New Cajun and Creole festival planned

Winky Aucoin briefed members of the Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce about plans for a new Cajun and Creole cultural festival being planned for Chicot State Park.
During the chamber’s monthly meeting Wednesday, January 21, Aucoin said Le Grand Hurrah will take place five days after Easter, on April 10, and April 11, kicking off on Friday with the Grammy winning Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys.
He said organizers had established a 501C(3) corporation and that he is seeking sponsors for the event. The new festival will feature cooking demonstrations, music, and more. “We’re going to bring it back,” he said.
Aucoin had organized the Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week at Chicot Park for 10 years before it moved away last year.
He introduced two people who have brought some new ideas to help make Le Grand Hurrah a big success, and invited them to speak to the chamber members.
Linzay Young said he learned Cajun/Creole cooking from his grandfather and has been doing it since he was 13. He also said he has taken the food and other cultural aspects of this area throughout the U.S. and to other countries and found there is a lot of interest in it.
The other person Aucoin introduced was Tony Davoren, who began by chiding his own slight Irish accent as he explained how he promotes the local cultural traditions. He is an Irish musician and has lived here for 12 years. “I gave it all up for Louisiana Cajun and Creole,” culture.
He said he met his wife when she was a member of the Riverdance group that travels worldwide. He said when Riverdance was in this area, he took part in a Mamou Mardi Gras. “I tried to catch a chicken but got hit in the head,” he explained, so he and his wife decided to settle here.
Davoren said he also organizes summer camps for hundreds of young people from California to New York. He asked his audience to tell everyone they know about the upcoming Le Grand Hurrah. “If they come one time, they’re guaranteed to come back,” he said.
Summarizing the effort to make the new festival a success, he told the chamber audience “You’re in the cradle of the culture.”
Other speakers during the chamber meeting were the hosts of the popular KVPI morning talk show, “The 2 Non-Blonds With Jenn & Steph,” Jenn Meylian and Stephnie Ware.
Ware, who used to work on a political talk show in Lafayette, said the program started last July. They have interviewed nationally known and local musical performers.
Meylian told the chamber audience she had been with the station for four years and although she is originally from Wyoming, she is adapting to the local culture.
However, she said station management at first had a hard time adapting to the idea of having an all-female radio show format. That concern seems to have subsided as the popularity of the program has grown.
An example is one of the program’s popular segments is called the “nearly impossible question.” She said after one recent segment, there were more than 400 guesses sent to the station’s facebook page by listeners.
“We push it to the edge and then come back,” she said about the program’s style.
After the guest speakers, Camille Fontenot chamber director, said the chamber’s annual banquet has a tentative date of April. The event is the chamber’s primary fund raiser that includes a silent auction. The Man and Woman of the Year and other honors are also announced at the banquet.
She said she is trying to incorporate changes into the banquet program and asked chamber members to help come up with some ideas.