Gueydan has one really big festival each year – the Duck Festival (the town bills itself as the Duck Capital of America). The festival and parade are a really big deal hereabouts, and draw people from quite a distance. They’ve got duck-calling contests, skeet shooting contests, a beauty pageant (there’s a queen for nearly every 2 yrs in age difference!), duck carving, and a duck and goose outdoor cook-off. There are at least 4 Cajun bands that play each day, and the grounds have an arcade along with a crafts show.
The festivities last for 4 days, but we waited and went Saturday night with Lea. The place was really crowded, with beer flowing freely (we’re talking dancing on beer cups and beer cans), and a huge crowd was dancing or watching the band. One thing we really love about here is that dancing is for everybody, and I mean everybody. You’ll see 80+ year olds out on the floor dancing in perfect rhythm, right next to teenagers and 20 year olds. Really little kids will dance in place. There is no stigma about men and women having to dance together in a pair – if you haven’t got a partner, just go pick someone, or just go out on the dance floor by yourself. Another incredible thing is how many people really know how to dance! There’s the Cajun two-step, the zydeco two-step, and the waltz, and I swear kids are born knowing how to dance these steps.
We went back the next day with Pastor Doug and Mona, and it was much quieter. Doug and Mona treated us to a crawfish/rice meal, and we are still surprised by how good the local food is, even festival food.
The parade was a really big deal. Main St was shut down for quite awhile with the parade coming from the fairgrounds (about a mile down from us) past our house, down towards Johnny’s, where it turned around and came back again. Since it’s an election year, the parade was bigger than ever, with all the local politicians having a float and lots of advertising. The local custom is to throw candy, plastic cups, and Mardi Gras beads from the floats, so the parade watchers bring bags and run like mad for the goodies. All we had to do was walk out the front door and sit in a chair, so it was great fun – no muss and no fuss. I felt like I was 10 years old again, running for the candy and cups and beads.
It was pretty much the same for the Homecoming Parade (in September), though it was significantly smaller. We just walked out front to view the activities, and ran for the beads and candy again. Heuetta joined us for this one. The whole thing was over in about 30 minutes, but it was fun seeing the high school kids with the floats.
From what we hear, there’s a Christmas parade too, and we’ve been invited to stay, but we’ll be somewhere in Mexico by then.