Cher, you make a good time? Mais, yeah. J'ai dansé aux Festival Acadiens et Creoles. Dust and mud. I was there. The music, the food, the art, the people. In 1974, CODOFIL presented the first Tribute to Cajun Music concert in Lafayette's Blackham Coliseum. As it grew it evolved into a whole weekend event located in Girard Park during October including the Acadiana Fair & Trade show and Bayou Food Festival. The combination of these three events served as the basis for a co-op called Festivals Acadiens. Festivals Acadiens kicks off the fall festival season. Gulf Brew Fest and Blackpot Festival will also be happening this month. There are so many opportunities to engage with this culture. Festivals are a huge part of what we live for and what we are about. It's a celebration of heritage. Dancing to Steve Riley, Wayne Toups, The Pine Leaf Boys with a beer in your hand. Listening to the Magnolia Sisters play like the badasses they are, an all female cajun band, is inspiring. Hearing the young people present the bands in french. Man oh man, seeing DL Menard play! I never thought I would have had an opportunity like that, to see the "Cajun Hank Williams" perform. The fact that my friend told me "you are probably the youngest person voluntarily here" makes me appreciate this culture even more. Wilson Savoy said that he is glad to see so many young people at festival, young people dancing to the music, young people appreciating it. We need to take this time to talk with the older generations and to hear their stories about how it once was, so we will have a basis of how to live. I feel like preservation is imperative to the evolutionary understanding of our home, of this land, of these people. Bring your dancing shoes and don't wear anything nice because you'll end up kicking your shoes off to dance barefoot while smelling like beer and sweat. And when ya wake up sore and hoarse on Monday morning, you know you had a good time.
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