Boucherie, jam session, ceremony start festival's inaugural day

The Experience Louisiana Festival enjoyed a successful launch Saturday on the Louisiana State University Eunice campus. 
The festival continues today with a bicycle ride at 8 a.m. followed by a game of petanque — a thoroughly French yard game. 
And, at 11 a.m. Vermilion Express & Louisiana Purchase Bluegrass Band start a second day of top-notch performers. 
Saturday’s festival opened with a traditional boucherie. Next to the boucherie, Savoy Music Center moved its Saturday morning jam session to the festival. 
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne participated in the opening ceremony. The lieutenant governor heads the state’s tourism efforts. 
“This is going to be successful from the get-go,” he said noting the partnership between LSUE and the community. 
“I can tell you we have more than 400 festivals in Louisiana and this is the newest of them all,” Dardenne said. 
“I like to say that if something walks, crawls, flies or swims we have a festival to salute it, then we throw it in a gumbo and eat it,” he said. 
“This being Experience Louisiana  it is a little bit of everything. That is why I think this has tremendous potential to grow and be a really significant fall festival,” Dardenne said. 
Former Mayor Curtis Joubert was in the audience for the festival’s opening ceremony. 
“This is unbelievable, really,” he said.
“They are doing doing this for all of the right reasons,” he said of festival organizers. “They are doing this for the Eunice to help our city, our culture.”
Joubert led the city’s successful effort to stage the Louisiana Folklife Festival in the 1990s. And, Joubert was instrumental in the location of the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice. 
Lance Hatten, National Park Service park superintendent, said, “At the National Park Service every day we have the Acadian Culture Center promote the beauty of the area, the music, the food and the language that makes Louisiana special. We are very happy to support this community,” he said. 
“It allows us to demonstrate our commitment to the culture and it allows us to work in partnership with all the supporters of the Acadian Cultural Center,” he said.
“We look forward to being involved with future Experience Louisiana Festivals and lending our support,”he said. 
Kimberly Russell, LSUE chancellor, said it is exciting that LSUE is serving has the host for festival. 
“We are so thrilled that you are here,” she said in the opening ceremony. “This is our inaugural Experience Louisiana Festival and we hope this will continue year after year.”
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot said, after welcoming the crowd, “Tell everyone you know to come to Experience Louisiana.”
The Saturday morning crowd was beyond expectations, Dwight Jodon, one of the organizers said. 
“We’ve got people working the parking lot and we keep getting calls that more transport is needed.” 
Today’s events include three cooking demonstrations: Chef Drake Leonards at 11 a.m.; Chef James Hamilton, 1 p.m.; and Chef Brett Baldwin, 3 p.m. The demonstrations are in the Culinary Arts Room in the Community Education Building. 
Last week Jodon said up to 10,000 people are expected to attend the two-day festival.