ARNAUDVILLE, La. — I took a little bit of a break from Festival International to head out to a different festival in Arnaudville: the Étouffée Festival, which began nearly 40 years ago and has been kept alive by the members of the community.
In 1985, the Knights of Columbus put on the first Étouffée Festival as a fundraiser for the Little Flower School, a private Catholic school in Arnaudville.
"Enough people know that it's not cheap to go to a private school, so to try to keep those costs down and the school afloat, this festival was started," said Father Travis Abadie of St. John Francis Regis Church.
In the nearly 40 years since, the school has closed, but the festival continues, now helping to maintain the school buildings for other community establishments, including a thrift shop, a Second Harvest distribution center, an adoration chapel and spaces for religion classes.
"We're just always open to more opportunities to use these buildings for the benefit of our community," Abadie said. "Because of the Étouffée Festival, these buildings can remain open. Otherwise, it would be too costly of an overhead for our community."
And it is the community that makes the event happen, year after year, including those who have been coming to the festival since they were children, like Katie Wolpert, who shares her memories.
"Great, wonderful memories of listening to music and playing the games and riding the rides, and I plan on bringing my kids this year," Wolpert said.
And those kids will have so many fun events and activities to experience, including a carnival, bingo, an auto show, a sweet shop, silent auction and, of course, lots of étouffée, especially at the mayor's étouffée cook-off, but one of the most popular parts of the festival: the live music.
"Great line up. We have some zydeco. We have some Cajun; got some country, a little bit of rock and roll," said Andy Smith, the festival sound tech.
"Do you think that the music is, kind of, the thing that people look forward to most about the Étouffée Festival?" I asked Smith.
"I think it's a combination of everything: the fellowship, the community, the food—étouffée, the rides for the kids, the bands. Just a weekend to just really come together and have a good time, you know, to help out the church," he said.
Here's the full music line-up for the weekend:
Friday, April 26
- 5:15 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Matt James & the Southern Drifters
- 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.: Adam Leger Band
- 10 p.m. - 12 a.m.: Richard LeBouef
Saturday, April 27
- 12 p.m. - 2 p.m.: Kade Domec
- 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Clay Cormier & the Highway Boys
- 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Cory Ledet & his Zydeco Band
- 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.: One Trick Pony
- 10 p.m. - 12 a.m.: Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin' Cajuns
Sunday, April 28
- 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: Kevin Naquin & the Ossun Playboys
- 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.: Dustin Sonnier & the Wanted
The Étouffée Festival will conclude on the evening of Sunday, April 28, but until then, if you're looking for fun and festivity away from the big crowds, head on out to Arnaudville and make your way down Main Street.
