Each year in March, the Acadian Memorial prepares a gathering of Cajun family and friends in historic St. Martinville.  It’s a day to bring the heritage, culture and the story of the Acadians from inside the museum to the beautiful locale of the Evangeline Oak Park on historic Bayou Teche. 

 

The festival goal is to display the need to preserve and protect the Cajun traditions, to communicate the authenticity of the strong culture, to make the site/history come alive, to solidify the fit with the community, and to collaborate with the community and the surrounding areas.

 

The Acadian Memorial Foundation and the memorial’s staff invite you to step back in time with a reenactment of the Acadians arrival in Louisiana during the mid 1700s.

The event begins with the Promenade around the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church square, an art walk featuring the works of well over a dozen artists representing a variety of perspectives and media, showing at businesses and other public places around the square. It takes place 5-8 p.m. Friday, March 20.

Saturday is filled with events in the city’s downtown, from the colorful reenactment of the Acadians’ arrival on Bayou Teche at 1 p.m. to the festival featuring modern Cajun music, cuisine and hospitality. The festival will be in Evangeline Oak Square from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Other attractions include lectures, theater, a boat parade, antique cars and cooking demonstrations.

The year’s festival honors the Acadian families Comeaux, Dugas, Richard and Thibodeaux.