Miss Iberville Parish crowned as Plaquemine Service League hosts Sugar Cane Tea

Cassidy Lane Cannella, the 18-year old daughter of Lani and Randy Cannella, was crowned Miss Iberville Parish June 11 at a tea hosted by the Plaquemine Service League at the Bayou Jacob Road home of Mr. and Mrs. Josh Wille.

Everyone enjoyed the hospitality of the Plaquemine Service League members among the fresh garden arrangements and roses adorning the Wille home. The roses and flowers were contributed by League members, who also prepared a delicious assortment of hors d’oeuvres including tea sandwiches, fresh fruit, cheeses, sweets and lemonade served during the tea. 

Special guests at the tea were Isabella LoBue, Evangeline 2021; Miss Iberville 2001 Clare Maddox Berthelot; Miss Iberville 2015 McKenzie LeBlanc and Miss Iberville 2019 Lakyn Morales. 

Six young ladies competed for the honor of representing Iberville Parish as Miss Iberville at the Louisiana Sugar Cane Fair and Festival Sept. 22-25 in New Iberia. Several Louisiana parish queens will compete for the coveted title of Queen Sugar.  

Contestants and their mothers applauded as Morales presented a bouquet of roses and crowned Cannella the new queen.

Miss Iberville 2021, Annie Blanchard, was unable to attend the tea. She sent her regrets for being unable to attend the tea as she is traveling abroad and currently in Valencia, Spain, as she continues to work towards her Spanish fluency. She then travels to Washington, D.C., to participate in the American Enterprise Institute’s Summer Honors Program and finally to the Oxford Human Rights Consortium in the United Kingdom. 

She left the contestants with this advice: “No matter if you are crowned today or not, your greatest asset is your willingness to learn, try new things and continue to give your best to your home parish.”  She is wished the very best in her endeavors.

First maid and Iberville’s Sweet is Shelby Renée Bordelon of Sunshine. The queen and maid were presented roses and banners made by Service League members.

As Miss Iberville Parish, Cassidy Cannella, will participate in and attend many festival events. The Louisiana Queen Sugar will be chosen by a panel of judges for her personality, beauty, poise and intelligence from among the participating sugar-producing parishes. 

Parish sugar queens will reign over the festivities with “King Sucrose” and represent the sugar industry throughout the year. The festivities will culminate with the pageant, coronation and ball. On Sunday, all parish queens will ride in the Sugar Growers and their Royalty parade with the newly crowned Queen Sugar and King Sucrose reigning over Sugarland.

Cannella is a 2022 graduate of St. John High School and will attend Millsaps College in the fall on a softball scholarship. She is proud to say she has toured the Vatican and was chosen to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She has gained many teamwork skills and leadership abilities through softball, volleyball and cheer. She was the St. John High Cheer Captain, Senior Class President and Beta Club President and was the recipient of numerous academic and athletic awards.

She enjoys playing all sports, the outdoors, traveling, learning new things, hunting, fishing, baking and doing DIY projects.  She is also CPR and AED certified. She has volunteered many hours helping others and her community.

Bordelon, is the 20-year-old daughter of Renée and Brian Bordelon of Sunshine. She is a 2020 graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy and currently attends Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, where she was on the Lionette dance team for two years. In 2019, she was selected for the Rockettes Summer Intensive in New York City. 

She recently was selected as the Coca-Cola Campus Ambassador at SLU, where she will attend various events and promotions throughout the community. She was a student at Center Stage Performing Arts for 16 years, where she trained in dance and voice. She enjoys singing, dancing, acting, judging middle/high school dance team tryouts, yoga, snow skiing and riding four-wheelers.  Other contestants in this year’s program included Ikira Butler, Kennedy Passantino, Hallie Rivet and Gabriela Vince.

Judges for the 2022 tea were Angie Besson, Erin Doiron and Donna Noel.

Besson has been an educator in the Louisiana Public School System for 31 years. She teaches at Epiphany Day School in New Iberia. She is married to Albert Besson and they have two adult children, one grandchild and another on the way. She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa teacher sorority, International Reading Association, Catholic Daughters of America and a past Teacher of the Year recipient.

Doiron was born and raised in Baton Rouge and has been married to Michael Doiron for 34 years.  They have four children, no grandchildren, but lots of “grand” pets. She graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University in nursing and worked as a home health nurse for 32 years. She currently does insurance assessment to help the elderly qualify for their long-term care benefits.

Noel has been married to her husband, “Spike” Noel, for 37 years. They have two children, a daughter, Eris, and a son, Ross. They each have two daughters.  Spike is a fourth-generation sugar cane farmer, with Ross being the fifth. Donna enjoys traveling, gardening, dining out and spending time with family.

McKenzie Wille, Sugar Cane Tea chairperson for the Plaquemine Service League, along with the continued help and support of Nealy LeBlanc, organized and coordinated the contest together with her assistants, Wendy Read, Jessica Sanchez and Dr. Jenny Troutman, along with Louisiana Sugar Cane Fair and Festival Association Iberville Parish Director Madeline Kessler. The Miss Iberville contest would not be possible without the volunteer support of the Plaquemine Service League and the funds generated by the Andrew P. Gay family through generous contributions from local sugar cane growers, Cora Texas Sugar Mill, Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso, Jr. and the Iberville Parish Council and local businesses and industries.