Harlan Kirgan
The Experience Louisiana Festival is about two days of fun and informative activities in October at the LSUE campus.
But the festival, which is organized out of the Eunice Rotary Club, has a serious side and that was explained by Pat Dossman to the Eunice Kiwanis Club on Thursday.
As with most Rotary Club events, such as the Zydeco Triathlon and its new golf tournament, money is raised for the club’s causes such as the Eunice Community Health Clinic.
The Experience Louisiana Festival also has its cause, which currently is a scholarship at Louisiana State University Eunice.
Dossman said, “Last year we reached a point where we only needed $3,000 before we endow. Endow means that, remember this is for scholarships, endow means that once we reach $10,000 with the Foundation, LSU’s main campus will match it. So, that is what we are working for. I’ve got one more year. This year I’m there to endow.”
The hope is the festival will get to the point where its success helps with other community projects, she said.
“There is a lot that needs to be done in our city and we see this festival as perhaps being able to make this city a great place to live for everybody — it already is. We just need to help move it forward,” she said.
Sales tax collections in Eunice and the parish during October have increased since the festival began, she said.
“We are having a positive impact on this city,” she said.