Happy Monday!! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
One exciting thing I did this weekend was attend Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette, LA. It is the largest FREE Francophone festival in North America and is in April every year (Wednesday-Sunday). And if anyone knows anything about Louisiana, you know we are well-known for our festivals. I mean would you expect anything different? As we say in Louisiana “Laissez les bons temps rouler” (let the good times roll).
Festival International de Louisiane was started in 1986 with this as its mission:
- Enrich the community with a celebration of its native cultures through performing arts.
- Educate the public of the historical achievements and artistic expressions of related global cultures while developing an appreciation for the arts.
- Develop culture and tourism, as well as enhance economic development by expanding Louisiana’s reputation as an arts center and a destination for artistic events.
The festival brings unique and upcoming artists to Southwest Louisiana. The artist range from French, African, Carribean and Hispanic influences. The festival invites artists each year from Europe, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean and America to perform.
Though the festival is well-known for its music there is so much more to it than just that. It also offers dancing, food (the best you can think of when it comes to Cajun eating), drinks and much more! Another great thing about the festival is that it is family oriented. So for anyone who has kids, this is a great event to bring them to!
I absolutely love attending Festival each year. I look forward to the Zydeco music the most because I love to dance. On top of the music, though my next favorite thing is the food! The food ranges from mexican, greek, american, and of course my favorite Cajun cuisine. The most well-known food item there is the bread boat. This boat is amazing because it is filled with crawfish and spinach. You’re probably thinking that’s an odd combination, but I tell you, it will make your taste buds do a happy dance. So if you want some good down south cooking this festival is the place to be!!!
Another great thing about festival (which I could go on and on about the good things), is that they offer free shuttles to and from the festival. This was the first year that I rode the shuttles and I was so impressed with it! The shuttles are well-kept (very clean) and it has air conditioning (which was much-needed with the hot weather). Now of course if you do not want to take the shuttle, there is parking available downtown by festival.
So I highly recommend that if you’re every in Lafayette,Louisiana in April and you’re looking to have a good time, attend Festival! Or check out any other festivals other areas in Louisiana have going on. You won’t be disappointed! To check out more information on the festival visit the official website http://festivalinternational.org/
Here are just a few pictures of my fun at festival!
Heading to Festival on the shuttle. But first, let’s take a selfie.
Grupo Fantasma on stage.Grammy winning latin-funk band from Austin, TX.
Enjoying the entertainment with my sorority sisters.
Couldn’t do festival without completing it with some crawfish.
Brass Bed trio from Lafayette, LA.
The famous bread boat filled with crawfish! So good!!
We stopped dancing long enough to take a picture.
Hope y’all enjoyed learning a little bit about Festival International de Louisiane today! If you are attending any festivals (rather it be in Louisiana) or anywhere else let us know about them! Have a great day!
