Tuesday, 23 March, 2010 8:38
by pat
Shreveport-Bossier, the festival capital of north Louisiana, is gearing up for a very busy festival season. Things kick off with the Holiday in Dixie Festival (April 16-25), followed by the Mudbug Madness Festival (Memorial Day weekend, May 27-30) and the Let the Good Times Roll Festival (June 18-20).
The music, the food, and the cultural display of Shreveport-Bossier is fun for the entire family. Experience everything from a midway of carnival rides to sucking and peeling crawfish. But that’s not all you can experience. The festivals feature some of the best entertainment in the country including many wonderful home grown local bands. Be sure to book a hotel room and spend a weekend during any of these and other festivals at www.shreveport-bossier.org.
Holiday in Dixie will be celebrating its 62nd year in the Shreveport-Bossier area, making it one of the oldest running festivals in Louisiana and proving that some things do get better with age! The event will run from April 16-25 in downtown Shreveport’s Festival Plaza.
Holiday in Dixie began in 1949 and was a five-day pageant held at the State Fair stadium. The event celebrates the Louisiana Purchase, the arrival of spring and the spirit of community involvement and pride.
This year’s festival includes the 10-day carnival at Festival Plaza, the Doodah Parade, block parties, special events, entertainment, food and art from local vendors, as well as family-oriented activities. The parade, April 17, will start at 5:30 p.m. in downtown Shreveport at the Municipal Auditorium.
Also, no Holiday in Dixie festival is ever complete without the ever popular Treasure Hunt! This annual event stimulates the mind and gets thousands involved in searching for treasure and a grand prize of cash.
For more information visit www.holidayindixie.com.
Then roll into Memorial Day weekend with the Mudbug Madness Festival pinching tails and sucking heads. What began in 1984 as a crawfish boil quickly grew (as do all good Louisiana parties, it seems) into a two-day street festival in downtown Shreveport and is now one of Louisiana’s largest and most popular Cajun festivals featuring Cajun, zydeco, blues and jazz artists.
Mudbug Madness has grown into a four-day festival held each Memorial Day weekend and is nationally recognized as one of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Events, drawing as many as 56,000 people in one day. The event offers mouth-watering Cajun and Creole cuisine, contests, and activities for all ages. The Madness begins Memorial Day weekend, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., May 27-30, 2010, at Festival Plaza downtown Shreveport.
The festival features fun games and three entertainment stage. The women’s, men’s, and children’s crawfish-eating contests set the true Louisianans apart from the crowd. Contestants must eat all the meat inside of the crawfish tail (no head sucking required!). The person who eats the most will be given the high honor of Crawfish Eating Winner. For those who have never witnessed the spectacle of eating a crawfish, you won’t want to miss this! Everyone has their own technique and no one walks away clean.
When you’re not indulging in the food from the various pavilions offering everything from crawfish etouffee to gumbo and alligator-on-a-stick you can enjoy the live performances. The MetroPCS Stage, located on the area of Festival Plaza between Market Street and Spring Street, is the venue where nationally recognized entertainers perform and contests and special events are held. This year the MetroPCS Stage will welcome Grammy Award-winning artists Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience. In 2001 Simien won the Grammy in the Cajun category. His music was also featured in the new Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog.”
For a complete schedule of events and entertainers visit www.mudbugmadness.com.
But the party does not stop there. The 24th annual Let the Good Times Roll Festival celebrates the music, art and food of the African American culture and highlights its immense influence on Louisiana culture and heritage. The festival is held the third weekend in June at Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport. This year’s dates are June 18-20.
For more information visit them online at rhoomega.com.