Carving jersey a ‘Brees’ for local artist

For more than 35 years, fisherman, expert woodworker and St. Gertrude parishioner Landry Dempster has exe-cuted a wooden sculpture as a raffle item for his church’s annual Des Allemands Catfish Festival. Having already completed detailed wooden replicas of the Lombardi Trophy and the Super Bowl XLIV championship ring for the two most recent festivals, Dempster decided to stick with his Saints theme by carving the jersey of New Orleans’ favorite quarterback out of tupelo wood. The wooden jersey will be raffled off on the final night of the festival, which runs June 22-24 on the church grounds at 17292 Highway 631. All proceeds benefit St. Gertrude Church.