CFMA celebrates three decades of letting the good times roll
Cajun music and food fans will descend on Burton Coliseum this weekend as the Cajun French Music Association hosts its 30th annual Cajun Music and Food Festival beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
The two-day festival will feature some of the best Cajun music in the area, including performances by Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys, Donny Broussard, and Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie.
“We’re going to have music on Friday evening starting at 6 p.m. starting with Joe Simon and Aldes Broussard and the Louisiana Cajuns,” said CFMA president Renee Daigle. “We’re going to have an arts and crafts section, and a kids’ section to play with.”
Attendees will have a wide array of eating options as they listen to music with a menu that includes Cajun classics such as jambalaya, cracklins, gumbo, boudin, fried fish and shrimp etouffee.
They will also have the ability to participate in a silent auction until 7:45 p.m. when a live auction will begin followed by a cake walk.
The show will resume Saturday with the doors opening at 9 a.m., and the second day of festivities will include a silent auction throughout the day, a Cajun dance contest at 6 p.m. and another live auction beginning at 7:45 p.m.
Proceeds from the event will go to a number of areas that help benefit and promote Cajun and French culture in Southwest Louisiana, Daigle said.
“Because of this festival, we are able to fund scholarships for the community,” Daigle said. “We give one male and one female scholarship twice a year of $500.
“We also have an endowment fund at McNeese that we are able to contribute to.”
The festivities will officially close on Sunday with a French Mass celebrated at the CFMA building followed by a free coffee-and-doughnut social.
Daigle said it is a landmark year for the festival, and that she looks forward to seeing people from around the area and beyond celebrate local culture through food, music and art.
“This is pretty much what we do every year,” she said. “It’s the 30th anniversary. We’re in the air-conditioned Burton Coliseum. There will be lots of good food, lots of good music and plenty of things for the children to do as well.”