By: Lee Babin
Celebrating its 43rd annual extravaganza, the Larose Regional Park’s Family Fun Festival kicks off on the evening of Friday, April 28, and lasts through the evening of Sunday, April 30.
Featuring the best in local attractions, the Family Fun Festival allows the Larose Regional Park and Civic Center, self-sustained facilities, to maintain operations for the Larose community. According to Brian Detillier, executive director of the Bayou Civic Club, Inc. and the Larose Regional Park & Civic Center, “At times, the Larose Regional Park and Civic Center complex serves the entire Lafourche Parish Community in its sponsoring of cultural, social, and recreational events. We constantly try to sponsor programs for our community.”
Founded in 1964 by Holy Rosary School principal Sister Claire Rodrigue, the Family Fun Festival started as a small event but has since ballooned into a huge event. The event features some of South Louisiana’s favorite pastimes: music, sports, and, of course, eating plenty Cajun, Creole, and American foods.
Among some of the local favorites, the Family Fun Festival menu includes red beans and rice, jambalaya, shrimp, oysters, fish, and various crab and crawfish dishes. Also, the menu takes on an all-American flavor with hot dogs, hamburgers, Chili Fritos, funnel cakes, ice cream, and more.
Along with the food, an accompaniment of live music and sporting events, along with a crafts market, live auction, and fair, round out the festival.
Live bands offer a large variety of tastes in music. On Friday, Seabrook, a band great for dancing, plays from 5:30-8:30 PM, and Southern Cross, a well-known rock band plays from 10:00 PM until 1:00 AM. On Saturday, four bands play: Cajun Toujours, a Cajun-style band, will play from 11:30 AM until 2:30 PM; the Hurricane Levee Band will play from 3:00-6:00 PM; Animal Crackers, which blends classic rock with Top 40 hits, will play from 6:30-9:30 PM; and Bag of Donuts, a group with a large contingency of followers, will close out the evening, playing from 10:30 PM until 2:00 AM. Finally, the Sunday lineup includes locals Waylon Thibodeaux, playing from 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM, and Gary T, playing 3:00-6:00 PM.
Sporting events begin Friday and last through Sunday. On Friday, there is a cheerleading academy. Scheduled for Saturday include tennis and flag football tournaments Saturday morning and a kids’ rod casting contest Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, there will be a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and a pirogue race. Many events include a registration fee and winners will receive prizes, including tickets to Saints, Hornets, or LSU basketball tickets for winners of the flag football and basketball tournaments and a pirogue and trophies for the pirogue race winners.
Finally, the event will include something new this year: a Crafter’s Market. The Saturday event, beginning at 10:00 AM on Saturday, will feature locals displaying their homemade items.
For more information on the event, visit the Larose Regional Park website at http://www.bayoucivicclub.org/ or contact the office at 985-693-7355.