Kudos to the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce and Tabasco, and especially to all those who worked to make this past weekend’s World Championship Gumbo Cookoff such a great event.

The once one-day cookoff is now three days worth of fun.

It looked like good crowds Friday night and during the day on Saturday, and for sure there was a huge crowd on Sunday enjoying the great weather, the great gumbos, the music and more.

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It’s amazing to consider those first gumbo competitions when most of the booths consisted of a folding table or two, some folding chairs, a burner and pot and not much more.

In recent years, the design and showmanship for the booths just keeps getting more and more amazing, and more and more of the teams seem to have specially made T-shirts or costumes.

One thing that hasn’t changed since those first years is the great sense of community.

It’s fun to have an excuse to go downtown and walk around to visit for a few minutes with friends and neighbors. It’s a very festive event, but very friendly.

I saw plenty of groups including smaller children in strollers or wagons as well as groups on the other end, with more seasoned citizens getting in on the fun.

The World Championship Gumbo Cookoff is a signature event for this community.

Thanks to all who worked so hard to make it so much fun for the rest of us.

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Friend and fellow newspaper publisher Steve Woody, with the Montrose (Colo.) Daily Press, wrote an interesting piece recently about “Newspapers and their names.”

Among the more unusual names he came across were those with a political bent, like Republican or Democrat or Independent. In Maryland there’s even a Whig. In Missouri, Steve reports, is the Unterrified Democrat.

There’s a newspaper named the Bandwagon in at least one community, according to Woody. Can’t you just hear it, “Let’s get together and jump on the Bandwagon.”

Woody found several Liberals and Conservatives and even some Plaindealers.

“There are Tattlers, Enquirers (the respectable type), Items, Town Talk (Alexandria), a Favorite (Bonham, Texas), Zeitungs (reflecting a German-American heritage) and assorted Vindicators, (Youngstown, Ohio).”

He noted papers named after a town, like The Daily Iberian or the Astorian in Astoria, Ore.

“Booze and newspaper names have a mutual history. For example, the Jimplecute in Jefferson, Texas. There’s no Jimplecute in the dictionary. But in 1848, as the legend goes, the publisher was drunk and knocked over a tray of type with letters spilling onto the floor and spelling Jimplecute.

“Another favorite is from Laramie, Wyo. In 1889, the newspaper’s editor and publisher, William Nye, had been overly served in the local saloons. He paid a visit to his contrary mule named Boomerang. The animal kicked him in the head and the next day, decided to honor the animal forevermore. Today, it’s the Laramie Boomerang.

“Maybe the cleverest is in Tombstone, Ariz., a sleepy little town of 1,000 in southeastern Arizona, notoriously famous for its lawlessness and shootout at the O.K. Corral.

“Tombstone was (and is) the home of the Epitaph. Founding publisher John Clum was asked about the unique name. He replied simply, ‘Every Tombstone needs an Epitaph.’”

Will Chapman is publisher of The Daily Iberian.