LAFAYETTE, La. — The day we all been waiting for is finally here: 2024 Festival International de Louisiane starts today.
Over the next five days, Downtown Lafayette will be filled with people from all walks of life celebrating food, music, and culture from around the world.
KATC spoke with a local business to see how they're feeling about gearing up for the upcoming festival.
Pat’s Downtown Owner Pat Dupuis tells KATC they've been prepping for months and have more hands on deck who are ready to greet and feed festival crowds.
"Everything is amazing, the crowds downtown, the people that come and revisit from all over the world. We’re like friends now," says Dupuis. "We just love it. Everybody kind of looks forward to it and it’s just a lot of work but we love it and it brings a lot of business downtown for all the restaurants."
KATC also spoke with Ambra Brown, originally from New Orleans but a Lafayette resident for more than 20 years. Brown says the festivals in both the Crescent City and Hub City aren't that different but the atmosphere is what makes Lafayette's festivals a little bit more enjoyable.
“This is little bit more open than New Orleans, so it’s really more comfortable and it's more cozy. It's a lot of different cultures out here when festival is here and when festival isn’t here. We just love downtown, we really do, so the festival being here is a plus,” Brown says.
Victor LaGrange has attended festival since he was young and is looking forward to connecting with all the cultures that will be showcased.
"I like the diversity, the different cultures because me myself I'm a Creole person with mixed cultures. I'm actually doing some research on trying to find where all my cultures come from and this might be helpful because there is a lot of different cultures," he says. "I enjoy the food, music and seeing the smiles all the faces of people downtown. This is actually the best part of Lafayette.”
Click here for the full music lineup.
