Harlan Kirgan
The third annual Experience Louisiana Festival opened Saturday after a rainy Friday that turned parts of the LSUE campus into wet messes.
And the wind blew Saturday with a bit of chill as temperatures struggled to get out of the 40s.
But festival organizer Pat Dossman said, “Right now, from what I’m seeing, we did well.”
The festival is a project of the Eunice Rotary Club to fund a scholarship for LSUE students.
Dwight Jodon, another Rotary Club festival organizer, said, “Despite the rain, it was absolutely fabulous weather. I think maybe people were a little spooked thinking it would be muddy.”
The festival opened Saturday morning to sunny skies.
Dossman said, “The families with small children didn’t want to come out because of the cold, so that is a lot people with small kids and that’s volume. But we still had a pretty good crowd of kids. One of the hits was the children’s section of Louisiana agriculture.”
For the first time, the festival featured an Ag Village with a variety of features from animals, Smokey Bear and pumpkin-decorating.
Jodon said the food vendors reported the festival was a success for them.
“They came hungry,” Jodon said of festival-goers.
The Mardi Gras Run on Saturday drew a larger crowd than last year’s event, Dossman said.
The Classic Car and Truck Show had 75 vehicles, she said. The report from car show organizer Mark Denette, she said, was the car show participants and visitors enjoyed the festival because they could see the cars and then roam the festival for food and festival events.