Hessmer hoping for a 'happy birthday' Saturday

At this time, the Village of Hessmer has two goals.

The first is to have a successful first-ever Cajun Crossroads Festival to celebrate its 60th anniversary as a municipality. The second is to someday expand its boundaries and population to become the “Town of Hessmer.” 
 
In fact, 200 new Hessmerians would be a good birthday present.
 
The Village Council discussed several aspects of this weekend’s festival during its May 4 meeting. 
 
Fire equipment will be on hand to serve both as an educational experience for children and to be available in the event of an emergency.
 
Additional security will be available, with the Sheriff’s Office promising several deputies to aid with traffic and crowd control and all available full-time and part-time police officers to be called into duty.
 
In other action, the council held a public hearing on the Community Development Block Grant program prior to the council meeting and will act on a CDBG plan at next month’s meeting.
 
After the meeting, Franks said he hopes the festival will attract 1,000 visitors. The village’s population is about 860. Franks said it would be nice to double the village’s population, even if it is only for a day.
 
He then added he hopes to see the Village of Hessmer gain enough population in the next few years to cross the magic mark of 1,000 residents to become a town. He said some people outside of the current municipal limits have expressed an interest in possibly being annexed into the municipality, but no formal efforts have been initiated by would-be villagers.