Steve Bandy /Crowley Post-Signal
Tourism representatives from three parishes met in Acadia Monday to talk about a group effort to promote the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Byway.
The Zydeco Cajun Prairie Byway pays tribute to the music of South Louisiana, touching many iconic music spots while winding through the rolling prairies of all three parishes.
The 283-mile byway also illustrates why Louisiana is famous for its festivals with towns along the route celebrating everything from rice to cracklins to cotton to frogs.
“Events like those one, today, help us to improve our tourism and connecting with other parishes is a big part of it,” said Bart Wild, chairman of the Acadia Parish Tourist Commission. “When tourism finally gets back up and running (after COVID), we’ll already have a leg up on it.”
The group toured Crowley City Hall and The Grand Opera House before converging on Kelly’s Landing north of Crowley.
There, over a crawfish étouffée meal, some of the amenities of Acadia Parish — the “little houses” in the Istre Cemetery, the many uses of the Acadian Baptist Center, the murals and frog statuettes in Rayne, Le Vieux Presbytere in Church Point — were pointed out.
“All of this ties in with the Zydeco Trail and the (proposed) spiritual trail,” Wild explained.
The participation of the Acadia Parish Tourist Commission in the promotion of the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Byway has been a topic of conversation at a number of APTC meetings.
“Hopefully, we can reciprocate with meetings like this in St. Landry and Evangeline parishes in the coming months,” Wild said.
The Zydeco Cajun Prairie Byway consists of three loops and a spur:
— Mamou to Ville Platte: Mamou calls itself the “Cajun Music Capital of the World” and holds a music festival each August. Don’t miss Fred’s Lounge, where Cajun music and dancing are a Saturday morning ritual.
In nearby Pine Prairie, stop at Guillory’s Grocery and Specialty Meats to load up on cracklins and locally made sausages. This loop ends in Ville Platte, home to the 6,400-acre Chicot State Park, with its playground, swimming pool, fishing and boating facilities, and the Louisiana State Arboretum.
Here you’ll find hundreds of indigenous plants, from sycamores to orchids, along with white-tailed deer, wild turkey and many types of birds.
— Eunice to Church Point: This loop begins in Eunice, home to the Cajun French Music Hall of Fame and Museum. At Liberty Theater, a 1924 vaudeville house, the radio and television musical program “Rendezvous des Cajuns” is broadcast live.
Other spots to see include the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, part of the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve. As you move into one of Louisiana’s prime rice-growing areas, your next stop is Crowley, home to the Historic Rice Theatre and Rice Interpretive Center, an auto museum and the J.D. Miller Music Museum.
The loop ends in Church Point, where you can see the Vieux Presbytere (Old Rectory), which dates to 1887.
— Washington to Opelousas: Few towns contain as many historic structures as Washington, where 80 percent of the town’s buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. For most of the 19th century, Washington was the largest inland port between New Orleans and St. Louis. Buildings like the Steamboat Warehouse (now a restaurant) recall the town’s past prominence.
Another beautiful stop along this loop is Grand Coteau, founded in 1776 and known for its live oak alleys and the historic Academy of the Sacred Heart.
This loop ends in Opelousas, the birthplace of musician Clifton Chenier and considered by many to be the home of zydeco. Locals like to eat at the Palace Café, a simple eatery in business since 1927. The town’s Creole Heritage Folklife Center illustrates the story of the region’s African-American community.
— Washington to Krotz Springs: This short spur takes you through Palmetto — home of Budden’s General Store, which opened in 1934 — on the way to Krotz Springs, a former sawmill town.