Andy and Yvette Louviere

Andy and Yvette Louviere

When you enter the Delcambre Seafood & Farmers Market and turn to your immediate right you will meet up with two of the market’s original vendors, the husband/wife team of Anthony “Andy” and Yvette Louviere. Andy sells vegetables and (in the spring) vegetable and herb plants; Yvette sells her artwork and jewelry. The New Iberia residents have been with the market since its beginning in 2013.

In the spring, customers flock to their booth for Andy’s healthy vegetable plants – a hobby that began after his retirement in 2011. A former ag teacher at Franklin Senior High, Andy knows his gardening.

This year, he sold 3,000 vegetable plants between February through April – and that wasn’t his best month!

When he’s not selling plants, Andy is selling vegetables like his gorgeous tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash. This month and in September, he should have eggplants and okra. Everything is started from seeds, germinated in his modest-size greenhouse and then transplanted and grown in the one-acre garden behind his home.

After Andy bags your vegetables, scoot over a couple of feet and take a gander at Yvette’s artwork and jewelry. The self-taught artist has been painting, on and off, since the 80s. Her beautiful birds and Louisiana scenes, on wood and canvas, have been the first purchase for many visitors. Yvette also paints crawfish, crabs and shrimp on cedar boards. Perfect for the kitchen, camp or beach house. Her painted wooden spoons, with pelicans, egrets, magnolia and other local scenes, are a best seller and she says have “gone international – without her.” They are now sold in the Louisiana section of the gift shop at the new Lafayette Regional Airport, with sales going very well.

Yvette has also enjoyed making beaded jewelry for the past 22 years, with her necklaces, earrings and bracelets appealing to all ages. She says her earrings are another best seller.

Her most recent project has her painting religious icons with acrylic paints – another great gift, especially at Christmas.

Married for 47 years, the Louviere’s aren’t the only market vendors who are married, but they are one of few couples who have watched the market grow from just a few booths to a booming success. “We like working together,” says Yvette. “We like having our spot at the entrance of the market; customers know who we are. The pavilion is nice in that we don’t have to put up a tent. Everything is well run at the Delcambre market.”