Créole Culture Day (With Schedule & Map)

The public can enjoy a FREE FESTIVAL at Vermilionville for the 21^st annual Créole Culture Celebration on Sunday, June 11, 2023 from 10AM – 5PM.  We’ll celebrate with live music from Herb Green Drummers, Cedryl Ballou & the Zydeco Trendsetters, and Donna Angelle and the Zydeco Posse. There will be cooking demonstrations by Sweet Envie, our own Ms. Deloris and a wine-making demonstration with Mr. Paul Cluse. Louisiana Poet Laureate Johnathan Mayers will share his writing, and Joe Hall will speak about the history, changes and traditions of Creole & Zydeco music. Also, enjoy juré performances, storytelling, kids’ crafts, art from Erica Melancon Fox, museum, and photography exhibits, Zydeco dance lessons, genealogy experts, traiteur garden tours, documentaries, and much more! Another highlight will be the presentation of the Richard J. Catalon Creole Heritage award to a distinguished advocate and supporter of the Créole culture. This year’s recipient is Ms. Lena Charles of the Southern Development Foundation.
Every year, Vermilionville celebrates the cultures of Acadiana that contributed so much to our unique folklife. Come to Vermilionville June 11 for our Créole Culture Day event!  On this day we recognize and honor our region’s Créole heritage. So much of our food, traditions, and music comes to our region from the Creole culture, and on this day we demonstrate and celebrate its many contributions to our contemporary folklife.
With our partners at Louisiana Creole Inc, and support from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Lafayette Consolidated Government, and the Bayou Vermilion District, this year’s celebration of the Créole culture and history is an event not to be missed.  We’ll commemorate the fascinating Créole story in our festival area and spread through our historic village.

Here is the schedule of Events (also included in above map.)
10:00 Day opens
10:00 Herb Green Percussion
10:00 In the Village:
Cultures: Visual Arts with Revina Amos
Beau Bassin: The Creole Culture with John LaFleur
Schoolhouse: Creole Inventions and Cultural Exhibit
Mouton: Visual Arts Erica Melancon Fox
Acadienne: Healer’s Garden Tours
Boucvalt: Poetry with Jonathan Mayers AND Chinbo
Buller: Creole and Zydeco Music with Joe Hall AND open-fire cooking
Broussard: House Tours with Kevin Rees AND A Story of Enslavement with Cheryl Montgomery
10:30 – 1:00 Cedryl Ballou & the Zydeco Trendsetters in the Performance Center
10:30 Cooking demonstration in Cooking School
11:00 Reading from Mama Gerry’s Creole Kitchen: Storybook with Recipes with author Rebecca Dargin Rigmaiden in the Pavillion
12:00 Tambou showing in the Conference Room with following Q&A with director Luke Harris and actress Tiffany Guillory
12:30 Cooking Demo with Deloris Sais : Sweet Dough Pies
1:00 Richard J Catalon Creole award with Lena Charles in the Performance Center
1:30 Francis LeBlanc Gospel in the Performance Center
2:00 Cooking Demo with Nancy Wilson Mémère’s Country Creole Cookbook : Mayonnaise, German Coast Potato Salad, German Potato Salad
2:00 Screening of Tambou in the Conference Room, with following Q&A with director Luke Harris and actress Tiffany Guillory
3:00 Reading from Mama Gerry’s Creole Kitchen: Storybook with Recipes with author Rebecca Dargin Rigmaiden in the Pavillion
2:15 – 5:00 Donna Angelle and the Zydeco Posse in the Performance Center
4:00 – 5:00 Cooking demonstration Vermilionville’s own Jay Steiner : Calas