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Submitted by the Rougarou Festival – The Rougarou Fest is proud to announce that Shannon Bella will reign as the 2025 Rougarou Queen!
Bella was born and raised in Houma, graduating from Central Lafourche High School. She is a decorator whose work has been featured in magazines and attracted a large following on her social media. Many of her clients live or work in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes.
While her work decorating for Christmas has garnered special attention, she works year-round and is known for making homes, workplaces and event spaces more functional, comfortable, tasteful and beautiful. Last year, she decorated the VIP area at Rougarou Fest. She is also an actress, having appeared in plays at Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne in Houma.
“I am so proud to serve as Rougarou Queen,” said Bella. “I am extremely proud of my Cajun heritage and the other cultures and communities up and down the bayou, and this festival is such a treasure. When I was a kid, my mawmaw would tell me to behave or the Rougarou was going to get me.”
Bella’s father, Alton Knight, loved the Rougarou Fest and would have his picture taken with the queen each year. He passed away in 2024, making her reign this year especially poignant for her. “I know my dad would be so proud of me,” she said. “This was his favorite festival in the world.”
Bella is adopting the theme “In the Red” as her theme as queen, referencing maps that use that color to indicate the wetlands loss that has turned about 2,000 square miles of Louisiana’s coast into open water. She hopes to draw attention to the crisis and to the efforts to stop that land loss and preserve Louisiana culture.
She has two children, Robert Crochet and Shelby Ohlenforst, and three grandchildren, as well as her life partner, James Karst, and his sons.
The Rougarou Queen will reign over the parade on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM in downtown Houma. For more information on this year’s award-winning festival as it becomes available, please visit their official website.
