Acadia

Named for the original French-Canadian provincial home of the Acadian exiles, Acadia Parish is the heart of Cajun prairie country. Dotted with rice fields and mills, Crowley, the parish seat, is nicknamed the “Rice Capital of America.” Its historic, Art Deco-style Rice Theatre presents monthly music events. The humble frog put the town of Rayne on the map back in the 1880s, when entrepreneurs began exporting frog legs to restaurants nationwide. Today, many frog-themed murals promote Rayne as the “Frog Capital of the World.” Not to be outdone, the nearby community of Church Point has called itself the “Buggy Capital of the World” since the 1920s, after the mode of transportation residents took to attend Sunday services at the area’s only church (the annual Buggy Festival occurs the first weekend of June). Each year, on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday, a traditional Courir de Mardi Gras features masked and costumed celebrants on horseback. The home parish of many Cajun musicians, Acadia birthed the first ever recorded Cajun artists, Joseph Falcon and his wife, Cléoma Breaux; early recording stars the Breaux Brothers, Amédé, Ophey, and Aldus; swamp pop star Johnnie Allan; and accordionist Jo-El Sonnier.