PONCHATOULA, La – If Ponchatoula has a favorite color, it must be red.
Because red is the color of strawberries, and Ponchatoula, Louisiana is the Strawberry Capital of the Universe.
Just take one bite of a Ponchatoula strawberry and you’ll have no doubt about it.
WGNO News with a Twist features guy Wild Bill Wood wants you to meet a couple of lovely ladies who call Ponchatoula home.
They were born and raised here.
They live here.
They love it here.
And their favorite color?
Well, colors.
They are red, white and blue.
That’s because Ponchatoula is proud to be part of the USA. All you have to do is look at the size of the flag that flies proudly over downtown.
And nobody loves America more than the bridge-playing-patriotic-80-something-sisters.
Ann Boudreaux.
And Geraldine Wright.
Wild Bill finds them smack dab in the middle of a bridge game. But a little more than 30 years ago, these girls had more than cards in their hands.
They set out to sew their city of 6,500 their own American flag. They did it to save the city money. And to stitch themselves into stars and stripes history.
They had help.
Help from a friend and another sister who since died.
No wonder Geraldine and Ann are known around town as the “Betsy Ross” sisters.
When they saw their flag fly for the very first time on the Fourth of July in 1985, they had tears in their eyes.
Since then, bad weather started to wear out their good flag. So they retired it to the city’s museum.
But Ann and Geraldine will always pledge their allegiance.
Seamlessly.
Like seamstresses.
To their flag that’s now inside.
And to the new flag now flying over Ponchatoula.