Festivals Acadiens et Créoles

On Oct. 11-13 in Girard Park, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles will welcome children and adults alike for a weekend of live music, dancing, arts and crafts, food and fun. Through children's areas with crafts and demonstrations, multiple generations up on stage playing music and a variety of Cajun food, kids can experience the unique culture of the South Louisiana region. 

This year, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is celebrating the women who have contributed so much to Cajun and Creole music. Both boys and girls are welcome to bring their musical instrument and join in a jam session at the Jam Ça! tent throughout the weekend.

Sponsored by the Children's Museum of Acadiana, La Place des Petits offers arts and crafts, activities, games and story time right next to the playground in Girard Park. A second children's area in the Louisiana Craft Fair invites kids to have their face painted, watch a pottery demonstration and make an original craft with an artist. 

Hours for La Place des Petits are Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is always free and offers plenty of snacks at the Bayou Food Festival, including gelato, snowcones, shrimp on a stick, popcorn, funnel cakes and corndogs, to keep kids cool and fueled. Petit chefs can even take in a cooking demonstration at the adjacent Culture Sur la Table tent. 

The festival kicks off with a Charivari from the Hilliard Museum at 4:30 p.m. to the Cutting of the Boudin at Girard Park at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11. Families are invited to bring their voices and noisemakers to join in the procession. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles continues through Sunday, Oct. 13.