Zydeco Breakfast To Kick off Festival
Saturday Event Features Lil Pookie & the Zydeco Sensations
August 30, 2013
by William Johnson
Daily World Newspaper
Saturday is the big zydeco festival in Plaisance, but music lovers can get an early start and a hardy breakfast at the 11th Annual Opelousas Zydeco Breakfast that morning.
“It is an awesome way to kick off the festival,” said Amisha Arceneaux with the Opelousas Tourism Office, which hosts the breakfast.
The morning will begin with a free concert and all the dancing you want under the historic oaks that line Courthouse Square in downtown Opelousas.
This year’s band is Lil Pookie & the Zydeco Sensations.
"They are just incredible,” Arceneaux said.
She said Lil Pookie got his start at an early age, when the then 12-year-old entered and won the accordion contest at the Zydeco Extravaganza.
He would go on to tour with Zydeco Fore and then the Zydeco Blazers, which would, in time, become the Zydeco Sensations.
The band will play from 8:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. when the party breaks up so visitors can head out to the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival, which kicks off its music lineup at noon.
“Along with the entertainment, downtown businesses will feature an assortment of breakfast menu items for sale from Bloody Marys and coffee to Clifton Chenier casseroles and pancakes,” Arceneaux said.
Among this year’s restaurants and bars around Courthouse Square that will be taking part are Java Square, the Back in Time Restaurant, the Palace Café, Dairy Queen and The Brass Rail.
Wanda Juneau with Back in Time, said the Clifton Chenier — a sausage, egg and cheese casserole with garlic grits and an English muffin — is her biggest seller and that is only right.
“He was the one who created the music right here in Opelousas. He was the big dog,” said Juneau, who will also be offering breakfasts named for Curly Taylor, Geno Delafose and a host of others zydeco greats.
Chenier, like all the early zydeco artists, performed in Cajun French. One of his early hits was “Les Haricots Sont Pas Sale,” which means the snap beans aren’t salty — a term for times so tough the family couldn’t even afford a piece of salt pork to flavor their beans.
Phonetically, “snap beans” in Cajun French is “zy-dee-co,” which English speakers would hear as “zydeco,” giving birth to the name of the musical style.
In addition to her breakfast items, Juneau will also be selling sausage biscuits on the square for people who don’t want to stop dancing long enough for a sit-down meal.
Juneau helped create the breakfast 11 years ago in cooperation with Cheryl Castille, who was operating a gift shop on the square at the time, as a way to promote the downtown business community.
It has succeeded far beyond her expectations, regularly drawing hundreds to the downtown area.
“People come in from all over now. One year it rained and we had to move it to the Delta Grand, but still they came,” Juneau said.
Arceneaux agreed, saying the downtown area fills up with people from New Orleans, Baton Rouge — all over.
“We usually have more out-of-towners than locals,” Arceneaux said. “Last year we had a large group from Paris.”
She encouraged people to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the entertainment.
The event is sponsored by Opelousas Tourism with assistance from Opelousas Main Street, Inc.
Saturday Event Features Lil Pookie & the Zydeco Sensations
August 30, 2013
by William Johnson
Daily World Newspaper
 |
| The 11th Annual Opelousas Zydeco Breakfast will be held Saturday as a kickoff to the Original Southwest Zydeco Music Festival in Plaisance, Louisiana. (Photo Credit Freddie Herpin) |
Saturday is the big zydeco festival in Plaisance, but music lovers can get an early start and a hardy breakfast at the 11th Annual Opelousas Zydeco Breakfast that morning.
“It is an awesome way to kick off the festival,” said Amisha Arceneaux with the Opelousas Tourism Office, which hosts the breakfast.
The morning will begin with a free concert and all the dancing you want under the historic oaks that line Courthouse Square in downtown Opelousas.
This year’s band is Lil Pookie & the Zydeco Sensations.
"They are just incredible,” Arceneaux said.
She said Lil Pookie got his start at an early age, when the then 12-year-old entered and won the accordion contest at the Zydeco Extravaganza.
He would go on to tour with Zydeco Fore and then the Zydeco Blazers, which would, in time, become the Zydeco Sensations.
The band will play from 8:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. when the party breaks up so visitors can head out to the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival, which kicks off its music lineup at noon.
“Along with the entertainment, downtown businesses will feature an assortment of breakfast menu items for sale from Bloody Marys and coffee to Clifton Chenier casseroles and pancakes,” Arceneaux said.
Among this year’s restaurants and bars around Courthouse Square that will be taking part are Java Square, the Back in Time Restaurant, the Palace Café, Dairy Queen and The Brass Rail.
Wanda Juneau with Back in Time, said the Clifton Chenier — a sausage, egg and cheese casserole with garlic grits and an English muffin — is her biggest seller and that is only right.
“He was the one who created the music right here in Opelousas. He was the big dog,” said Juneau, who will also be offering breakfasts named for Curly Taylor, Geno Delafose and a host of others zydeco greats.
Chenier, like all the early zydeco artists, performed in Cajun French. One of his early hits was “Les Haricots Sont Pas Sale,” which means the snap beans aren’t salty — a term for times so tough the family couldn’t even afford a piece of salt pork to flavor their beans.
Phonetically, “snap beans” in Cajun French is “zy-dee-co,” which English speakers would hear as “zydeco,” giving birth to the name of the musical style.
In addition to her breakfast items, Juneau will also be selling sausage biscuits on the square for people who don’t want to stop dancing long enough for a sit-down meal.
Juneau helped create the breakfast 11 years ago in cooperation with Cheryl Castille, who was operating a gift shop on the square at the time, as a way to promote the downtown business community.
It has succeeded far beyond her expectations, regularly drawing hundreds to the downtown area.
“People come in from all over now. One year it rained and we had to move it to the Delta Grand, but still they came,” Juneau said.
Arceneaux agreed, saying the downtown area fills up with people from New Orleans, Baton Rouge — all over.
“We usually have more out-of-towners than locals,” Arceneaux said. “Last year we had a large group from Paris.”
She encouraged people to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the entertainment.
The event is sponsored by Opelousas Tourism with assistance from Opelousas Main Street, Inc.
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