Harlan Kirgan
St. Landry Parish tourism professionals met at The Pelican Restaurant on Thursday for a monthly networking meeting led by Celeste Gomez, parish tourism director.
“We’ve really been busy at the office,” Gomez said. “We are going to launch a new brand in June. We are working on a new website.”
The parish uses a “It’s gumbo for your soul” tagline, she said.
“We are going to keep using that. It has been successful, but we want a little change to what our logo is,” she said.
“The website is going to a have a whole new look to it,” she said.
The website, cajuntravel.com, also is going to be designed with mobile apps in mind, she said.
Much of the meeting at the reopened Pelican, a landmark of its own, included an update on what’s coming up in the parish.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser is scheduled for a 9 a.m. May 9 event at Evangeline Downs.
“He is a horse lover so we are going to promote our equine industry and its importance to the area,” Gomez said.
April events include Semaine de La Francophonie beginning in Arnaudville today. Details are on Page 2.
Softball tournaments in Eunice are being held this weekend and scheduled next weekend.
On Saturday, writers for “Le Routard,” a French publication, were to be in Eunice and visit The Pelican.
Arnaudville’s 33rd annual Etouffée Festival is scheduled April 27 to 29.
On May 5, the 22nd annual Sunset Herb Fest is planned from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. across from the old high school.
October is shaping up as a particularly busy month in the parish, Gomez said.
A working dog competition is planned from Oct. 5 to 10 that will involve about 400 retrievers and 250 handlers, she said.
“It is going to be huge. That will be a great niche market for us to cater to,” Gomez said.