Haraln Kirgan
The Experience Louisiana Festival returns to the LSUE campus in two weeks with familiar crowd-pleasers and new offerings.
The return of favorites and the addition of new activities is making the festival in its third year continue to be a unique experience.
Celeste Gomez, St. Landry Parish Tourism director, said, “The Experience Louisiana Festival has had a great track record even in its young age. The caliber of the entertainers and the overall production side is really a great effort. People enjoy being out there. It is a pleasant experience and is truly a great Louisiana experience.”
The festival, scheduled Oct. 28 and 29, bill itself as “Celebrating the very best of Louisiana music, food, folklife.”
Gomez said the festival organizers, the Eunice Rotary Club, “have lived up to their word and their intent.”
The festival exposes people to different cultures that might be in their own backyard.
“They are keeping it fresh,” she said.
“This year they are going to focus on agriculture. I think it keeps something new for people coming back,” she said.
“I think again you are going to learn something every time you go there,” Gomez said. “It is a different experience every time you go. I think that is what makes it different, makes it unique.”
The festival partnerships, which includes the St. Landry Parish Tourism Commission, are particularly strong because they include Louisiana State University Eunice and the National Park Service, she said.
The festival raises money for a scholarship at LSUE.
“They have an opportunity in their programming to focus on different interests and I think that it keeps it new and it attracts a new crowd,” she said.
Pat Dossman, one of the Rotary Club organizers, turned her focus on the festival’s food.
Dossman said among the top questions about the upcoming festival are whether Chef Drake Leonards will do a demonstration and if Louisiana Pie Peddler is returning.
Leonards, who is a Chef John Besh protégé, is working on opening a restaurant named Eunice in Houston, but is taking time to do a demonstration from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the LSUE Continuing Education Building.
Louisiana Pie Peddlers, purveyors of unusual fried pies, is returning with something new — a praline, Dossman said.
Also of top interest among the food vendors is Cajun Tyme Iced Tea, she said.
Last year was the first time for the tea to be marketed, she said.
The owner, Geno Bordelon, was surprised by the reception the tea received, she said.
“People started buying it by the cup, but they came back for quarts and gallons to take home,” she said.
Other food offerings are to include:
— The Satellite Club of Eunice plans to sell beignet bites and sour cream doughnuts.
— Cajun Catering will do boudin and jambalaya wrapped in an egg roll and fried.
— St. Edmund School is returning with gumbo.
— The Eunice Superette will be back with cracklin’s.
There will be 22 food booths.
Also returning is Chef James Hamilton who may do an ice sculpture along with a demonstration on Saturday.
New at the festival is an Agriculture Village.
The village will include master gardeners who will be available to answer questions about lawn and garden issues.
The Ag Village participants include LSU AgCenter, Louisiana Dutch Oven Society, Cajun Prairie Habitat Society, Louisiana 4-H Food and Fitness Board, United Healthcare, St. Landry 4-H Leaders, National Resource Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, The Bee Whisperer, Sunshine Equipment and Case IH.
For more information about the festival, call 337-457-1776. The festival has a webpage at experiencelouisiana.org and has a Facebook page.