Eats

Tenth Food Fest raises funds for LCA

by Elizabeth Rose

This year marks the tenth annual Lydia Cajun Food Fest, which benefits cancer patients in Iberia, Vermilion, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes. This weekend at Weeks Park in Lydia you can stuff your face without guilt - because your gluttony will benefit cancer patients in four parishes. The Lydia Cancer Association is hosting its tenth annual Food Fest, the non-profit's largest fundraising event, this Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday, the People's Choice Cook-off is set up so all festival-goers can sample Cajun specialties and determine a winner. LCA will announce the winners at 4:30 p.m. As of now, there are 24 entries but anyone is welcome to enter. To enter, contact Ronald Landry at (337) 365-3005 to enter; each contestant is required to pay a $100 entry fee. The winners are chosen through a ticket-voting system that Saturday.

The Food Fest was a vision of James Frawley, Jr., who funded the Morton Salt Relay for Life team in 1998, which was incorporated and became LCA in 2003 in time for the inaugural Food Fest. Frawley died of cancer in 2004. LCA provides financial assistance to hundreds of local cancer patients and has plans to extend services to Broussard and Youngsville.

The Fest kicks off Friday at 5 p.m. with carnival rides and food vendors. Music starts at 6:30 p.m. with The Bad Boys and then Horace Trahan and The Ossun Express at 9 p.m. The Bayou Cruisers' open car show begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday and opening ceremonies and a poker run will take place at 9 a.m. The survival walk begins at 9:30 a.m.

Saturday' music includes Jeff Foreman and the Loreauville Playboys + One at 10 a.m.; Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie at noon; Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band at 2:30 p.m.; Blue Eyed Doll at 5 p.m.; and Seasoned Soul at 7:15 p.m.

In conjunction with announcing the cook-off winners at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, LCA will announce the winner of the Home for Hope, which is a raffle where a $50 ticket could earn you a 2,000-square-foot house in Mon Jardin Subdivision in Broussard. To purchase a Home for Home ticket, contact Debra Savoie at (337) 230-6730.