The Pelican State is rich with culture and promise. Louisiana festivals pack each year with fun and special celebrations. There’s always something interesting to do when you’re in Louisiana.
Here are a few of our favorite Louisiana food festivals and celebrations of the Louisiana lifestyle.
Louisiana Fur & Wildlife Festival
The Louisiana Fur & Wildlife Festival is held in early January in Cameron, Louisiana. It’s one of the oldest festivals in the state and honors numerous outdoor sporting traditions.
Festival activities include livestock exhibits, a 5k run, an antique car show, a gumbo cook off, trap setting competitions, and more!
The Pelican Team loves participating in Fur & Wildlife Festival each year. If you out exploring the festival grounds, you’re sure to spot our tent amongst the sea of vendors and attractions. We’re always happy to greet a new face!
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles
The Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is a three-day event that celebrates traditional Acadiana food, music, and culture. It’s actually a combination of a trio of festivals—the Festival de Musique Acadienne, the Bayou Food Festival, and the Acadiana Fair & Trade Show.
The festival is a cultural feast for the senses with multiple performance artists, the Louisiana Crafts Guild, and a host of chefs and culinary experts. The final day of the festival features the Tour des Atakapas, the official run and duathlon of the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles. The festival is held in Lafayette, Louisiana in October.
Louisiana Strawberry Festival
The Louisiana Strawberry Festival, also known as the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, is a three-day event held in April at Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Local growers display the fruits of their labors and wares on Farmers Row.
You can also enjoy carnival rides, a parade, live music, berry-eating contests, food, and strawberry themed treats. The last day features one-mile, 5k, and 10k fun runs.
Baton Rouge Blues Festival
Usually scheduled for late April, the Baton Rouge Blues Festival typically hosts 50,000 people. Its goal is “to encourage promotion, preservation and advancement of the swamp blues music native to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”
Expect extraordinary homegrown blues artists as well as nationally and internationally recognized performers gracing multiple stages. The festival also hosts an impressive arrays of food vendors, fine artists, and artisans.
Festival International de Louisiane
This five-day festival transforms downtown Lafayette, Louisiana into “the largest international music and arts festival in the United States.” The event hosts multiple stages with top performers from around the world as well as the walking art market Marché de Arts. The festival also includes a handcrafted fine art market, Marché du Monde, and art vendor experience for kids, Petit Marché.
You’ll also fine gourmet foods from local Cajun and international eateries. Children can also learn about other cultures through creativity and plat at the mini festival area, Scène des Jeunes
Contraband Days
The Louisiana Pirate Festival, formally known as Contraband Days, celebrates Jean Lafitte’s treasure-laden landing and is located on the historic shores of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
You can spend a family-friendly day enjoying cannon demonstrations, costume contests, local arts and crafts vendors, food and carnival rides, games. The event also has wide variety of musicians, performers, and artists. The festival spans two weekends.
Rayne Frog Festival
The Rayne Frog Festival is held each May and celebrates the long-legged, googly eyed amphibian. Attendees can look forward to live music from local headlining artists, Sunday mass, hot air balloon rides, carnival rides, a parade, and more! The main events are, of course, the frog jumping and racing contests.
Adai Caddo Pow Wow
This annual sacred gathering is held in Natchitoches Parish and showcases the Adai Caddo Nation and its culture through singing, dancing, arts, food, and more.
Associated tribes from Oklahoma and Texas usually attend. Tribal elders, dancers, young warriors, women, and children all come together to pass on heritage. The pow wow is open to the public and held in October.
Rougarou Fest
The Rougarou Fest focuses on preserving Louisiana’s Cajun folklore and bayou culture by celebrating the popular state myth of the mysterious werewolf-like creature, the Rougarou. The festival benefits the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center, and hosts one of the top 10 costume parties in the US, but the fun doesn’t stop there.
You can count on a number of kids’ activities, carnival rides, live music, great food, crafts vendors, storytelling and folklore performances, and more.
It’s family-friendly, educational, and of fun learning about the legend of the Rougarou, and its habitat. Be sure to set aside time in October to attend the event in Houma, Louisiana.
Giant Omelette Celebration
Cooler weather is key for this omelet cooking event. The celebration involves the Confrerie D’ Abbeville cooking 5,000 eggs in a giant 12-foot-diameter skillet over a wood fire. Once the giant omelet is done, portions of the tasty creation are shared with the crowd.
Junior members of the Confrerie also make a 600-egg omelet on a four-foot-diameter skillet. Additional events include an egg-cracking contest involving antique farm implements, an antique car display, a kids’ world, and plenty of music. You can also enjoy two days of accompanying arts and crafts displayed under beautiful live oaks.
The festival is held every November in Historic Downtown Abbeville, Louisiana.
While most of these Louisiana food festivals and celebrations of arts and culture grant free admission, some also offer additional VIP passes that can be purchased in advance online to allow access to conveniences like reserved or select seating, covered seating areas, air-conditioned bathrooms, or parking.
Some programs may offer express beverage services or include complimentary food or meals. Websites may also offer festival logo merchandise, information on becoming a vendor, or options for booking a room if you decide to travel for the festival.
Do you have a favorite festival that didn’t make our list? Let us know in the comments below!
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