After a brief mid-summer pause, Acadiana’s extensive festival season is upon us once again. Cool weather is still a distant dream, but some of the year’s best celebrations are just ahead, and it’s time to assess their offerings and start planning to attend.
Although our state’s well-marketed special events may have become debased from their origins as humble community get-togethers, what most festivals have lost in intimacy they have made up for in hospitality. From the best alligator sauce piquante to the most dusty dance floor, Louisiana’s weekend parties honor a sometimes bizarre sampling of events, music, food and drink.
Two of the best events are legendary gatherings: Festivals Acadiens (September 15-17 in Lafayette) and the 13th annual Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival (Saturday, Septe~ber 2 in Plaisance).
Festivals Acadiens is the granddaddy of Acadiana’s cultural celebrations, combining food, Cajun music, crafts and more on the grounds of Girard Park and Lafayette’s Natural History Museum offices and inside the Heymann Performing Arts Center. The three-day event kicks off with a special Downtown Alive!and Kids Alive! on Friday, Sept. 15. The Saturday-Sunday festivities in the park feature a powerhouse lineup on opening day with main stage performances by The Magnolia Sisters, Robert Jardell & Pure Cajun, Balfa Toujours, Walter Mouton & The Scott Playboys and closer Richard LeBouef & Two-Step. Saturday offerings at the Crafts Festival will include the rootsy music of Zydeco Joe & The Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler Band, bluegrass by The Clickin’ Chickens and a 1pm session on Acadiana bluesmen with Roscoe Chenier, guitar ace Paul “Lil’ Buck” Senegal and John Henry.
Sunday’s Crafts Festival will feature the popular “Tribute to Cajun Music” with Canray Fontenot, “Bois Sec” Ardoin, Lionel Leleux, Luderin Darbonne and moderator Michael Doucet. Rodney Lejeune & The Texas Cajun Playboys open the main stage Sunday, which will be headlined, in succession, by D.L. Menard & The Louisiana Aces, Bruce Daigrepont, and Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys. Everything is free, except for the Native Crafts Festival, which has a small admission charge.
Though one can hope for cooler weather during Festivals Acadiens, tarps and sunscreen are mandatory at the Zydeco Festival on the Southern Development Foundation Farm in Plaisance. Home to a major outdoor dance floor, the often scorching event features a full day of zydeco headlined by a number of the most popular groups.
Though a performance schedule was unavailable at press time, confirmed acts included Boozoo Chavis & The Majic Sounds, Keith-Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band, Nathan Williams & The Zydeco Cha-Chas, Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers, Roy Carrier & The Zydeco Night Rockers, and Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys. Festival gates open at 7am and the music continues from 11am until midnight. Ice chests are welcome, but barbecue pits are not permitted. Admission is $10 for adults and $2 for kids under 12. As a prelude to the event, the festival’s annual kick- off concert is planned for Friday, Sept 1 from 9pm-2am at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas. Keith Frank and Brian Broussard will be featured on that bill.
Look for more on both Festival Acadiens and the Zydeco Festival in OffBeat’s September issue.
Also during Labor Day weekend, Morgan City hosts the state’s oldest chartered harvest festival from August 31- September 4. Celebrating the somewhat unusual combination of shrimp and petroleum, the 60th annual event is once again set in the town’s quaint Lawrence Park. The downhome, downtown event will feature music by Wayne. Toups & ZydeCajun (Sunday night) and Asleep At The Wheel (Monday night). Folks who arrive early Sunday can participate in the boat parade on Berwick Bay or get an overhead view of the 10am blessing of the fleet from a railing on the Hwy. 182 bridge. Watching the king and queen’s large workboats position themselves in the rivet for a early morning champagne toast is quite an experience, and the music in the square is less crowded and more comfortable than most other festivals. Call (504) 385-0703 for more information.
To prepare you for the “shrimp” portion of Morgan City’s annual fete, stop by Delcambre’s Shrimp Festival, slated for August 16-20. A baby shrimp queen will be selected Wednesday, August 16 at 7pm The fisherman’s mass and blessing of the fleet begins at 10:30am Sunday (alongside the canal), and high-energy Cajun dancehall act Richard LeBouef & Two- Step close out the festival’s free street dance Sunday afternoon at 1pm.
That weekend is another busy date, as it also marks the latest installment of the Cajun French Music Association’s “Le Cajun” Awards and Music Festival Held in Lafayette’s air-conditioned Blackham Coliseum, the two-day event (Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19- 20) combines live performance with the presentation of awards voted on by the 2,000 or so families that hold CFMA memberships. A cross-generational happening, the event will feature several outstanding young talents performing for a mostly older crowd. A big hardwood dance floor is the centerpiece of the show-expect it to be packed for Saturday sets by Les Jeunes Gens de la Prairie, Paul Daigle & Cajun Gold and guest appearances by Aldus Roger and D.L. Menard. The music starts at 10am each day, continuing until 11pm on Saturday. Sunday is the shorter of the two days, opening with sets by the Lil’ Cajun Band and Walter Mouton & The Scott Playboys before Jamie Berzas & Cajun Tradition take the stage to assume their role as house band for the 2pm awards’ show.
Lafayette”s Convention and Visitors’ Commission does a good job of promoting this “Le Cajun” Awards, the Zydeco Fest and Festivals Acadiens. Schedules for the trio of events are available by calling LCVC at (800) 346-1958. Information via FAX on Festivals Acadiens is available instantly by calling (800) 8-VIS-FAX ext. 650. Tear-off promotional posters for the Zydeco Festival and Festivals Acadiens will soon be available throughout south Louisiana wherever Coors products are sold.
Vive La Langue Francaise … Action Cadienne, a new group led by spokesman/songwriter Zachary Richard ‘and other members of CODOFIL (the Council for the Development of French In Louisiana) launched its membership campaign earlier this summer. The organization’s published manifesto demands French Immersion programs be made available to parents in all 22 parishes officially recognized as part of Acadiana. For more on the organization, write P.O. Box 30104, Lafayette, LA 70593- 0104.
Back To The Bayou is the tide of Wayne Toups’ latest disc, which was recorded, mixed and mastered at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana, just outside , of Lafayette. The Cajun counterpart to zydeco’s Beau Jocque, Toups is an artist who combines diatonic accordion riffs with bombastic pop music arrangements. His rapid-fire, melodic squeezebox patterns drive joyful, dance-floor jumpers and add melodic color to pop-influenced power ballads. A virtuoso performer, Toups’ playing is extraordinary, though his accordion tracks are often more memorable than the songs he performs.
The master of the rock-influenced Cajun shuffle, Toups is a unique bandleader, and this slick 12-song disc features staccato accordion punctuations custom-cut for the concert halls and festival stages where Toups and ZydeCajun are regularly featured. A well-produced effort, this record’s straight-ahead approach may not satisfy roots music fans, though it’s sure to please followers of this hybrid genre and its leading exponent.
