The Town of Leonville invites you to celebrate the Fourth of July at this free event. With a view of the Bayou Teche at the Leonville Boat Launch, you can enjoy ice cream and snowballs onsite. The Leonville Fire Department will be selling BBQ hotdogs and drinks. Music starts at 6pm and the fireworks at 9pm.
On September 28th at the Yambilee Ag Arena in Opelousas, Louisiana, be prepared for the first spaghetti cook-off hosted by the Opelousas Lions Club. Enjoy a car show, silent auction, and Jeep ride with a petting zoo and pony rides for the kids. Alongside all the great food you can hear live performances by One Trick Pony at 10am and Coteau Grove at 12:30pm.
Taster bands are $5. For more information contact Vicki Thibodeaux 337-351-2412. All proceeds benefit the Opelousas Lions Club.
The wait is over, and the excitement is building as St. Landry Parish, the proud Equine Capital of Louisiana, prepares to welcome back the heart-pounding, action-packed world of rodeo.The Acadiana Junior High and High School Rodeo returns from April 12-14 after an absence of over 15 years, and it’s coming back “bigger and better than ever.”
The return of this rodeo signifies the growth of rodeo among our younger generation of cowboys and cowgirls.
This event will highlight the recent improvements at the St. Landry Ag Arena and St. Landry’s recent title of “Equine Capital of Louisiana.” This spring, we are proud to host over 300 families who will gather to participate in and witness the excitement of the rodeo.
The Acadiana Junior High and High School Rodeo promises a showcase of exceptional talent from junior high and high school students from across the state. Get ready for some tough competition and thrilling performances in a variety of rodeo events, including:
The Acadiana Junior High and High School Rodeo is a celebration of rodeo tradition, youth talent, and the vibrant culture of St. Landry Parish. They are dedicated to nurturing the next generation of rodeo champions and providing an unforgettable experience for our community.
It’s time to go outside and explore St. Landry Parish’s many waterways with the Take A Kid Fishing Rodeo presented by the Port Barre Lions Club. Catch bass, bream, and sac-au-lait on the Bayou Teche National Water Trail and weigh them in to see who has the best catch. The competition has two divisions: 3 to 9-year-olds and 10 to 16-year-olds. All 18 division winners and the 2 overall winners will receive a tackle box with fishing lures, a ball cap, and 20 oz cups. The Big Bass winner will win a 20-liter ice chest and the Big Odd Fish winner receives a 2-person guided boat fishing trip.
On June 10th, weigh-in starts at noon and ends at 3pm. Winners will be announced at 4pm at the Port Barre Lions Club building. There will be a concession stand and games for the kids as well as a DJ.
The entry fee is $10. Find entry forms and rules on the Port Barre Lions Club Facebook Page or on their website here: Cracklinfest.com/takeakid-fishing
Be sure to mail entry forms, entry fee, & rules and regulations form to: PBLC, PO Box 895, Port Barre, LA 70577.
Games provided by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
The Cajun Prairie Society is hosting their very own boucherie on Saturday, March 18th starting at 9am with the festivities continuing into the next day.
Patrons that join in for both days will have the opportunity to be involved in the entire process from harvesting to cooking. Living through these authentic traditional activities lends you a better appreciation of the sacrifice that farmers and their livestock give every day.
For those coming only on Sunday, you will see the processing and complex array of dishes prepared with the meat from the freshly harvested pig. Live music, food, and drink will be provided for the celebration. The activities will start in the morning and cooking will continue all day with dishes prepared for lunch and throughout the afternoon and evening.
A boucherie is a community coming together to harvest an animal. Due to the intensive labor involved in whole animal butchering, a farmer would call upon friends, family, and neighbors to assist in the task. This day of work turns into a celebration, with plenty of food, music, and spirits to go around. No one went home hungry or empty-handed. With the lack of refrigeration, this was the only time that fresh meat could be consumed. Most of the meat butchered at a boucherie was processed with the intent of preservation, with the understanding that not a single aspect of the sacrificed beast would be wasted. These are the core fundamentals of Cajun cuisine. Boudin and boudin noir, gratons, fraisseurs, saucisse de voile, backbone fricasse, head cheese, tasso, chaudin, panse and saucisse de graisse are all products of this philosophy.
Tent camping spots are available.
General Admission tickets for both days are $100 or $75 for Cajun Prairie Society Members. Sunday-only tickets are $30. To purchase discounted tickets for ‘Cajun Prairie Society members’ please visit www.CajunPrairie.org and sign up for a membership before purchasing a member ticket.
Funds raised from this event will go to a Cajun Prairie documentary that is currently under production. Participation in this event will directly help the goals of the Cajun Prairie Society in their efforts to preserve, manage and teach about the native prairie of the region.
Acadiana Center for the Arts announces its latest expansion of programming with an all-new St. Landry Parish Student Arts and STEAM festival on Saturday, March 4, 2023 from 10am-3pm, at the Courthouse Square in Downtown Opelousas.
The free festival is a celebration of student-artists in all artistic disciplines from every corner of St. Landry Parish. The event features outdoor performances from school bands, choirs, and performance classes, art exhibitions in businesses and outdoors, hands-on art activities for families, and a student artist market where you can purchase original artwork and crafts directly from the artist.
A live spoken word competition Poetry Out Loud will take place at the Delta Grand Theatre, featuring a juried panel and competing student poets from across the state. The winner of the competition will go on to participate in the National Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington, DC in May.
“AcA fills an important gap in St. Landry Parish schools by ensuring that every student has access to elevating and eye-opening experiences in the arts throughout their time in school,” said AcA Executive Director Samuel Oliver. “This event is a celebration of AcA’s partnership with the St. Landry Parish School Board, which has flourished over the past 5 years and benefitted every student and school in the parish.”
“It is well documented that key factors in education are significantly impacted by arts programs like ours: social and emotional development, building important skills like creativity and communication, and simple reductions in truancy because young people are much more eager to engage in positive
learning experiences in the arts,” said St. Landry Parish Superintendent Patrick Jenkins.
Student Arts Expo in Opelousas is a partnership between Acadiana Center for the Arts and St Landry Parish School Board with support from Opelousas Main Street, Opelousas Downtown Development District and St. Landry Parish Tourism.
Find more information and a detailed schedule and map of the activities at AcA’s website.
About AcA
As the community leader in arts and culture, the Acadiana Center for the Arts (AcA) serves to bring elevating arts experiences to the people of Acadiana through many approaches including holding public concerts, presenting art exhibitions, providing grants to artists and cultural organizations, and bringing artists into schools across the region. AcA brings equitable access to the arts through year-round education and outreach activities and aims to build a more sustainable cultural ecosystem for future generations in Acadiana.
Atelier de la Nature in Arnaudville and Slow Hike Company’s John Nettles join together to host an educational foraging walk. Learn about wild edibles, medicinal plants, and tasty mushrooms. Afterward, Atelier’s Aurore Ballengée will lead a cooking demonstration with the wild edibles for a tasting.
The event is free but registration is required. Multilingual accessibility (French/Spanish/English). Please contact Atelier de la Nature for other accessibility requests.
It’s suggested that you bring:
Willie’s in the historic town of Washington, Louisiana is hosting a Mardi Gras Trailride and Chicken Run on Superbowl Sunday, February 12. The trail ride will leave from Willie’s at 8am and travel along Hwy 182 and Hwy 745 before coming back to the American Legion by 1:30pm where the chicken chase will begin. Participants will collect gumbo ingredients from houses along the route like the traditional begging rituals of old.
Presale tickets are $15 but $20 on the day of. Kids 6 and under are free. Call Kayla at 337-307-0323 for more information.
Head to Krotz Springs, Louisiana for the second La Rivière Mardi Gras Chicken Run and Parade taking place right along the Atchafalaya River at Riverview RV Park & Resort.
The parade itself departs at 9am from Riverview RV Park & Resort and heads North on Hwy 105 until it enters the town of Krotz Springs and travels through the town until heading back to Riverview. There will be an intermission at Nall Park with boudin and a bowl of gumbo available at the end. Women and children can participate in the parade but will have a separate chicken chase once the Mardi Gras Run returns to Riverview.
This event is cash only. General Admission is $10 and includes live music once the parade returns. If you’d like to participate in the trail ride it’s $20 and $20 for the chicken run.
The Fall Exit 11 Yard Sale will take place on the first Saturday in November from 7am-4pm in Sunset, Louisiana. For a day, shop owners and antique dealers invite the locals to set up shop along Napoleon Avenue. They sell antiques, artwork, jewelry, and one-of-a-kind items at bargain prices. Some shops will feature special sales or one-day discounts.
Want to plan ahead and need accommodations? Find hotels nearby, here.
