We hear a lot about how manufacturing in the United States has declined over the past couple of decades. And we hear an equal amount of talk about various plans to bring it back.

Some parts of the Acadiana economy are tied in to the national economy. And some, well, just aren’t. Like Faulk’s Game Calls.

In what used to be the family home, the 4^th generation of the Faulk family have been making duck and goose calls for neaarly 90 years. This is one product that is not being outsourced to China. But, perhaps surprisingly, you’ll find Faulk’s Game Calls all around the world including Russia and, ironically, Turkey.

The Marketing Director of Faulk’s Game Calls is founder Clarence Faulk’s great grandson, Canaan Heard. 

If things go well for Teresa Rymer, her great grandaughter might be sitting at a table like this 90 years from now telling the story about how the family is still making Stethies.

Stethies are customized, personalized stethescopes. The ubiquitous piece of medical equipment that’s draped jauntily around doctors’ necks on TV and that’s held against your chest when you’re in the doctor’s office.

Teresa is not a medical equipment technician, she’s an entrepreneur and a creative designer who has come up with the idea of putting designs on stethescopes’ rubber tubing. So that when you go to the doctor she might raise your heart rate by using a stethescope that has the Atlanta Falcons logo on it. Or Mickey Mouse, or Elvis… the possibilities are endless. 

Photos at Cafe Vermilionville by Gwen Aucoin.