The festival returns in an effort to bring together the Creoles of southwest Louisiana and those of New Orleans.
The NOLA Zydeco Fest returns this June to bring together the Creole people of Louisiana. Photo courtesy of NOLA Zydeco Fest
This article is part of a media partnership between Télé-Louisiane and the NOLA Zydeco Fest.
By Jonathan Olivier
Gabrielle Deculus and Courtney Smith founded the NOLA Zydeco Fest in 2021 to honor the legacy of their great-grandfather, legendary Zydeco musician Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin. The festival also has served as a way to bridge the Creole cultures of New Orleans and the countryside of southwest Louisiana.
This year, festival organizers look to continue to build these relationships by highlighting the unique contributions of Creoles to Louisiana’s history and culture. “This festival serves as a way to showcase both New Orleans culture, which includes brass bands and Mardi Gras Indians and second line groups, along with the trail rides and the more rural Louisiana Creole culture,” Deculus said. “And then there’s the energy that Zydeco music brings. We wanted to create a lane for both of those cultures to co-exist and have a better rapport.”
This year, the festival returns to A.L. Davis Park in New Orleans on June 10 to continue celebrating Louisiana’s Creole people and culture. Musical performances will include Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers, Koray Broussard and The Zydeco Unit, Rusty Metoyer and the Zydeco Crush, and Alphonse Ardoin and the Zydeco Kings.
Drake LeBlanc, co-founder and chief creative officer of Télé-Louisiane, will be representing Télé-Louisiane at this year’s festival, co-hosting the event along with Deculus and Smith. “Making connections between different cultures has always been an essential part of Louisiana history and it's exactly what we're doing today,” LeBlanc said. “As a co-founder of Télé-Louisiane from southwest Louisiana, I look forward to bringing some of that spice we like to the onstage dynamic at this festival in New Orleans.”
LeBlanc noted that he will be highlighting some of the influences that French and the Louisiana Creole language have had on zydeco music and Louisiana culture as a whole. Louisiana Creole is a creolized language that formed in colonial Louisiana in the 18th century. The language has long co-existed with Louisiana French, spoken by many in bothCajun and Creole communities from New Orleans to Vacherie to Cecilia to New Roads.
NOLA Zydeco Fest is free to enter and open to the public, and Deculus said children are welcome—there will be a dedicated children's activity area. Advance registration is possible, though, which allows participants to skip the entrance line and have the opportunity to win prizes.
For more information about NOLA Zydeco Fest, visit their website.