St. James Parish is located midway in between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Some people probably never heard of us. We are a small parish with even smaller towns. St. James has so many amazing attributes. Here is five reasons why I am proud to be from St. James Parish.

1. Everyone knows everyone.

We are a parish with many generations of family. Personally, I have about five family members just living down the road from me. All that family comes with connections. You can go into Winn Dixie or Dollar General and someone would know you. If they don't know you, then they know you parents or your grandparents.

2. We are home to the Bonfires.

Every December in the town of Lutcher, there is a festival hosted. It's called the Festival of the Bonfires. Bonfires are very significant to our parish. On December 24th of every year, many St. James Parish residents light there Bonfires to light the way for Papa Noel to deliver his presents. It is a tradition that we engage in every year. A lot of tourist make there way to St. James Parish just to see this wonderful sight.

3. Our team spirit is tremendous.

You can swear the Lutcher High School football and St. James football teams were playing for the NFL. Football season is a must and almost everybody goes. People look forward to Friday Night Lights. Everyone from grandparents to little children get involved. It's even more of a sight to see when both teams make it to the championship to play in the Super Dome. Especially if they are the final two.

4. We are supportive.

Charity and fundraising is a huge deal in St. James Parish. Football pools are constantly going around to help raise money for whoever is in need. It could be from a softball team all the way to someone who needs help paying medical bills. We don't care how little or how big the need is. We will help. We are also supportive of peoples dreams. You will never see something go un-shared, when someone needs to get some kind of news out.

5. When disaster strikes, everyone is there.

In the week of August 15, 2016, Louisiana was struck with a historic flood. Many people lost their homes. St. James Parish was on the outskirts of the flooding. We unfortunately had the back water. Everyone in our parish got up and went go fill sandbags for everyone in our community. People went to stations day in and day out to help just in case someone needed it.

St James Parish is a strong community, and it will be really hard to tear us down. No matter what happens or what goes on it's an amazing place to live. Every community has its bad days, but the good for us weigh out any bad.