We have to wonder: Will there ever come a day when our government officials realize their actions often achieve the opposite of their stated goals? Remember Youngsville Cash on Ice? Well, strap in for another installment of government-run ‘economic development,’ known as the C’est Bon Seasoning Fest.
By the way, if you want an economy to grow or a market to develop, GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY! Loosen regulations. Cut spending. Slash taxes. You just might be amazed at what happens.
Because if you think “economic development” is a government program… you are the problem.
Join us as we explore yet another botched (or is it?) attempt by a local government to bring about “economic benefits” to their community, along with the potentially illegal and unethical steps taken along the way. Of course, there is a side benefit to all of this virtuous goodwill and well-meaning that no one wants to talk about. So, let’s talk about it!
The 2024 Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Festival
The first annual Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Festival was held November 8 – 10, 2024, at Pelican Park in the City of Carencro. Almost four months later, on January 27, 2025, Charlotte Clavier, Mayor of Carencro, entered into a cooperative endeavor agreement with the Carencro C’est Bon Fest, Inc. Why the wait? The agreement states:
“Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. will organize the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest to promote the food and culture of the City of Carencro and provide a financial benefit to the City and its citizens.”
“The City and members of the business community within the City have evaluated the potential economic benefit to the City of Carencro resulting from the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. and that the economic benefit to the City is projected to exceed the value of obligations of the City to promote the festival, and this cooperative endeavor agreement has a public purpose and is in the public interest of the City and its residents.”
“The City has determined that the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. will result in a positive return on the City’s investment measured by projected tax revenues and other economic benefits.”
All of this sounds GREAT! Right? A “financial benefit to the City and its citizens,” “the economic benefit to the City is projected to exceed the value of obligations,” and the festival “will result in a positive return on the City’s investment measured by projected tax revenues and other economic benefits.” Who would have ever thought the government could do such wonderful things? So, what are the “obligations of the City.”
A Loan or a Giveaway?
The agreement goes on:
“The City of Carencro has loaned [past tense] $40,000.00 to the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. for the festival year 2024, and the City of Carencro agrees to loan the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. up to $40,000 for the festival year 2025.”
Does anyone else need a loan?
Article VII, Section 14 prohibits the loaning, pledging, or donating public property. It would have been great if the language of the document stopped there. Instead, we have a list of over a dozen exceptions ranging from welfare programs to investments. Then there is the catch-all exception, which allows the government to redistribute your money to someone else as long as it serves a “public purpose.”
The agreement continues:
“The Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. agrees that the loan will be payable to the City of Carencro once the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. is able to cover its own costs and start-up costs associated with the festival, plus $10,000.00 for preliminary costs of the ensuing festival year, from the revenue generated by the festival in the upcoming years. The City of Carencro acknowledges that Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc.’s ability to repay any loans from the City of Carencro is dependent on such revenue and will be discharged to the extent Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. is unable to repay the loans under the terms hereof.”
The City of Carencro provided a zero-interest, non-recourse loan of $40,000 in 2024 and agreed to give an additional $40,000 in 2025 and $10,000 each subsequent year. Did you get the same offer? Were you allowed to submit a better proposal? No? So, who exactly controls this sweetheart deal? Let’s meet the people behind Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc.
Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Festival, Inc.
The Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc., is a non-profit organization founded in December 2023. According to its articles of incorporation, the initial directors of the organization are Charlotte Clavier (Mayor of Carencro), Purvis Morrison (The former mayor of Scott, LA, who voters voted out, now Chief Administrative Officer for Carencro), Haili Arsement, Tonie Johnson, and Traci LeNormand. Each person is to serve an “initial three-year term, which shall automatically renew thereafter each year…”
Additionally, the document lists a single incorporator: Charlotte Clavier.
The City of Carencro authorized a monopoly funded by zero-interest, non-recourse loans paid for with your tax dollars. Additionally, the non-profit beneficiary of a monopoly status is controlled by an unchanging Board and not subject to public oversight.
It gets worse. The Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. owes its very existence to the taxpayers. According to records, the taxpayers of the City of Carencro paid to create Clavier’s Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. In November of 2023, the City of Carencro paid $3,000.00 to Lauren & Co. to form the non-profit, create its by-laws, and obtain its non-profit status from the IRS.
According to a recent financial audit report, this transaction may have constituted a gratuitous donation of public funds. Over a year later, the City passed a resolution and signed a cooperative endeavor after the fact to “fix” the issue. Realistically, they fixed nothing. If not for the misappropriation of public funds, which created the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc., there would be no entity with which to enter into the agreement. But it’s OK because the city’s Administration (Clavier and Morrison) agreed to “continue to monitor the relationship with the organization to ensure that the organization continues to provide economic benefit for the City.”
Losses, Lies, and Locked Books!
Additionally, the City paid another $41,771.97 in expenses for the C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. in 2024. The City began paying these expenses in April of 2024, long before entering into any agreement. It is not known whether this is an addition to the $40,000 loan provided by the City because records that may shed some light on that are being withheld.
The City provided a document similar to a profit and loss report dated January 17, 2025. That document showed the total revenue generated as $123,903.33 and the total expenses as $151,212.16, for a net loss of $27,308.83. Despite the record showing a financial loss, Mayor Clavier reported to the Council on January 27, 2025, that the Festival was “cash positive.”
Claim: “The Festival was cash positive.” – Mayor Clavier
Reality: Festival lost $27,308.83 – Official P&L Report
When we asked the City for an itemized listing of revenues and expenditures, we were directed to the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc., who in turn had their attorney respond:
“Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. is a private, nonprofit corporation which owes no duty to respond to the request below.”
When Clavier’s Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. entered into the cooperative endeavor agreement with … herself, the agreement included making the books and other records available to the City of Carencro for inspection and copying. However, now Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. has decided to hide behind the veil of a “private” corporation to block a valid public records request. Additionally, the City of Carencro, even after being asked to obtain a copy of the documents (according to the cooperative endeavor agreement), has refused to do so.
No Transparency, No Trust
When citizens request records tied to public money, they’re not just asking questions—they’re exercising a legal right. Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. was funded, founded, and formed using taxpayer dollars, which makes its records the people’s business.
Yet here we are, with locked books, a stonewalling attorney, and a City unwilling to enforce the very agreement the Mayor and CAO signed with the non-profit they created.
Public Money, Private Walls.
Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. is a quasi-public body. Louisiana Revised Statute 44:1 defines a “public body” as “any other instrumentality of the state, parish or municipal government, including a public or quasi-public nonprofit corporation designated as an entity to perform a governmental or proprietary function.” Through C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc.’s discharge of duties and responsibilities under the cooperative endeavor agreement with the City of Carencro, as well as the receipt of public money as remuneration for such service, the C’est Bon Seasoning Fest, Inc. is serving as a municipal corporation engaged in a public function and is therefore subject to public records law. Yet, the corporation, created solely using taxpayer dollars, withholds records even as basic as its by-laws.
The festival failed to provide any economic benefit to the residents of Carencro. But perhaps it was never intended to be successful for all residents. The “economic benefit” and “public purpose” explanations appear to be nothing more than a ruse—a pretext to transfer public funds into the hands of private (or even not-so-private) citizens.
When asked for records related to the festival’s success or impact, the City was only able to provide a profit and loss document. Further, the City of Carencro has indicated that it NEVER prepared an economic impact analysis related to the 2024 festival. Further, the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, an agency most bodies would go to for assistance and advice before moving forward with such a venture, has confirmed they WERE NOT asked to assist with any economic impact analysis.
The hard numbers.
According to sales tax collection figures provided by the Lafayette Parish School System, there was no economic benefit from the 2024 Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Festival. Here are the sales tax collection numbers for the month before and after the festival and the figures from the previous year for the same months.
| October of 2023 | November of 2023 | December of 2023 |
| $982,067.00 | $989,613.00 | $1,033,134.00 |
| October of 2024 | November of 2024 | December of 2024 |
| $1,036,478.00 | $1,032,243.00 | $1,118,499.00 |
The $1,032,243.00 collected in November of 2024 (the month of the three-day festival) was a lower figure than what was collected in both the following and preceding month. Additionally, compared to the prior year’s data, November of 2023 had a higher sales tax collection than October of 2023, with a steady progression into December 2023. Yet, in 2024, the month of the Festival, instead of collections increasing or even remaining steady, they dropped.
This is important because Clavier’s government spent over $40,000.00 on the event. The event also reports receiving $123,903.33 in revenue. If those two figures are taxed at the 3% rate collected by the City of Carencro, that additional money circulating through the local economy should have netted at least $4,900.00 in additional tax revenue. However, November of 2024 netted $4,235.00 LESS than the previous month.
Too Rigged to Fail?
Rest assured, you will be told all the typical things you can expect to hear about failed government experiments in the economy. “It was our first year” or “we’ve worked out the kinks.” Don’t believe it! This event was a failure in terms of providing economic benefits to the City and its residents.
They will just double down. After all, it will be deemed too big to fail. The stage has already been set. On May 9, 2024, the Louisiana Legislature recognized the City of Carencro as the “Seasoning Capital of the World.” The resolution read:
“…the citizens of Louisiana recognize and celebrate the city of Carencro’s contributions to both state and global culinary culture through its seasoning industry and the annual hosting of “The C’est Bon Seasoning Festival of the World.”
At the time of this propaganda, the City of Carencro did not even have its first C’est Bon Seasoning Festival. The resolution goes on:
“The C’est Bon Seasoning Festival of the World promotes tourism and economic development within the city of Carencro and surrounding areas…”
Actually, it promotes grift, corruption, and improper use of tax revenues to benefit a few at the expense of the many. And when the City no longer financially contributes to the endeavor, the same grifters will be lining up at the State Capitol seeking funding to continue this fictional narrative of promoting tourism and economic development in the name of being the “C’est Bon Seasoning Festival of the World.”
What can you do?
When you hear politicians talk about “economic development,” check your pockets because it’s rarely about developing anything—except someone else’s bank account. The only meaningful way the government can do this is by loosening regulations and laws. Otherwise, you can bet it’s just another wealth transfer scheme from your pocket into the pocket of another.
This isn’t just about one festival. It’s about a system rigged to serve the few at your expense. Demand better. Ask questions. File a records request. And trust us, this isn’t the last local ‘economic development’ program we’re digging into.
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