I’ve made a couple of changes here at Weird South, mainly
our title. Although I will swear there is always something weird going on in
the South, I wanted to branch out and spotlight the many wild things happening
as well.
The blog has been re-christened “Weird, Wacky and Wild
South.” How's that for covering all bases?
I travel the South on a regular basis as a food and travel
writer — it’s my niche and I love it — so I will be spotlighting all kinds
of weird, wacky and wild things going on. And to be honest, when I’m wearing my
travel writer hat on assignment, I see so many awesome things I want to write
about and they are not always weird, so this gives me an opportunity to fill up
my blog pages more often. Which makes me very happy.
So what will I be writing about?
Festivals devoted to strange things, such as the
Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival where you can view crawfish races in addition
to eating really well and listening to outstanding music.
Austin’s Museum of the Weird because, as they say, “Keep
Austin Weird!”
A giant peanut in Plains, Georgia, dedicated to a former
president.
Worm charming in northern Florida. Yes, you heard right.
This week I’m going to discuss one of my greatest loves —
Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette, Louisiana, North America’s
largest free franchophone festival which celebrates its 30th year in
2016. I heard about this festival for years but, being from New Orleans, would
attend the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival instead, held on the same weekend. When I moved to
Baton Rouge to work at the newspaper there, I finally got over to Lafayette and
have been hooked ever since.
Here’s how it works and what’s special about this unique
event.
Festival International was created in 1986 to celebrate the
region’s French cultural heritage but also the influences of African, Caribbean and
Hispanic cultures. Bands
visit from all over the Francophone world, including the countries of Africa,
the Caribbean and Europe, the French-speaking areas of Asia and various
provinces of Canada, as well as artists hailing from the United States and, of
course, Louisiana.
The
festival is held the last full week of April — this year April 20-24 — which is
also the first week of Jazz Fest in New Orleans. The coordination of festivals
allows foreign bands to afford to travel to Louisiana, playing one festival one
weekend and the other the next.
As for
Lafayette’s Festival International de Louisiane, there are five stages
throughout downtown Lafayette with all the music free! In addition, there’s arts
and crafts, food and special events such as cooking demonstrations, theatrical
performances, cultural discussions and the Courir du Festival 5K Run.
Want a taste of what’s being offered this year? Check out the festival’s YouTube video of visiting artists. Also, the Lafayette
Convention and Visitor’s Commission has been spotlighting “30 Years of Festival,” a retrospective by Lafayette photographer Phillip Gould.
And when you go, be sure and greet others by saying, "Happy Festival" or "Bonne Fete de Festival." It's what we do.
For a complete lineup, information on other events and to
create your own schedule, visit the Festival International website: www.festivalinternational.com.
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