
Créole Culture Day 2022
Welcome to our 20th annual Créole Culture Day Celebration! Today is focused on celebrating, demonstrating, and honoring the Créole heritage in Louisiana and beyond! Our theme this year is What’s Happening Today, so as you dance, eat, and learn, consider the impact of this history on the Créole experience of today!
The Richard J. Catalon Sr. Creole Heritage Award was first established in 2004, honoring one of Vermilionville’s first artisan-interpreters, Richard J. Catalon Sr. Shortly after retirement Mr. Catalon become engaged in his “dream job” at Vermilionville, where finally, he could talk about his life experiences as a Creole. For over ten years Mr. Catalon worked in the Mouton house and not only shared with guests his expert craftsmanship, but regaled visitors from around the world with the Creole history, often in his fluent French Creole language. He was known to visit local schools in furtherance of the history of the culture, traditions, and to encourage the Creole language.
This award honors contributions made by individuals who actively promote the advancement of the Creole Culture, through language, food, art, music, dance, Creole language studies, education, and traditions.
To date, seventeen local individuals have received the award for their outstanding contributions in the community and the furtherance of the culture, each of which meets the vision of the Catalon family by depicting character values as role models for the future generations, being involved with local cultural organizations, and are active ambassadors and promoters of the Creole culture and heritage.
• 2005 –Donald Cravins Sr • 2006- Herb Wiltz
• 2007- Deborah Clifton • 2008- John Broussard
• 2009- Herman Fuselier • 2010- Mary Goody
• 2011- Geno Delafose • 2012- Goldman Thibodeaux
• 2013- Willis Prudhomme • 2014- Rebecca Henry
• 2015- Paul Scott • 2016- Paul Cluse
• 2017- Melvin Caesar • 2018- Gloria Linton
• 2019- Geneva Phillips • 2020- Darrell Bourque and Patricia Cravins

Today’s music




Wayne Singleton & Same Ol’ 2 Step can not only produce and perform traditional and new Zydeco music, the band has also the canny ability to give soul and country hits a Zydeco/Creole flavor. The touch of nouveau Zydeco music has put them at a different level, without compromising their traditional roots.


Our Créole Culture Day is sponsored in part by the Lafayette Consolidated Government, the Acadiana Center for the Arts, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival & Foundation, the Vermilionville Living History Museum Foundation Inc, and Creole Inc.
ABOUT THE BAYOU VERMILION DISTRICT
Since 1984, Bayou Vermilion District has worked to beautify, conserve, and manage sites along the Vermilion, ensuring the preservation and enhancement of the natural, cultural resources for its citizens. The Bayou Vermilion District’s mission focuses on the environment and the unique culture of Lafayette. On the cultural side of our mission, the Bayou Vermilion District opened the Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park as a way to increase appreciation for the history, culture, and natural resources of the Native Americans, Acadians, Creoles, and peoples of African descent in the Attakapas region through the end of the 1800s. Through historic interpretation and conservation along the Bayou Vermilion, we strive to educate guests on the interactions of these groups and the connections between past and contemporary folklife, thus empowering guests to apply these lessons from our shared histories. For more information, please visit www.bayouvermiliondistrict.org or Vermilionville.org.