Easter bonnet worn in a past Pockin' on the Square competition in Cottonport. Both the Cottonport and Effie celebrations include Easter bonnet contests. The late Carl Juneau, in the 2017 interview, pointed out that an LSU study for the federal government discovered that the homemade dietary supplements did, indeed, make the shells harder.
"The people who buy their eggs start in January, and they go all over Louisiana, everywhere on a Sunday ride, and gather dozens of eggs from people's yards," Juneau said. "And then they boil them in coffee grounds, then knock them on their teeth to see how strong they are." Now, here's where things get a little bit complicated.
The rules allow only for chicken eggs, but guinea hen eggs also qualify. Guinea eggs are stronger, but it wouldn't be fair for the Guinea egg knockers to compete against the chicken egg knockers. "So, we have two separate categories," Lemoine said.
"The only problem this year is that Guinea eggs are a lot more expensive — they're selling for $30 a dozen." That, along with the rising cost of chicken eggs , surely would hamper this year's competition, right? Right? The rules are simple for all three Avoyelles Parish competitions and have never changed. When two competitors agree to do battle, one person holds a hard-boiled egg, usually small, or pointy, end up, and the other taps it with the small end of his or her egg.
The idea is for a competitor to crack the competition's egg without breaking his own. Egg prices don't matter "That's not stopping anybody," Lemoine said. "People have been gathering their eggs, and they're going to compete in the egg knocking.
" It's not because there's big money on the line. Winners will be awarded cash prizes of $100. That's all.
No, these contests are about accomplishment and bragging rights, which is why competitors in Saturday's contests also pock eggs in Marksville on Sunday. Still, not everyone is on the up and up. There have been some cheaters along the way, competitors who try to knock their way through with wooden or epoxy eggs.
"Sometimes an egg is just too good, and you have to stop and check it," Lemoine said. "We caught one guy who had made an egg out of epoxy." Marsha Wiley, left, chairwoman of the Easter on the Red River in Effie, and Beryl Barbin show Barbin's collection of award-winning Easter bonnets from the Effie celebration's Easter bonnet contest.
Dyeing isn't required, and boiling isn't necessarily a rule either. Lemoine remembers some competitors bringing raw eggs to the contest, believing boiling weakened the shell. Those matches ended in a big mess.
Easter bonnets But what isn't a mess at this moment is Beryl Barbin, who enters with the collection of homemade Easter bonnets that have won her first place in the Effie bonnet competition in the last few years. Avoyelles Tourism Director Wilbert Carmouche serves as the judge for that contest. "He told me last year would be my last time to win," she said, laughing.
"We'll see.".
