Original Zydeco Festival Kicks Off
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
An accordion notes blast from Grammy nominee Geno Delafosse echoed across the Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center Thursday afternoon as organizers announced plans for staging the 43rd annual Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival.
Delafosse was joined by Zydeco legend Chubby Carrier, whose Bayou Swamp Band will again serve as the lead performers for the seven-band Aug. 30 event that will be held at the Yambilee Festival Grounds for a 12-hour musical marathon that starts at noon.
Festival director Lena Charles told the large crowd that festival organizers are incorporating an informational component that involves the Acadiana-area Creole culture whose legacy will eventually spread to area schools as an educational tool.
Charles, who oversees the volunteer-oriented festival, said maintaining aspects of the local culture and language pertinent has already been an important objective for the festival, which began as an outdoor event north of Plaisance.
“If you don’t tell your own story, someone else is going to tell it for you,” Charles told the sizable crowd that witnessed the kick off event.
Charles said the expanded vision of the festival, which also traditionally includes Creole-style food, will emphasize education, ancestry, genealogy and language as the event partners with Zydeco Unplugged, Creole Inc. and other organizations.
The festival, Charles said, continues to celebrate its own special heritage.
Charles noted that the festival, which began as a weekend-long event in 1982, has continued without interruption, despite moving to the Yambilee grounds.
Originally Charles told her audience that the festival emerged after groups of citizens feared that Zydeo music and the Creole culture was expiring.
“Here we are unbroken and we are still celebrating and promoting the culture, the food and the music,” Charles said.
The festival this year will also salute the 100th birthday for Zydeco icon Clifton Chenier, Charles said.
Opelousas City Marshal Paul Mouton said his officers along with the Opelousas Police Department will assist with Festival security.
“We will take care of everything. We just want you to relax and have a good time,” said Mouton.
43rd ANNUAL FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
This weekend
Friday night: Unveiling of the Festival photo exhibit at the museum beginning at 5 pm.
Saturday afternoon: St. Landry Tourism Zydeco jam session at the Tourist Center starting at 1 pm.
Later In August
Saturday Aug. 16: Zydeco Unplugged event at Opelousas Vieux Village starting at 10 am.
Kickoff Dance
Friday Aug. 29: Evangeline Downs beginning at 9 pm.
Festival Day
Saturday Aug. 30: All activities will be held on the festival grounds. Booths open at 10 am, with music beginning at noon.
Musical Performers and Bands
Chubby Carrier, Nathan Williams, LeRoy Thomas, Geno Delafosse, C.J. Chenier, Rockin’ Dopsie and Rusty Metoyer,
