Festival

Blackpot Festival returns to Vermilionville

The 11th Annual Blackpot Festival and Cookoff will take place at Vermillionville on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29. The festival is a celebration of food, music, dance, and camping – all things that take place around the cast iron cookware that is a symbol of Louisiana's people.

The festival includes not only the music of Southwest Louisiana but also from the Southern United States with the cook-off itself taking place on Saturday afternoon with the winners being announced Saturday evening. Categories include cracklin, gumbo, jambalaya and desserts. All entries must be cooked in cast iron pots.

There are two stages at the festival: the Dancehall stage, which is located in Vermilionville's Performance Center with a large cypress floor for dancing crowds, and the Chapel stage, which is located in the Chapelle des Attakapas, offering an intimate sit-down listening experience.

The music begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and ends at midnight. Music on Saturday begins at 11 a.m. with an old-time Square Dance. This year's Blackpot line-up includes familiar acts such as Preston Frank and Ed Poullard, The Pine Leaf Boys, and festival organizers The Revelers.

Other performers include local favorite Lil' Buck Sinegal; King James and The Special Men from New Orleans; Los Texmaniacs, the Grammy-winning Tejano band from San Antonio; Nashville’s JP Harris playing young country in the style of Johnny Paycheck; Acadiana’s own Courtney Granger playing songs from his new record Beneath Still Waters; and festival-favorite Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schawrz who are legends in the folk world for their soul stirring harmonies of the old songs.

Admission on Saturday also includes the chance to learn about Louisiana's Canneci N'de Band of Lipan Apache, who will be on site at the Native American Common Ground for the museum's Native American Common Ground Residency, held the last Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. For more information, visit Vermilionville.org or BlackpotFestival.com.