Experience Louisiana Festival

Experience Louisiana Festival organizers are putting activities together for the event, but say also they need major sponsors to step forward.
The Oct. 17-18 festival already has major partners such as the National Park Service, Louisiana State University Eunice, the city of Eunice and the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission.
“Number one is we need major sponsors,” Pat Dossman, one of the organizers said. “You cannot have a festival without money. We feel like this festival is not just going to be statewide, it is going to national and international.”
The festival has already popped up on the radar of tour groups from Canada and other states, she said.
Monetary sponsorship levels range from one presenting sponsor of at least $30,000 to $1,000 corporate sponsors.
Individual donors are also sought and online crowd funding is planned, she said.
“We are writing grants,” she said. “We are not waiting for people to give us money.”
The festival is a project of the Eunice Rotary Club and summons to memory previous festivals such as the Louisiana Folklife Festival and the Tri-Parish Fair.
The Louisiana Folklife Festival was a major festival for the state, which owned it in the late 1980s and 1990s, Dwight Jodon, another of the organizers, said.
“Eunice became the host and it was wildly popular,” Jodon said. “The community rallied around it in a big way.”
But the festival success was its downfall locally.
“At some point the rest of the state started getting jealous,” he said. “Basically the politics came into it. The state moved it from Eunice to other cities.”
The Louisiana Folklife Festival eventually died in Monroe, he said.
“The beauty of that festival is it was true Louisiana folklife,” Jodon said. “Accordion makers and mask makers and boat makers. The Indian nations. All that makes Louisiana culturally so rich in one spot.”
The Experience Louisiana Festival intends to bring back that cultural experience.
The festival is scheduled between Festivals Acadiens and the Black Pot Festival and will be held on the Louisiana State University Eunice campus in and around the Community Education Building.
The kernels of a successful festival are being assembled.
Along with the usual assortment of beers sold at a Louisiana festival, Bayou Teche Brewing plans to bring its craft beer to the festival. On the festival’s second day, the brewers plan a special beer, a tapping ceremony and the sale of 100 pints of the special brew dedicated to the festival.
Talks are underway with the LSU AgCenter to bring a mini version of its Ag Magic to the festival.
Arnaudville’s NUNU is to join the art portion of the festival along with the Eunice Community Art House.
Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, the Savoy Cajun Family Band and The Band Courtbouillion are scheduled to perform.
There will be cooking demonstrations and films shown during the festival.
Marc Savoy’s Saturday jam session will be staged at the festival.
The Cajun French Music Association plans jam sessions and possibly dance lessons.
Dossman and Jodon said a primary focus will be to provide a quality Louisiana experience.
The band budget is about $20,000, Dossman said. “We are not getting unheard of bands. We are getting the headliners.”
The festival “is going to be an experience that they are going to take something away from,” Jodon said.
“We want it to be a learning experience,” he said.

Want to help?
Experience Louisiana Festival has scheduled a meeting at 6 p.m. April 23 at the Community Education Building on the Louisiana State University Eunice campus. The meeting will be the first general meeting to provide the public an opportunity to learn more about the festivals and ask questions. There will also be an opportunity to volunteer to assist the festival.
For more information visit:
experiencelouisiana.org
facebook.com/experiencelouisiana
@ExperLAFest
Call 337-457-1776.

Make a donation on GoFundMe at:
www.gofundme.com/experla

Festival themes
Folklife Village. Demonstrators will share their crafts.
Music Stage.
Musician’s Village. Scheduled and impromptu jam sessions.
Artist’s Village. Exhibits and interactive experiences.
Walk-Through Louisiana. Learn about other Louisiana events.
Food Village. Cooking demonstrations by Louisiana chefs and master cooks.
Craft Village. Organized by the Louisiana Crafts Guild to feature traditional and fine artists.
Film Village. Works by Louisiana filmmakers to be showcased.
Exhibitor’s Village. Authors, businesses and organizations.
Athletic Events. An exhibition by the LSUE Bengal baseball team and a duathlon sponsored by the Eunice Rotary Club.
Classic Car Show. Coordinated by John R. Young Chevrolet-Buick-GMC.

Festival partners include:
Eunice Rotary Club
City of Eunice
National Park Service
St. Landry Chamber of Commerce
Louisiana Folklife Center
Kevin McCaffrey, filmmaker-author
Louisiana State University Eunice
St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission
Eunice Chamber of Commerce
Maida Owens, Louisiana Folklife director
Louisiana Crafts Guild
Louisiana Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne
Cultural Vistas, official magazine of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities