by Wendy Lemlin
In Lafayette, Spring parades in like a Mardi Gras and 2-steps out like a Zydeco Queen. In fact, you could call springtime Festival Season, because when it comes to music, dancing, regional cuisine, and colorful traditions, there’s really no such thing as “too much of a good thing”, especially when all the fun is spotlighted at one of the many festivals taking place from March through May. The common denominator in most of this merriment, whether in the city or rural towns throughout the parish, is the joyous appreciation of life expressed through the accordion-driven, made-for-dancing, Cajun and zydeco music of the area, and rare is the event that doesn’t culminate in a dance party. If you really want to thoroughly experience festival time in Lafayette, you’d best bring your dancing boots along!
Mardi Gras
The King’s Parade on Mardi Gras Day in Lafayette, La. Credit: Philip Gould
For the rest of the country, holiday season ended after New Year, but here the real party kicked into high gear this year on March 1, Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras. Decorations of purple, green and gold have adorned homes, shop windows, and the revelers themselves for weeks; parade floats are rolling; balls and pageants add the elegant touch to the Mardi Gras season; and massive amounts of traditional King Cakes have been consumed. In the days leading up to Mardi Gras, the area’s dancehalls and bars have been throwing their own Mardi Gras parties, featuring a plethora of Acadiana’s Cajun and zydeco bands playing to packed dance floors of locals and visitors alike.
In Lafayette, Mardi Gras day is filled with three family-friendly parades: King Gabriel’s Parade, The Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival Parade and the Independent Parade, providing spectators with plenty of opportunity to catch beads and trinkets. These parades terminate at Cajun Field, where Le Festival de Mardi Gras à Lafayette has been ongoing for several days, with carnival rides and games, a wide variety of live music, and scrumptious Cajun and Creole food. Additionally, at the Mardi Gras Show at Miami Moon, Lafayette’s answer to New Orleans’ famous Mardi Gras Indians parade and perform in spectacular hand-crafted costumes, intricately festooned with beads and feathers.
Cajun revelers in in traditional costumes celebrate Mardi Gras in rural towns with a “chicken run”
Meanwhile, in the rural towns of the bayous and prairies surrounding the city, a totally unique type of Mardi Gras celebration takes place, one that incorporates customs dating back to medieval France. The most colorful of these rural traditions is the “courir”, or Mardi Gras Run, harkening back to the earliest days of the area’s settlement and the ancient tradition of ceremonial begging. In the countryside around towns such as Iota, Eunice, and Mamou, Mardi Gras morning finds the revelers decked out in vivid, traditional costumes in a kaleidoscope of colors. They gather with their friends and families and move through the countryside on foot, horseback and wagons, stopping at neighbors’ houses to play music and dance and beg for ingredients to make a big gumbo for all at the end of the day. Many miles and significant quantities of alcohol later, most courirs culminate in a street festival in the town center, complete with music and dancing for all.
Celtic Bayou Festival
On March 12, 2022, all things Irish, including music, food and drink, will be celebrated at the Celtic Bayou Festival in downtown Lafayette.
Festivals Acadiens et Creoles
Famed fiddler Michael Doucet will be appearing at Festival Acadiens et Creoles.
Usually, Festivals Acadiens et Creoles is held in October, but 2022 is doubly special because the postponed 2021 edition, dubbed Le Grand Retour, will be held in Girard Park, March 18-20, in addition to the regularly scheduled 2022 festival October 14-16. For over 40 years, this free tri-festival event has celebrated the culture of the region’s Cajun and Creole heritage with non-stop music, dancing, food and artisan crafts. From the opening Boudin Cutting Ceremony on Friday evening, til the last note
Dancers at Festivals Acadiens et Creoles
fades away on Sunday night, festival goers will enjoy the music of over 60 performances by Acadiana’s top Zydeco, Cajun, and Swamp Pop musicians at four stages throughout the park. In the Bayou Food Festival area, tastebuds will be satiated with such local delicacies as gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee, and bread pudding. At the adjoining Louisiana Crafts Fair, shoppers can get their retail therapy fix at any of the approximately 75 artists’ booths juried by the Louisiana Craft Guild. For anyone wanting to immerse themselves in the color and joie de vivre of the Acadian culture, the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles experience is an absolute must.
Holi Festival
The most colorful of festive Hindu holidays, Holi is celebrated in Lafayette this year on March 26, 2022 in Girard Park.
Acadiana Po-Boy Festival
A fully “dressed” shrimp po-boy
If you’ve never had the pleasure of biting into a Louisiana Po-Boy, you might almost be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss about a sandwich might be. Almost. But once you taste one, you KNOW! First there’s the signature French bread—resembling a sub roll, but delightfully crusty on the outside, dense and chewy on the inside. Then there are the fillings, which, if you go the traditional route might include succulent fried oysters or shrimp straight from the Gulf, or possibly local crawfish, crab, or fish. Or, the fillings could get creative with maybe an Asian flair, or deli meats, or even go vegan. The possibilities are truly endless.
The Acadiana PO-Boy Festival celebrates the legacy of the not-so-humble po-boy, expands its boundaries, and seeks to promote the culture and hospitality of Acadiana through food, music, and fun. Happening on Saturday, April 2, 2022 in Parc San Souci in downtown Lafayette, the festival will include about 25 vendors selling some of the best po-boys in Acadiana and competing for the “Best of the Fest” title. There will also be high quality arts and crafts, kids activities, and, of course, a full schedule of live music. And for those who can’t get enough of the scrumptious sandwiches, there’s the Po-Boy eating contest!
Festival International de Louisiane
Known worldwide for its diverse music, food, art and unforgettable experiences, Festival International de Louisiane, happening April 27-May 1, 2022, is the largest international music and arts festival in the United States. For 36 years, this free, family-friendly extravaganza has brought to Lafayette hundreds of performing and visual artists from countries around the world sharing our French cultural heritage. Performers from as far away as Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean join with our area’s own musicians and artisans to delight residents and visitors with five days of exceptional world music on stages positioned around downtown. There is something for everyone here, even the kids, who enjoy their own mini-festival within the festival. At La Scene de Jeunes, the young ones experience a full schedule of fun, from musical performances to face painting, arts and crafts, tiny instruments and much more, while learning about other cultures through creativity and play.
Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival
Yummy crawfish!
What signifies Acadiana more than crawfish and Cajun and zydeco music? Get your fill at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, May 6-8, 2022 at Parc Hardy in nearby Breaux Bridge.
Zydeco Extravaganza
Zydeco Extravaganza, taking place in air-conditioned comfort at Blackham Coliseum on May 29, is the largest one day zydeco festival in the world. What’s zydeco, you ask? It’s the eminently danceable music of the mixed-race Creole people of our region. The sound is accordion-driven, and with the rubboard (aka frottoir or scrubboard) providing a key percussive component. The looser, funkier cousin to Cajun music, zydeco takes the 2-steps and waltzes of that genre, infuses them with African, Caribbean, blues, and R&B influences, and cranks them up a notch with more groove in the beat and more swivel in the dancers’ hips. Zydeco takes the slow drawl of southern life— the sultry bayou nights, the scent of magnolia blossoms and crawfish dinners– and infuses it with syncopated swing and spice.
Zydeco Extravaganza celebrates all this with a full day of music by the area’s premier zydeco bands and dance floors filled with energetic dancing couples. All are welcome to join in the fun. One of the most popular events of the festival is the amateur accordion contest, giving a prestigious platform to up-and-coming future zydeco stars. While the music will fill your soul, food vendors serving up favorite Creole and festival foods will fill your belly.
Spring is the ideal time to savor the “joie de vivre” that has made Lafayette “The Happiest City in America”. It’s enough to make you dance for joy!
For all the info you need about all the fun to be had in Lafayette, LA, including accommodations, food, and more, visit the