Photos courtesy Lafayette CVB
Any day of the week, you can dine on great Cajun food and dance to authentic Cajun and zydeco music. Every weekend, you can choose from festivals, Cajun music jam sessions, Cajun and zydeco dance halls, outdoor activities and more. Lafayette is a community with many artists and musicians, making the environment creative and vibrant.
New in Lafayette
Vermilionville, the state’s folk life attraction, is a well-established Lafayette venue, but the programming is breaking new ground. Every week, visitors can enjoy jam sessions on Saturday, and Cajun or zydeco music and dancing on Sunday. Vermilionville is also the venue of choice for several events, including the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism Backyard Series of cultural presentations. Original events, including Native American Day, Acadian Day, Christmas and Mardi Gras celebrations, and the new Bayou Vermilion Festival and Boat Parade, are also produced there.
Eventful Lafayette
Lafayette’s Mardi Gras offers nine parades and a festival complete with a live-music stage, local food and a carnival midway in a family atmosphere.
Festival International de Louisiane, held the fourth weekend in April, is the largest Francophone (French-speaking) festival in the United States. Lafayette shares its French heritage with the world with music, dancing, cuisine, theater, cooking demonstrations, storytelling, visual arts, crafts and street performance.
Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, held the first weekend of May in the Crawfish Capital of the World, features authentic Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop music and crawfish — boiled and fried, and in etouffee, jambalaya, boudin, gumbo, fettuccine and even crawfish dogs.
The Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival, held the Saturday and Sunday prior to Labor Day, celebrates the spicy culture of the Creoles of Louisiana by highlighting, documenting, preserving and enhancing their rich heritage.
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, held the second full weekend in October, celebrates Cajun and Creole cultures of South Louisiana with music, dancing, workshops, jam sessions, and traditional and contemporary crafts.
The Boudin Cook-off, held in downtown Lafayette on a Saturday in October, is a family-oriented event featuring music, activities for kids, a boudin cook-off and vendors selling every kind of boudin dish imaginable.
The South Louisiana Blackpot Festival, held annually in October at Acadian Village, is two days of great music, dancing, food, camping and jamming, plus an old-fashioned black pot cook-off, an accordion contest and called square dancing.
A Cajun and Creole Christmas, held throughout the holiday season, features dozens of events, including festivals, parades, tours of homes and performances.
