Editor’s Note: Longtime OffBeat contributor Dan Willging flew to New Orleans with his wife Julie Willging for the second weekend of Jazz Fest 2014. A colorful character himself, Dan chronicled these two Jazz Fest characters on Thursday, May 1.
Eddie Arnold may have sung “A Bouquet of Roses,” but every year for the past 30 years, Bob Gale has been bringing them to Jazz Fest – as part of his hat.
Gale says he gets good response from the ladies but never wears the same flower hat two days in a row.
“Down here, we love to look festive,” Gale said.
Bob Gale and Julie Willging at Jazz Fest. (Photo by Dan Willging)
In a sea of flags flown all across Jazz Fest, Lester “the Fester” Kempler and his wife Maureen Kempler of Chatham, NY, have been flying a flamboyant pink flamingo for the past 24 years.
Bob the Flamingo at Jazz Fest 2014. (Photo by: Dan Willging)
Until a week ago, it never had a name. Then, at last weekend’s Jazz Fest, Lester struck up a conversation with Bob Prejean, owner of Prejean’s Restaurant in Lafayette, who asked if the flamingo had a name.
A moment of inspiration struck and Lester named it Bob – after Prejean, of course.
Lester and Maureen Kempler. (Photo by: Dan Willging)
“It’s such a perfect name,” Maureen said. “You spell it the same way frontwards and backwards.”
