John Oswald Colson Louisiana Tradition Bearer Award

On October 27, 2018 the office of Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser presented my Dad,  John Oswald Colson with a proclamation making him an Honorary Louisiana Tradition Bearer.  This award celebrates his efforts to remember and honor the tradition of folklife culture.  The presentation was at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame museum in Natchitoches, LA and was followed by a demonstration by my Dad and panel discussion.  It was also announced that he will be inducted into the Folklife Hall of Fame in July 2019 at the Northwestern State University Folk Festival.

This was a huge honor not only for my Dad but for our family to see him recognized for all of his hard work.  We would like to thank Dr. Shane Rasmussen for nominating him and my brother/friend, Dustin Fuqua, for helping to make the day so perfect.  Dustin put together a presentation about my Dad’s work and did an excellent job (as usual) of presenting it.  It is a great depiction of the amount of work that goes into the process and how crazy it is that he sells this stuff so cheap!  Drives me nuts and we have an annual argument about it.

Thank you again to Dustin Fuqua for all he does for our family, for my Dad and for our culture.

You can read the article in the local paper here

Needless to say we are more than proud of our file’ man as always.  My Dad turned 81 in October and continues to share not only his folklife traditions but his stories and experiences about Cane River.  He is a walking and willingly talking encyclopedia about the way of life on the river from the late 1930s to now.  Thank you Daddy for all you do, you make me absolutely crazy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.