Step-N-Strut Trail Ride not returning to Avoyelles this year

Step-N-Strut Trail Ride will not be returning to Avoyelles Parish this year.

Last year’s event was marred by conflicts with the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe over security issues that festival organizers blame for a lower-than-expected turnout on the final day of the trail ride and music festival. Torry Lemelle said Step-N-Strut has selected another site in another parish, but is not ready to announce the location yet.

“We are working out details on the contract,” she said. “Step-N-Strut will be held the first weekend in November.”

She would not discuss the reasons why the long-running trail ride would not be returning, nor whether that decision was made by promoters or local authorities.

Less-than-expected returns on investment and what promoter Dave Lemelle called “a few hiccups” in last year’s event are possible reasons.

The event attracted more than 2,500 visitors per day during the three days of the festival this past November. The event was held on Tunica-Biloxi Tribe land off La. Highway 1. Dave Lemelle said the event organizers “about broke even,” but the communities benefited from the influx of visitors.

A heavy rain a day before Step-N-Strut was to begin forced promoters to haul in eight loads of limestone and five loads of topsoil and concrete to prepare the fairgrounds for the horse trailers and RVs that are part of the “Super Ride” experience. That extra preparation cost about $5,000 more than had been budgeted.

A loud “pop” near the end of the Saturday night concert caused some concerns, due to the concert shooting in Las Vegas that had occurred. Tribal Police Chief Harold Pierite announced the Sunday Trail Ride had been canceled, but then allowed the ride to continue.

Dave Lemelle said the statement that the ride had been canceled probably resulted in many visitors not coming to the event Sunday morning, which he said is one of the highest-attendance days of the Step-N-Strut.

Paul Scott, another member of the Step-N-Strut team, said most of the visitors at Step-N-Strut were from out-of-parish, so the dollars spent on food, entertainment and gasoline were “new” dollars, and not money recycled from within the parish.

“Even if WE didn’t make money, the parish made money and the businesses on and around La. Hwy 1 made money,” Scott said. “Every store did good and the hotels and motels did great.”

Perhaps the main reason why Step-N-Strut trail riders won’t be steppin’ and struttin’ on the Tunica-Biloxi site was the spat that erupted over the Lemelles’ allegations that Pierite tried to “shake down” the organizers for more money to ensure the event would remain open all three days.

Tribal officials denied the allegations.

The Lemelles claimed Pierite asked for $35,000 and then reduced that demand to $10,000. Both were rejected, which they said led Pierite to announce activities for the third day of the event had been canceled.

The event was able to continue on Nov. 5, “but the damage had already been done,” Dave Lemelle said.

“(Police) Chief Pierite extorted money from us throughout the whole process, using his authority, threatening to cancel this event if we did not pay him,” Ms. Lemelle said. “When he realized that he was not getting any more money, he cancelled our event on Sunday morning, causing us to lose not only money but a large amount of our supporters.”

Tribal officials said any money requested was to pay for security officers needed to adequately patrol the event. The Step-N-Strut contract made security costs a responsibility of the promoters.

Step-N-Strut has had a recent run of bad luck. Three years ago the trail ride had to move from the Zydeco Festival Park in Plaisance to the Yambilee Building in Opelousas due to heavy rains that made the fairgrounds unusable.

Two years ago the event had to be canceled when the intended site was unavailable due to a scheduling mix-up.

Last year the Lemelles thought they had the perfect site for a long-term home for the trail ride. The event has been held in several places in its 20-year history.

However, that was not to be.