FERRIDAY — The record-breaking high water levels in the Mississippi River may have changed the plans for a few, but one classic Concordia Parish celebration hasn’t seen the time, date or place altered one bit — the Lake St. John Flotilla.

“This is a means of keeping everyone together, especially after the stressful times we have had over the past months,” Flotilla committee member Richard Alwood said. “We are going to be giving thanks that we are all still here, and it’s going to be a lot of people having fun and enjoying the day.”

The Lake St. John Flotilla has been a part of Concordia Parish for years, an Alwood said the event started when lake residents decided to ask a priest to bless the fleet.

A few years later the priest and his blessings found a permanent home on the Steckler family’s pier.

“Every boat on the water was blessed by the priest who was standing on Steckler’s pier every year,” Alwood said. “It got to the point where people started decorating the boats, and we started judging them.”

Alwood said the flotilla added two boat decorating competitions and a pier decorating competition along with the blessing of the boats, and the flotilla has grown ever since.

“More and more people started coming to it,” he said.

Alwood said the July 2 event is always held around the Fourth of July, so it can also serve as a celebration of the national holiday.

“We just want to make it a nice long weekend so people can get together to cook and talk,” he said.

While the high water levels did not cancel the event, Alwood said the flotilla was scaled back.

“We are not having the pier decorating contest this year,” he said. “Other than that, everything else is going as planned.”

Alwood said there will be two decoration categories for the boats and watercrafts to compete in, patriotic and other.

“The patriotic category is just one for people to show off their American pride in any way they can,” he said. “The other category can be anything you imagine it to be. We have had quite some unusual ones in the past.”

Alwood said prizes for first, second and third place winners will be awarded Saturday.

Registration for the contest will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Neely’s Spokane Resort, and it will cost $5 to enter, Alwood said.

“The money we get from the registration will be used for beautification around the lake and for local charities,” he said.

Alwood said the fee only pertains to those boaters competing in the contest, and not those there to get their boats blessed.

“The primary reason we are here is to bless the boats,” he said. “Anyone who wants to have their boat blessed can get in line and wait for the blessing.”

Alwood said pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Ferriday the Rev. Louis Sklar will be on Steckler’s pier blessing the boats starting at 3 p.m. Saturday.

“We just want people to take their boats and get in the procession and wait to get blessed,” he said.

Alwood said the procession will begin near Lake St. John’s Grocery.

“We are hoping to have a lot of people out here at the flotilla for a great time,” he said.

Alwood said the flotilla is an all day event, and anyone who comes out will be have the opportunity to enjoy numerous activities for the holiday weekend.