Letter from the Mayor
Welcome to Farmerville, and beautiful Lake D'Arbonne. We sincerely appreciate your interest in our area.
Farmerville is the largest town and Parish Seat of Union Parish, Louisiana. We are located in the North Central region of the state, about 20 miles from Interstate 20, in the heart of Louisiana's "Sportsman's Paradise." Our terrain is hilly and our pine trees grow tall. Our climate is generally quite mild for most of the year. Our winters are cool with a few "cold snaps" where we might receive freezing conditions and a light dusting of snow. Springtime and autumn are usually very comfortable. And summertime is what one would expect in Louisiana, warm and humid.
Farmerville is considered a rural community, but we are a very friendly town with a population of 4,500 proud residents. Downtown you will find a well manicured Court House Square, shops, banks, office buildings, restaurants and a first class Public Library. Over the last several years, our town has been expanding along Louisiana Highway 2, where you'll find shopping centers, big box retailers, and restaurants lining both sides of the street.
Fishing, water sports and hunting are 5-star activities in Union Parish. Our pride and joy is beautiful Lake D'Arbonne, a 15,000-acre lake filled with bass, crappie, bream and catfish. We also have wonderful "stream fishing" in our bayous. We are most fortunate to have Lake D'Arbonne State Park located just a short drive from town.
Many, many visitors come to our State Park because of its clean, cozy cabins, RV accommodations, tennis courts, fishing piers, boat and canoe rentals, swimming pool, meeting rooms and pavilions. Another favorite with visitors is Lake D'Arbonne Country Club and Golf Course, sporting the best-groomed 9-hole course in the state.
In addition to retail, healthcare and education; timber, agriculture and recreation are the top industries here in Union Parish.
Foster Farms Chicken Plant is by far our largest employer, providing some 1,300 jobs. Our premier festival salutes another mainstay of regional agriculture. The Louisiana Watermelon Festival is held the last weekend of July, and is hosted by the Farmerville Jaycees. The Jaycees work hard all year long to make sure the Watermelon Festival continues its reign as the area's biggest tourism event.
Our most valuable resource, however, is the children of our Parish. Farmerville is fortunate to have three elementary and secondary school systems available to residents. Union Parish School System, Union Christian Academy and D'Arbonne Woods Charter School seek to prepare students to meet their full potential. Three excellent Universities can also be found near-by; including Grambling State University (23 miles) in Grambling; Louisiana Tech (21 miles) in Ruston; and The University of Louisiana at Monroe (34 miles) in Monroe.
The Union Parish Chamber of Commerce seeks to promote all the communities of Union Parish, and has recently moved into a new building. This will greatly serve not only the Chamber, but also every business in our Parish. Through their diligence, the Chamber was instrumental in having Union Parish recognized as a "Designated Retirement Community," the first in North Central Louisiana.
The people of Union Parish are a people of faith. Religion is a tradition that runs deep in our communities, and we have a wide variety of churches and denominations to accommodate your beliefs. You will not find it difficult to select a church and a congregation that you and your family will enjoy being a part.
All in all we have it pretty good around here, and we invite you to come our way for a visit. I'm proud of all the accomplishments we've enjoyed over the last several years, and look forward to addressing the challenges ahead as we continue to grow. Just come see us, you may decide that this is the place for you. You'll soon see why we like to say "Think Farmerville First."
