Blackpot Camp is a (locally) hidden gem

Sounds of music filtered through the air at Lakeview Park on Thursday as the Blackpot Camp was drawing to a close.
The annual camp draws people from across the nation and world for four days of music, dance and cooking classes.
About 120 campers were this year, Lauren Kohn, camp director said.
Another 30 support staff were in place for the camp, which is in its sixth year and coincides with the 11-year-old Blackpot Festival held at Vermilionville in Lafayette.
Kohn, of Port Townsend, Washington, may be typical of the Blackpot Camp crowd.
She describes falling in love with zydeco music, attending the festival nine years ago, and the camp five years ago.
“We’ve got something for everyone,” she said noting a Tueday evening Tiki party.
“You don’t have to play an instrument,” she said about the campers.
On Thursday morning, a bevy of Blackpot campers were learning how to dance to zydeco music in the barn at Lakeview Park under the patient direction of Corey Porche.
The camp is heavily steeped in southwest Louisiana traditions.
Matt Sircely, also of Port Townsend, was under a pine tree teaching the mandolin to Natalia Spears of Lyons, Colorado, and Meagan Alder, of Portland, Oregon.
“I think there is a long tradition of some of the best Cajun musicians traveling around the country finding people that like it and people they like and inviting them back,” Sircely said. “There is a strong sense of hospitality and that appears to a lot of my friends around the country who see this as really one of the primary gathering places for top-notch musicians all year long...”
Sunday, the campers return to Lakeview for a supper at about 7 p.m. and a dance with Preston Frank and the Frank Family Band at 8 p.m. The public is invited. Attendance at the supper and the dance are $10 each.