Labor Day Weekend Bursting With Zydeco Music Events
Heart of the Zydeco Nation Beats Strong on Labor Day!
August 29, 2013
by Herman Fuselier
The Times Of Acadiana
Back in the early 1980s, the Treasures of Opelousas must have known they had a diamond in the rough. The Treasures, a grass-roots organization affiliated with Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas, the nation’s largest black Catholic congregation, was concerned that the hometown zydeco music was dying.
They organized an event that the world had never seen — a zydeco festival. Their first event, the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival, drew 400 people to a soybean field in the St. Landry Parish hamlet of Plaisance.
More than 4,000 showed up the following year. As many as 10,000 have attended the Plaisance event, which is now imitated at zydeco festivals stretching from Connecticut to California, on into England and France.
The Plaisance festival now competes with at least a half-dozen zydeco-related events also held on Labor Day weekend. The events leave zydeco lovers and dancers with an embarrassment of riches to enjoy over the holiday weekend.
The zydeco cup overflows with these events this weekend.
Zydeco Breakfast
The City of Opelousas celebrates its title of Zydeco Capital of the World with the 11th annual Zydeco Breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday under the oak trees surrounding the St. Landry Parish Courthouse Square. Lil Pookie and the Zydeco Sensations provide the entertainment.
Admission is free, and people are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs. Local restaurants, coffee shops and bars around the Courthouse Square feature breakfast items with zydeco themes, such as the Clifton Chenier Casserole.
Visit cityofopelousas.com for more details.
Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival
Although recent competition has cut into its attendance, the original zydeco festival has come out swinging with a 2013 lineup that also includes Cajun music, Southern soul and more. Grammy-winner Wayne Toups makes his first Plaisance appearance Saturday as fellow Grammy-winner Chubby Carrier returns to familiar territory.
Singer Tucka, King of Swing, performs R&B hits that have drawn more 1 million views on YouTube. Southern soul favorite Jeff Floyd, along with Sunset native Patrick Henry, adds more variety to the lineup.
Saturday’s schedule includes:
11 a.m. —Step Rideau and the Zydeco Outlaws
Noon — Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas
1 p.m. — Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band
2:15 p.m. — Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames
3 p.m. — Tucka, King of Swing
4 p.m. — Jamie Bergeron and the Kickin’ Cajuns
5 p.m. — Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers
6:15 p.m. — DJ Extraordinar
7:15 p.m. — Wayne Toups
9 p.m. — Travis Matte
10 p.m. — J.J. Caillier and the Zydeco Knockouts
11 p.m. — Jeff Floyd
11:45 p.m. — Patrick Henry
Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger. A Black Pot Cook-off is set from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the winner receiving $100. A mini-trail ride is also part of this year’s festivities.
Step Rideau and Jeffery Broussard perform for the festival’s annual kickoff dance at 9 p.m. Friday at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki, 8393 La. 182, in Opelousas. Admission is $10.
For information on all festival events, call (337) 942-2392 or visit zydeco.org.
Creole Renaissance Festival
Zydeco icon Keith Frank hosts his Creole Renaissance Festival for the second-straight year Saturday at the Yambilee Building, 1939 W. Landry St., in Opelousas. Entertainers include Frank, Chris Ardoin, Brian Jack, Andre Thierry, Dexter Ardoin and Rusty Metoyer.
Frank has been steadily pleasing zydeco crowds since the early 1990s, when he took over for his father, Preston, in the family’s zydeco band. The Franks trace zydeco and Creole music back to the 1860s in their family tree.
The festival, an indoor, air-conditioned event, also includes a $1,000 dance contest and a Creole marketplace with authentic Creole food.
Tickets are $10 for adult, $5 for children. Visit creolerenaissance.com for more information.
Pineywoods Trail Ride
Three days of music, food and fun are part of the Pineywoods Trail Ride Friday through Sunday at the Joe Fontenot Ranch, 1201 Joe Fontenot Road, in Oakdale. Leon Chavis entertains Friday night.
Lil Wayne and Same Ol’ 2 Step, along with Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers, perform Saturday night. Keith Frank and Chris Ardoin wrap up the trail ride on Sunday.
Ardoin and Lil Nate play at the trail ride’s Official Afterparty Sunday night at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas.
Boozoo's Labor Day Festival
A Labor Day tradition started by zydeco’s late godfather Boozoo Chavis continues Monday with Boozoo’s Labor Day Festival at the Lake Charles Civic Center, 900 Lakeshore Drive, in Lake Charles. Chavis, maker of zydeco’s first commercial hit, “Paper in My Shoe,” traditionally held the festival at his home in Lake Charles.
But since his death, the event has moved to the civic center. Chavis’ son Poncho will perform, along with Boozoo’s grandsons, the Dog Hill Stompers.
Keith Frank, Geno Delafose and Chris Ardoin are part of the lineup. Music begins at 10 a.m. Monday.
More information is available at (337) 438-3482 or visitlakecharles.org.
Downtown Labor Day Food Drive
Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers and J. Paul and the Zydeco Nubreeds headline the Downtown Labor Day Food Drive at 5 p.m. Monday at The Ballroom, 417 Jefferson St., in downtown Lafayette. Discount admission is available for those who donate canned goods or nonperishable food items.
All donations go to FoodNet Food for Families. Call (337) 303-2510 or visit www.FoodNetAcadiana.org for additional details.
Heart of the Zydeco Nation Beats Strong on Labor Day!
August 29, 2013
by Herman Fuselier
The Times Of Acadiana
 |
The crowd dances to the beat at the 2010 Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in Plaisance, Louisiana. The festival marks its 31st year Saturday.
(photo credit: David Simpson)
|
Back in the early 1980s, the Treasures of Opelousas must have known they had a diamond in the rough. The Treasures, a grass-roots organization affiliated with Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas, the nation’s largest black Catholic congregation, was concerned that the hometown zydeco music was dying.
They organized an event that the world had never seen — a zydeco festival. Their first event, the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival, drew 400 people to a soybean field in the St. Landry Parish hamlet of Plaisance.
More than 4,000 showed up the following year. As many as 10,000 have attended the Plaisance event, which is now imitated at zydeco festivals stretching from Connecticut to California, on into England and France.
The Plaisance festival now competes with at least a half-dozen zydeco-related events also held on Labor Day weekend. The events leave zydeco lovers and dancers with an embarrassment of riches to enjoy over the holiday weekend.
The zydeco cup overflows with these events this weekend.
Zydeco Breakfast
The City of Opelousas celebrates its title of Zydeco Capital of the World with the 11th annual Zydeco Breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday under the oak trees surrounding the St. Landry Parish Courthouse Square. Lil Pookie and the Zydeco Sensations provide the entertainment.
Admission is free, and people are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs. Local restaurants, coffee shops and bars around the Courthouse Square feature breakfast items with zydeco themes, such as the Clifton Chenier Casserole.
Visit cityofopelousas.com for more details.
Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival
 |
| J. J. Caillier is part of the lineup at the 2013 Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in Plaisance, Louisiana. (photo credit: David Simpson) |
Singer Tucka, King of Swing, performs R&B hits that have drawn more 1 million views on YouTube. Southern soul favorite Jeff Floyd, along with Sunset native Patrick Henry, adds more variety to the lineup.
Saturday’s schedule includes:
11 a.m. —Step Rideau and the Zydeco Outlaws
Noon — Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas
1 p.m. — Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band
2:15 p.m. — Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames
3 p.m. — Tucka, King of Swing
4 p.m. — Jamie Bergeron and the Kickin’ Cajuns
5 p.m. — Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers
6:15 p.m. — DJ Extraordinar
7:15 p.m. — Wayne Toups
9 p.m. — Travis Matte
10 p.m. — J.J. Caillier and the Zydeco Knockouts
11 p.m. — Jeff Floyd
11:45 p.m. — Patrick Henry
Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger. A Black Pot Cook-off is set from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the winner receiving $100. A mini-trail ride is also part of this year’s festivities.
Step Rideau and Jeffery Broussard perform for the festival’s annual kickoff dance at 9 p.m. Friday at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki, 8393 La. 182, in Opelousas. Admission is $10.
For information on all festival events, call (337) 942-2392 or visit zydeco.org.
Creole Renaissance Festival
Zydeco icon Keith Frank hosts his Creole Renaissance Festival for the second-straight year Saturday at the Yambilee Building, 1939 W. Landry St., in Opelousas. Entertainers include Frank, Chris Ardoin, Brian Jack, Andre Thierry, Dexter Ardoin and Rusty Metoyer.
Frank has been steadily pleasing zydeco crowds since the early 1990s, when he took over for his father, Preston, in the family’s zydeco band. The Franks trace zydeco and Creole music back to the 1860s in their family tree.
The festival, an indoor, air-conditioned event, also includes a $1,000 dance contest and a Creole marketplace with authentic Creole food.
Tickets are $10 for adult, $5 for children. Visit creolerenaissance.com for more information.
Pineywoods Trail Ride
Three days of music, food and fun are part of the Pineywoods Trail Ride Friday through Sunday at the Joe Fontenot Ranch, 1201 Joe Fontenot Road, in Oakdale. Leon Chavis entertains Friday night.
Lil Wayne and Same Ol’ 2 Step, along with Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers, perform Saturday night. Keith Frank and Chris Ardoin wrap up the trail ride on Sunday.
Ardoin and Lil Nate play at the trail ride’s Official Afterparty Sunday night at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas.
Boozoo's Labor Day Festival
A Labor Day tradition started by zydeco’s late godfather Boozoo Chavis continues Monday with Boozoo’s Labor Day Festival at the Lake Charles Civic Center, 900 Lakeshore Drive, in Lake Charles. Chavis, maker of zydeco’s first commercial hit, “Paper in My Shoe,” traditionally held the festival at his home in Lake Charles.
But since his death, the event has moved to the civic center. Chavis’ son Poncho will perform, along with Boozoo’s grandsons, the Dog Hill Stompers.
Keith Frank, Geno Delafose and Chris Ardoin are part of the lineup. Music begins at 10 a.m. Monday.
More information is available at (337) 438-3482 or visitlakecharles.org.
Downtown Labor Day Food Drive
Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers and J. Paul and the Zydeco Nubreeds headline the Downtown Labor Day Food Drive at 5 p.m. Monday at The Ballroom, 417 Jefferson St., in downtown Lafayette. Discount admission is available for those who donate canned goods or nonperishable food items.
All donations go to FoodNet Food for Families. Call (337) 303-2510 or visit www.FoodNetAcadiana.org for additional details.
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