Back in 2003, Kevin Kelly bought Houmas House on the Mississippi River in rural Ascension Parish. Shortly after the purchase, he held a grand affair to launch his endeavors to turn the plantation into a major tourist attraction.

If the 4,000 or so people who attended came for a show, they got one, Kelly explained Friday morning, sitting in the driver's seat of a golf cart in front of the massive home built in 1829.

As he talked, guides in period dress occasionally sauntered across the porch with tour groups following, as Kelly, 70, pointed out key spots of that day long ago.

He had promised a special ceremony back in 2003 — the invitation said "paws" instead of "pause," a detail that many assumed was a typo.

It was not.

When the masses gathered on the front lawn, they proceeded to w

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