Sharing the food, music, culture, and history at the heart of Cajun & Creole Country.

Chere Coen
Author
Chere Coen

Cheré Dastugue Coen is an award-winning journalist and author of Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana and Exploring Cajun Country: A Tour of Historic Acadiana. Cheré is also the author of the Weird, Wacky and Wild South blog and writes novels under the pen name of Cherie Claire.

Links
https://cherecoen.wixsite.com/cherecoen

https://www.weirdsouth.com/
https://www.cherieclaire.net/

Living It Up Before Giving It Up - Cajun & Creole Carnival

South Louisiana is home to the greatest free party on earth, a colorful celebration known as Mardi Gras. But what most people see on television the weekend before Lent starts much earlier. The entire Mardi Gras season runs several winter weeks in Lafayette and throughout the Acadiana region and…

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Mardi Gras Royalty

Our Mardi Gras season, which stretches from the Twelfth Night of Christmas or Jan. 6 to Mardi Gras day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and the advent of Lent, is filled with extravagant balls and pageantry like no other. Organizations that host Carnival parades, balls, and pageants are known in…

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Dance For A Chicken: Cajun Country Mardi Gras

Most people recognize Mardi Gras as parades, masked balls, and other urban events, but in Cajun Country, a unique side of Mardi Gras takes place in the countryside and dates back centuries. In Acadiana, a region surrounding Lafayette, many towns celebrate the ancient Carnival tradition of courirs…

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Mardi Gras Treasures

Carnival is the season of merriment leading up to Mardi Gras, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. During Carnival, south Louisiana celebrates with parades and other special events. Krewes are the organizations that sponsor the parades, which are sometimes preceded by krewe…

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History of Festivals Acadiens et Creoles

In the 1930s, folklorists John and Alan Lomax visited South Louisiana to record Cajun and Creole songs for the Library of Congress Archive of American Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture). It was the first time someone recorded Cajun and Creole songs on tape for archival purposes. In 1964…

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Civil Rights Trail in Lafayette

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail marks important landmarks, primarily in Southern states, where activists challenged segregation in churches, courthouses, schools, and other sites in the 1950s and 1960s. In Louisiana, interpretive markers, each explaining the stories of the people who worked for equality…

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Top Sights in Oil Center

For a century, Louisiana has played a major role in the country’s oil and gas development, and Lafayette has served as a major spoke in the industry’s wheel. That’s why, in 1952, Lafayette businessman and philanthropist Maurice Heymann envisioned a section of town to house businesses associated with…

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What's New in Lafayette

Lafayette has many new happenings these days, which means plenty more ways to have fun! Check out what’s new in Lafayette. Topgolf Louisiana’s second Topgolf venue opened in December at 301 Meadow Farm Road off Ambassador Caffery Parkway. There are 60 outdoor climate-controlled hitting bays that…

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A Cake Fit For A King

Most people think of Mardi Gras as our season of merriment before Lent, but many of our traditions, such as the sweet and decorative king cake, begin with Christmas. The season of Carnival begins on Jan. 6, known as the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, the day the three kings visited the Christ Child. In…

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