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Festival Acadiens et Creoles returns this weekend

The biggest and best Cajun-Creole festival in Louisiana, Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, returns to Girard Park to celebrate Acadian heritage with musical performances, dancing, food from local vendors, arts and crafts from local artisans, kid’s activities, exhibits, cooking demonstrations and much more.

The biggest and best Cajun-Creole festival in Louisiana, Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, returns to Girard Park in Lafayette to celebrate Acadian heritage with musical performances, dancing, food from local vendors, arts and crafts from local artisans, kid’s activities, exhibits, cooking demonstrations and much more.

“Let’s face it, it’s the only place in the world where you can go for one weekend out of the year and see every Cajun and Zydeco band you want to see in one spot for the price of a beer,” says Chef Patrick Mould, one of the festival’s board members.

Traditionally, the festival honors a different aspect or person in Cajun-Creole culture each year that has made a lasting impact on the Acadian heritage. This year, the many endangered dance halls of yesteryear are the festival’s focus. In addition to the festival’s immense musical lineup of local bands, there will be an extensive photography exhibit and accompanying symposium that will further explore these nearly forgotten places and their significance in the Cajun-Creole culture.

John “Pudd” Sharp with the Center for Louisiana Studies is responsible for the Louisiana Dancehalls Project, which serves as a central place to find information via LouisianaDancehalls.com. Sharp’s research is featured in the festival’s main symposium and classifies a dance hall as a place where bands played and people danced.

Sharp has nearly 2,000 archival photographs of dancehalls at various stages of their life. Sharp has compiled almost 1,700 dance halls and counting and, along with photographer Philip Gould, will be curating an exhibit at the A. Hays Town House at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum called “Cajun Dance Hall & Zydeco Clubs.”

The exhibit opens in early September and will run through Oct. 16 and features photographs of dance halls like the Blue Moon Club in New Iberia and Slim's Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas, along with historic artifacts, photos and documents.

Gould and Sharp will also be participating in panels during the symposium “Cajun Dance Halls & Zydeco Clubs: Then & Now” at Vermilionville on Oct. 13. Sharp's presentation "Bloody Buckets, Twice Drunk Beer, and Losers' Gumbo” will explore what a dance hall is, where dance halls were located and their common characteristics.

The symposium will also include a roundtable discussion on the cultural significance of dance halls from the musician's perspective and a book talk by Elista Istre, author of All Creoles: Exploring A South Louisiana Culture, Identity, and Heritage.

After the symposium, there will be a film premiere of “First Cousins: Cajun and Creole Music in South Louisiana” by Moriah Istre at Angelle Hall that showcases packed dance floors and private moments with some of the region’s most beloved musicians to reveal the passion so many share for Louisiana’s French culture. Inspired by Goldman Thibodeaux, “First Cousins” honors the fascinating musical heritage and enduring relationship of Cajuns and Creoles.

This year’s festival also features several stages full of incredible live music provided by many of the area’s finest Cajun and Creole performers, including Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Wayne Toups and Zydecajun, Bonsoir Catin, Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars, Feufollet, Lost Bayou Ramblers, The Pine Leaf Boys, The Revelers, T’Monde, Zydeco Radio, Magnolia Sisters, and many more.

Other attractions include the Chef’s Demo Stage that will be front and center at the Bayou Food Festival, which offers a wide variety of the renowned food of Acadiana, and the Jam Ça! Tent where patrons can play alongside some of the best Cajun and Creole musicians Louisiana has to offer.

La Place des Petits offers children a place to enjoy French games, music, stories, and crafts. The Louisiana Folk Roots Atelier and Jam des Amis tents offers a place to sit, relax and listen to music from local artists and learn more about the rich, cultural heritage of Acadiana.

Another returning off site event is the parade to open the festivities Saturday morning that features country and city versions of Louisiana’s own Mardi Gras, as well as an Acadian-style Tintamarre – an Acadian tradition of marching through one's community making noise with improvised instruments and other noisemakers – in what is called the TintaMardiGras. The public is invited to join the procession and costumes, masks and noisemakers are highly encouraged.

“We’re always looking at ways to kind of upgrade the festival and make it bigger and better and more accessible to the public, like better signage and better sound,” says Mould. “I think we have probably the biggest lineup of any festival in the area, and certainly we’re the only Cajun and Zydeco Festival that I know of that is the size that we are. There are plenty of Cajun and Zydeco festivals across the country but we’re absolutely without a doubt the biggest and of course the oldest.”

Festival Acadiens et Creole takes place Oct. 13-16 at Girard Park in Lafayette. The festival is free and open to the public, but ice chest are not allowed. For more information, including a full schedule of events and how to make a donation or purchase a pin to support the festival, visit www.festivalsacadiens.com.