Morgan City's holiday market under the Highway 90 overpass is in its eighth year. Bayou Vista's Christmas parade is in its second. Bayou Vista is unincorporated, so it has no mayor's office or city events department to plan its calendar. Its fall and holiday events come from two places on the east side of the community: the Bayou Vista Community Center on Belleview Drive and the Bayou Vista Volunteer Fire Department on Highway 182.
This fall, the parade comes back for a second year, and the community center adds a new event of its own, a Jeep show in its first run.
A Tradition With Exactly One Year Behind It
The first Bayou Vista Christmas parade rolled on November 22, 2025. St. Mary Now ran the story under the headline "Start of a tradition in Bayou Vista." The paper reported that the parade "rolled (and walked) from the Community Center," with a lighting event scheduled for 6 p.m. at the center.
The 2025 listing on Cajun Coast shows how open the first parade was. Walkers, bicycles, skates, skateboards, wagons, and strollers entered free. Side-by-sides and golf carts paid a $10 entry fee, which the listing said would be donated to the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Toys for Tots. Lineup started at 3 p.m. and the parade rolled at 3:30. The route looped back to the Community Center in time for the lighting ceremony, followed by Santa, hot chocolate, cookies, hot dogs, and bike giveaways. Registration forms could be picked up or dropped off at the fire department or the Community Center office.
That design kept the barrier low. Anyone with a bicycle or a wagon could take part, and the only fee was earmarked for toys.
What's Different in Year Two
The 2026 parade is set for Saturday, December 5, two weeks later in the season than last year's November date. It also starts later in the day. Here's how the published details line up so far:
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, November 22 | Saturday, December 5 |
| Parade start | 3:30 p.m., lineup at 3 p.m. | 5 p.m. |
| Lighting ceremony | 6 p.m. at the Community Center | Follows the parade, per one listing |
| Golf cart and side-by-side fee | $10, to be donated to Toys for Tots | Not yet published |
| Registration | Forms at the fire department or Community Center office | Forms at the Community Center entrance |
The Cajun Coast listing for 2026 names the Bayou Vista Volunteer Fire Department, 1519 LA-182, as host and gives 5 to 7 p.m. A second listing on AllEvents calls it the 2nd Annual BVCC Christmas Parade and Lighting Ceremony and places it at the Community Center from 5 to 8 p.m. That listing says the lighting follows the parade and that participants should fill out a Parade Registration Form, available at the Community Center entrance, and follow the Parade Policy.
The two listings agree on the date and the 5 p.m. start. They differ on the end time and list different addresses, and neither says which one is the starting point. Neither one has published a route or a 2026 entry fee yet. If you're entering a golf cart or meeting family along the route, check with the Community Center or the fire department first.
A 5 p.m. start on December 5 also means the parade will run near sunset, so this year's lights will likely show up better than last year's mid-afternoon run.
The Building That Holds It All Together
Both years, the parade has pointed back to the same place. The Bayou Vista Community Center at 1333 Belleview Drive describes its mission as providing safe recreation. It runs free community fitness activities, including chair exercises, stretching and yoga, walking exercises, step aerobics, pickleball, and line dancing.
The center rents out a gym, a meeting room, and a clubhouse. Its facility page, dated 2023, lists a meeting room that holds 75 and a gym with seating for about 500 and standing room for about 900, plus a fully equipped kitchen. A gym that holds several hundred people is a big part of why a community without a town square can host a parade finale, a lighting ceremony, and an indoor market under one roof.
The market is the clearest example of the center's rhythm. Its event pages list Indoor Market dates on January 24 and April 11, 2026, each from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The next one is coming up soon.
October 24: Three Events on One Saturday
On Saturday, October 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Community Center is combining its Fall Festival, Indoor Market, and Jeepers Creepers into a single morning. The new piece is the 1st Annual Jeep Show-Off, where owners decorate their Jeeps and hand out treats. According to the center's event page, Jeep owners don't need to register. They just need to bring candy for the children at the festival.
The vendor side works more formally. The market page posts a craft and food vendor application along with market rules and regulations, both uploaded in July 2026.
So the season starts with a first-year event and ends with a second-year one. The Jeep show sits where the parade sat twelve months ago, a brand-new idea in its first run.
Before and Between: the Church Lot and Thursday Nights
The Community Center isn't the only place with an October date. Bayou Vista Baptist Church holds its fall festival the Sunday before, October 18, from 4 to 6 p.m. at 411 Field Road, with games, food, and candy.
The fire department keeps a weekly schedule all the way through the season. Its Thursday bingo series on Cajun Coast lists dates every Thursday from October 15 through December 31. The fullest description, from a September 2025 listing, says doors open at 5:30 p.m., card sales start at 6, and games run 7 to 9 p.m. It mentions 10 game books, Double Bingo, Coverall, an Early Bird game, a $2,500 jackpot, and concessions.
Two details are worth confirming before you go. That same listing gives 1701 Saturn Road in its description but 1519 Highway 182 in its venue field. The 2026 series also includes November 26, which is Thanksgiving, and December 24, which is Christmas Eve. Holiday-week dates on an automatically repeating calendar don't always happen as listed.
The station on Highway 182 also serves as a public meeting place. St. Mary Parish Fire Protection District No. 7 has held its board of commissioners meetings at the Bayou Vista Volunteer Fire Department, 1519 Hwy. 182 East. In a community without a city hall, the same building handles bingo night, district business, and this year's parade host listing.
How Bayou Vista's Dates Fit With Morgan City's
Bayou Vista residents are close enough to downtown Morgan City to do both towns' events. The Morgan City calendar is older and bigger, and this year the two towns' dates mostly fall on different days:
- October 17: Morgan City's free Trunk or Treat under the US 90 bridge, with a costume contest and awards for decorated trunks.
- October 18: Bayou Vista Baptist Church fall festival, 4 to 6 p.m.
- October 24: Fall Festival, Indoor Market, and Jeep Show-Off at the Bayou Vista Community Center, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- November 28: The 8th Annual Mistletoe & Moss Holiday Market, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., under the US 90 overpass by Front Street. The same day, the free Spirit of Morgan City Christmas Festival runs 2 to 7 p.m. at Lawrence Park, with the Lighting of the Oaks at 5:45 p.m., ice skating, and Santa. The market and the festival overlap from 2 to 4 p.m., so one afternoon can cover both.
- December 4: Morgan City's free Christmas parade and movie night, 6 to 8 p.m., starting at Belanger and Second Street, passing through Lawrence Park, and ending under the bridge.
- December 5: Bayou Vista's second Christmas parade, starting at 5 p.m.
For anyone who wants both parades, Morgan City's Friday night and Bayou Vista's Saturday evening make that a two-night weekend. One caution on the festival date: Morgan City's July 28 council minutes recorded a request for the Christmas Festival on November 29, while the city's event page and the Cajun Coast calendar both say November 28. Check closer to the date.
What Year Two Will Settle
As of October 11, 2026, a few things about the December 5 parade are still unpublished:
- The route, and whether it starts at the Community Center on Belleview Drive or the fire department on Highway 182
- Whether golf carts and side-by-sides will pay an entry fee again, and where the money will go
- A lineup time
- The full program for the lighting ceremony after the parade
The Community Center's calendar showed no November or December public events as of this month. The listing that names the ceremony says more details will come later. For now, the confirmed facts are a date, a 5 p.m. start, and registration forms waiting at the Community Center entrance.
If you've lived in Bayou Vista through more than one holiday season and want to talk about what's changing around the community, from the Highway 90 corridor to the streets around Belleview Drive, Lori Broussard would be glad to sit down with you. Schedule a free consultation, and if you see her on the parade route December 5, come say hello.
