PONCHATOULA, La. – The 47th Annual Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival was last weekend, and so it is only fitting that we highlight the 70454 ZIP Code for this week’s Access Code.
Ponchatoula is in Tangipahoa Parish with a population of 25,00 people. There is only one high school – Ponchatoula High, the home of the Green Wave. About a fourth of the housing in the area was built from 2000 to 2010.
Some notable stars hail from Ponchatoula includes Grammy award winner Irma Thomas and pitcher Earl Wilson. Wilson played in the major leagues for more than a decade and included a no-hitter in 1962 and a World Series win with the Detroit Tigers in 1968.
The name Ponchatoula comes from the native Americans meaning “flowing or falling hair.” It was their way to express the beauty of the location with the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.
When you think of Ponchatoula, there is no doubt that Louisiana’s state fruit comes to mind.
“It’s everything to Ponchatoula. If it wasn’t for the strawberries, our town wouldn’t be what it is today,” Donald Lanier said. “You see a lot of small towns in Louisiana, there’s nothing much to them. And this being the strawberry festival, what it does for this community, it just ‘boom’ blows it up.”
Lanier was born and raised in Ponchatoula and has plenty of fond memories going to the strawberry festival over the years. He’s been on the festival’s board for 28 years and explains how Ponchatoula came to be known as the “Strawberry Capital of the World.”
“Mayor at the time, Doc Gideon, he fought Hammond for that title. They based it off the amount of flats of berries that were actually shipped at that time by railcar out of Ponchatoula compared to Hammond. We won that title so actually took that title ‘Strawberry Capital of the World.’”
Lennie Threeton just finished his reign as 2018 Ponchatoula Strawberry King. His father served as king in 1981. Their strawberry farm has been in the family for four generations since Lennie’s great-grandfather Alonzo Threeton planed the family’s first strawberry plant 92 years ago. Lennie took over the family business when he graduated from high school.
“I love it. Ain’t going to be no multi-millionaire, but pays the bills, get my kids through school. Heck, we’re happy,” Threeton said.
The strawberry industry in Ponchatoula is still prevalent but started to dwindle after World War II when people started working in factories. Now, the younger generation isn’t into farming as much and the acreage is going down. But Ponchatoula has a second livelihood which you can see on the sign when you arrive into town.
In the 1980s, Patricia Richardson had the idea to turn the railroad depot into a country market. Part of that market included selling antiques. Around that same time, Stanley Cowen had an antique auction every week that was also popular.
Because antiques had a big draw and there was store space available, Ponchatoula sort of morphed into “America’s Antique City.”
Rene Roussel now runs “Roussels and Company,” an antique store his grandfather and uncle first started.
“It was always fun, an adventure every time you walk into the shop,” Roussel said. “It was definitely different, not like growing up anywhere else. But, you can spend the whole day here between antique shops, the cafes, little strawberry town. It’s a fun unique experience.”