Atchafalaya Basin Festival

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Atchafalaya Basin Festival

We found this festival by accident, when we checked in to the Pioneer RV Park we asked what was going on this weekend. The ladies pulled out the 6 page local paper and found this festival, along with the annual Frog Festival in nearby Rayne. We chose to go here and I'm glad we did.

This is a small festival, only 4 years old I'm told. It supports the local Catholic Church and is held in a small, out of the way park in Henderson. It is both a ball and a bargain. There is plenty of food and great music, from straight ahead rock to Cajun and Zydeco (there is a difference, but don't ask me.) Parking is free, unusual these days, and the eats are very good and absurdly cheap. You buy a string of tickets for a buck each. Drinks cost 2 tickets. You go to the rice table where the nice ladies give you a large plastic bowl filled with rice for 2 tickets. You then go to any or all of about 15 stations where the cooking contestants ladle out your choice of whatever they are contesting, usually a court bouillon (pronounced caw-booyawn here) and a gumbo. We were there towards the end of the competition, so folks were being very generous with their ladles, trying to not have left overs to take home. The food was delicious and we quickly found our favorites. I got some gumbo from one fella, and it was near the bottom of the pot and he said "Lemme see if I can find you a little piece of meat." This is what he found.