Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival

The 42nd Annual Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival

Theme: “Pa Kase`,” Le`ritage de Zarko — “Unbroken,” The Legacy of Zydeco.

August 31, 2024
Yambilee Festival Grounds
1939 W Landry Street
Opelousas, LA 70570

About the Original Southwest Zydeco Festival:
The Treasures of Opelousas, a group of concerned citizens, feared that Zydeco and Creole music were dying; in response, they organized the first festival. With the guidance and sponsorship from the Southern Development Foundation, the first Zydeco Festival in 1982 was started in a bean field in Plaisance, Louisiana on the outskirts of Opelousas.

Lena Charles notes that it is important to support the festival’s mission in preserving creole culture and zydeco music in St. Landry Parish.   

For Immediate Release

Contact: Lena Charles
337- 290-6048
lenafcharles@bellsouth.net

The 42^nd Annual Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival

(Opelousas, LA) – The 42^nd Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival is live! Organizers are preparing, trying to satisfy the demand for Creole Culture and Zydeco Music. Festival executive director Lena Charles says that locally and nationwide, music fans are eager to return to Southwest Louisiana to experience firsthand the original “keepers of the culture, the tellers of the story.”  The festival takes place on August 31, at the Yambilee Festival Grounds with multiple activities leading up to that date. This year the festival will serve as a prelude to “Zydeco King Clifton Chenier,” His year of celebration and the connection to the organ of the Original Festival by the Treasurer of Opelousas. The Original Festival has presented an “Unbroken” Legacy of Zydeco” as the Keepers of the Culture and the Tellers of the Story. We will have a featured performance by C. J. Chenier & The Red-Hot Louisiana Band, Gramm Nominee & Party Starter to help made that Unbroken Connection with “The Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival.”

The lineup includes hit-makers such as Grammy winner Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, starting at 12:00 Noon: then Grammy nominee C. J. Chenier & The Red-Hot Louisiana Band and closing the night with Special Guest, “The Legend Chris Ardoin & NuStep Zydeco.”

The Treasures of Opelousas, a group of concerned citizens, feared that Zydeco (La La) Music and Creole Culture was dying out; they responded and organized the first festival in 1982. “Unbroken.” Forty-two years later, we are still celebrating and promoting the best of creole culture, traditional food and of course, The Best of Zydeco Music.

The schedule begins with a pre-party on August 30, and ends with a day jam pack-full of Zydeco celebrations on August 31^st. For more information about the 42^nd Annual Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival – www.zydeco.org or on Facebook at SWLA Zydeco Music Festival.

                 “Pa Kase`,” Le`ritage de Zariko,