IBERIA PARISH — As Thanksgiving cooking ramps up across Acadiana, local plumbers say they’re preparing for what they jokingly call “Brown Friday” — the day after the holiday, when clogged drains and overworked plumbing systems lead to a surge in service calls.

Stephen Prudhomme, service manager with Pipes & Plugs LLC in New Iberia, said the Friday after Thanksgiving is consistently one of the busiest days of the year for plumbers. Many homeowners end up spending their Black Friday money not on electronics or appliances, but on emergency repairs.

“A lot of the issues with Thanksgiving and plumbing coincide with people putting too much down their drains,” Prudhomme said. “They’re cooking a lot more than normal. Things like turkey fat or ham fat get thrown down disposals, and fat turns into

See Full Page