Lakeview Park and Beach a labor of love for owners

Since the 1960s, locals and tourists have passed a good time at Lakeview Park and Beach just north of Eunice, and the park’s current owners are working to make sure that tradition continues for generations to come.
Bonnie Pitre Kyzar, one of the park’s co-owners, said, “Visitors share memories with us all the time. It used to be almost daily. People had so many fond memories here. The park has a good name for itself. People are trying to recreate those fond memories and keep the culture alive. That’s a big part of our mission, to keep the culture of Eunice and the surrounding areas alive.”
The owners’ calling to preserve and foster both the local culture and visitor’s memories through food, music, dancing and outdoor activities recently earned the campground the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association’s title of Campground/RV Park of the Year. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser presented the award at the LTPA Membership Luncheon in Lake Charles in February.
“I knew we had been nominated,” Kyzar said. “Caitlin Bussey with the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission nominated us. I thought it would be nice to win, and then Caitlin called and told me we had won.
“That’s our main goal, to attract tourists and show them our culture. It’s an honor to be recognized for that.”
Lakeview originally opened in the 1960s and changed ownership a few times before closing in the mid-1990s. Kyzar and her siblings, Laura and Lance, bought the park at an estate sale in 2003.
“It was a disaster zone,” Kyzar said. “It was overgrown, there was trash and there were trees that had been knocked down from hurricanes. There was no underground electricity, so there were power wires hanging from trees and posts.”
The family received a loan to refurbish the 42-acre site, and trimming the number of camper slots from 350 to 95 was one of the first steps when the cleanup began.
“Campers were smaller then, and guests now have more space,” Kyzar added.
“Camping was new to all of us,” she continued. “I had never camped in an RV. We learned quickly that campers like planned activities. When we opened, we had fishing, camping and two playgrounds. It was hard the first year, pretty hard. We dipped a lot into our personal savings. Reopening the beach is what saved us. I used my inheritance from my grandpa to fix it up.”
Under the ownership of the Pitre’s, the campground reopened in 2009. Fixtures still at the park from the first ownership include two cabins, the chapel, the 11-acre lake and a dancehall that was formed from two Basile dancehalls that were moved to the property in the 1960s. Several new one- and two-bedroom cabins were added to the site when the Pitre’s took over, and the cabins are available to rent.
Kyzar said the original two cabins are used as haunted houses for Halloween, but plans are to renovate them for their original use. The chapel will also be renovated to use as a meeting room for arts and crafts and non-denominational wedding ceremonies.
“The old dancehall will be also be used,” Kyzar said. “We just started cleaning it out, and it’s got a new roof. It’s 7,000 square feet of space. It will have a commercial kitchen for catering, and we will shrink the dancehall space and maybe put in some classrooms for group activities like dance lessons. It will also serve as a back up for the barn.”
Kyzar said they are also planning to add more cabins and a hostel for out-of-towners who come to see live band performances by local artists in the barn on weekends. Cabanas are also in the works for the beach.
During the year, several events are held at the campground. The Lundi Gras Boucherie, the beef tongue cook-off, Black Pot Camp, held in conjunction with the Black Pot Festival in Lafayette, and Halloween celebrations are popular at the park.
“We tell people that the quiet curfew is very loosely enforced Mardi Gras weekend,” Kyzar said, laughing. “We had a good crowd for the boucherie. It’s first year in three years that it hasn’t rained for it.”
The co-owner said the park’s slow season is the winter, with summer being the busiest. The majority of their campers during this time of the year are snowbirds — retirees from northern parts of the continent who are looking to escape cold winter weather.
“Some stay for weeks at a time,” Kyzar said. “That’s why we’d like to add more activities, so they stay here longer. That would boost up the slow season.”
Campers travel to the park from Idaho, Minnesota. Washington state, Canada and even France, and the campground is also popular with camper groups. Kyzar said the Black Pot Camp brings in the widest variety of people who have come from as far away as Austraila to attend the event.
“We recently had some visitors from Germany, and they stayed for a week,” Kyzar said. “They said the park was their favorite place they have visited so far. That’s nice to hear.”
In addition to being a haven for locals, award winning musicians and tourists, chefs also stop by the park. Anthony Bourdain, an American chef, author, and television personality, visited Lakeview in 2011.
For more information about Lakeview, call 337-457-2881 or email lvparkoffice@gmail.com.