Moving Forward Archive

Fall is festival time in Acadiana—a time when we celebrate our harvest and our culture, and when new dollars flow into the St. Landry Parish economy.

“We usually think of fairs and festivals as local events, during which we enjoy our music and food and culture,” said St. Landry tourism director Celeste Gomez. “But they also have a significant economic impact on our communities and the parish as a whole.”

A recent study by economists at the University of New Orleans substantiates her claim.

“Not only do the many and varied festivals provide recreation to both locals and visitors to the state,” they reported, “they also provide economic impact as new visitor dollars are brought in. The spending of out of town visitors creates a ripple effect, generating income, taxes, and jobs.”

There may be no place in Louisiana—or anywhere else—that can rival St. Landry for the “many and varied” description given festivals in the report.  Festivals here celebrate catfish (Melville and Washington), cracklins (Port Barre), crawfish (Eunice), étouffée (Arnaudville), the herbs and spices used to prepare them (Sunset and Opelousas), and the sweet dough pies that make a delicious dessert (Grand Coteau).  We celebrate our music with two zydeco festivals (Plaisance and LeBeau), our culture with fetes such as the annual Holy Ghost Creole Festival in Opelousas and the Experience Louisiana festival in Eunice. We even celebrate our readers and writers with the Festival of Words in Grand Coteau. And then there is Mardi Gras—the zaniest, most anticipated, most widespread, and economically important one of all.

“Add to these festivals regular events such as the antique fair in Washington, the monthly Corridor des Arts that touches several 

communities, trail rides, jam sessions, and other ‘cultural magnets’ and you will figure out that we probably have more fun than most people do, and that our good times are attractive to people from near and far,” Gomez says.

The UNO study found that the average visitor to one of our festivals will spend more than $60 per day and that “for every new dollar of direct spending, additional dollars of secondary spending are generated in the economy.” That secondary spending could be as much as two-thirds of the primary spending, adding another $40 per day to the total economic impact. That means $100,000 circulating in the local economy for every 1,000 festival visitors.

“That adds up quickly,” Gomez points out, “and can be especially significant to some of our smaller communities.

And it adds up especially during the Mardi Gras season when courirs—horseback dashes through the countryside—and Carnival celebrations in town bring tens of thousands of visitors to St. Landry and all of Acadiana—and, to our good fortune, the number of Mardi Gras visitors is growing according to a study on “heritage tourism” that found “a steady rise in country Mardi Gras tourism over the last two decades.”

As a bonus, the festivals help to show off and preserve unique aspects of our culture that draw visitors all year long to bring more dollars here.

“Festivals involve cultural elements including arts, crafts, and music native to the area,” the UNO study found. “All of these elements enhance the culture of regions large and small. Cultural elements increase the quality of life and attractiveness of an area; festivals help to make culture a more important part of the regional economy.”