Your ABCs Guide to S&P
The Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival is the state’s oldest chartered harvest festival, held every Labor Day weekend in Morgan City.
It’s been repeatedly hailed as a Top 20 event by Southeast Tourism Society and the Louisiana Office of Culture Recreation and Tourism as well as being awarded Most Outstanding Festival for festivals of 50,000 and above by the Louisiana Association of Fairs & Festivals.
How do the locals celebrate this perpetual favorite? Here are the basic terms you need to know:
A- Alligator Bites: Alligator bites and all manner of food can be found all weekend at the Cajun Culinary Classic – 25+ food booths featuring traditional Cajun food. No entry fee required.
B- Blessing of the Fleet and Water Parade: Colorfully decorated shrimp vessels, oil industry vessels and pleasure craft are blessed by a Catholic priest as they parade in Berwick Bay. Not to be missed is the breathtaking 
bow-to-bow “kiss” of the King’s and Queen’s vessels for a traditional champagne toast.
C- Craft Show: It’s been around half as long as the festival, and it’s a huge draw with an average of 150 booths selling their wares.
D- Dancing: Non-stop free live music in the park leads to a lot of toe tapping and dancing from Friday through Monday.
E- Eating: What is a Louisiana festival without eating? Part of this festival’s name is dedicated to a special seafood caught all summer off our coast, after all!
F- Fireworks: A spectacular display of colorful bursts falling into the dark waters of the Atchafalaya River. The Hwy. 182 bridge closed to vehicular traffic for spectator viewing. Viewing is also available on top of the Morgan City seawall and Berwick docks.
G- Games: Play games Saturday morning in Lawrence Park because it’s Children’s Day! Field events, races and contests are held.
H- Historic District: The festival takes over the downtown historic district with an estimated attendance of 120,000 annually.
I- Industry: Learn about the unusual name of this festival and the history behind the two industries that came together to form our area at the Cultural and Heritage Expo.
J- Jump House: You’ll usually find one in the Children’s Village, open Saturday and Sunday, along with a fantasy land filled with games for kids of all ages. 
K- King: Pomp and circumstance abound in this time honored tradition where a King and Queen are selected to represent the festival.
L- Lawrence Park: The heart of the festival – it’s where the music stage, Children’s Village, Mass and Cajun Culinary Classic are held. Ask a local where these are located, and you’ll be told “in the park”. This is to where they are referring. It’s located at Third and Frerret streets.
M- Mass in the Park: A time honored tradition. Residents of all denominations gather for Sunday service complete with the Knights of Columbus outfitted in full regalia.
N- Non-stop Fun: From the time the ribbon is cut on Thursday evening until the last note is sung Monday night, the festival does not sleep.
O- Oil: 1967 was the year oil married shrimp and changed the face of the festival forever. By this time, the petroleum industry had firmly planted roots in the area. Despite the annexation of petroleum into its title, the festival was proud to be allowed to retain its seniority as the oldest state chartered harvest festival in Louisiana.
P- Parade: Floats and bands traverse through the downtown historic district Sunday. There’s also a Children’s Day Mini Street Parade featuring the kids as riders Saturday.
Q- Queens: Queens from festivals across the state join our newly crowned queen to celebrate this festival that pays homage to our heritage.
R- Rides: Any good festival has a fair attached, and this one is no exception. Visit the midway for rides and traditional fair games.
S- Seafood: Fried, grilled, boiled – Just about any variation of seafood can be found under the bridge or in the park.
T- T-Shirts: Bring home a souvenir of the festival with a festival t-shirt. We’ve got shirts that feature the annual poster, the “party” shirt, and more. There are several booths selling them at the festival.
U- “Under the Bridge”: This is the local terminology for the directions you’ll receive if you ask where the craft show or the fair are located. This refers to the paved area under the U.S. 90 bridge between Federal Avenue and Front Street.
V- (Children’s) Village: It features a smoking alligator, children’s putt-putt castle, Cajun fishing hole, pirate ship, doll house and more. Free and open Saturday and Sunday.
W- (Labor Day) Weekend: The festival’s humble origins began in 1936 when members of the local unit of the Gulf Coast Seafood Producers & Trappers Association, in recognition of the Labor Day holiday, held a friendly labor demonstration on that day. They were frog and alligator hunters, shrimpers, crab fishermen and oystermen parading in the streets. It was not a grand procession, but it was the first street parade and it celebrated the placid port of Morgan City and Berwick receiving the first boatload of jumbo shrimp fresh from the deepest waters ever fished by a small boat.
Z- Zydeco: Zydeco, Cajun, Country, Gospel and more. There is music for every taste at the Cajun Coast’s largest festival.
Check out the music schedule, full schedule of events and more.
5 Ways to Celebrate Sugar Cane Day
Sugar, spice and everything nice. Grand plantations and sprawling countryside. These are the diverse images evoked by a commodity that means $2.7 billion to the Louisiana economy.
Driving from one end of St. Mary Parish to the other, visitors can’t help but notice field after field of sugarcane, a grass-like stalk that can grow up to 12-feet-tall. That’s because we’re is the second largest sugar producing parish in Louisiana.
The Cajun Coast is celebrating the sweet treat that arrived in Louisiana with the Jesuit priests in 1751. They planted it near where their church now stands on Baronne Street in New Orleans.
On the Cajun Coast, the area’s sugar cane planters were among the South’s wealthiest agriculturists, as reflected by the grand homes built in Franklin and the surrounding countryside.
Most of these magnificent structures still are standing and are well preserved. Franklin’s Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and encompasses over 420 noteworthy structures.
Two sugar refineries – Sterling Sugars and St. Mary Sugar Co-Op – call this parish home. You may even have eaten some of the sugar they’ve produced. Several candy companies have purchased from St. Mary sugar refineries.
5 Ways to Explore the Cajun Coast Sugar Bowl
1- See more of St. Mary! Drive La. 182 through the parish. You’ll see sugarcane growing or being harvested and you’ll be traveling on the Bayou Teche Scenic Byway. 
This 125-mile route winds through three parishes: St. Mary, Iberia, and St. Martin. The byway is home to two distinct cultures-the French Cajun culture of the upper Teche area and the Anglo-Saxon culture of the lower Teche.
2- Buy sugar straight from the source during grinding season (typically October to December) at Sterling Sugar, 611 Irish Bend Road, Franklin, LA 70538. Phone: 337.828.0620
3- Oaklawn Manor, an 1837 Greek Revival manor is the residence of former Louisiana Gov. Murphy J. “Mike” Foster. The home currently is furnished with European antiques, bird carvings and an extensive Audubon collection, but its history with the sugar industry is extensive.
4- Take a walking or driving tour of Historic Downtown Franklin (and visit Franklin Main Street shops housed in historic buildings while you’re in the area) to view historic homes. Request a brochure.
5- The Franklin office of the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau, 15307 Hwy 90 West Frontage Road in Franklin, contains a display explaining the different stages of sugar production from the cane stalk to refined white sugar.
Welcome Dixie Youth
The Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau would like to welcome the players, coaches, family members and friends of the Dixie Youth 10- and 12-year-old South Regional Majors tournament and North Regional AAA tournament.
We will play host to 32 teams of Dixie Youth players (480 players and coaches) July 15-19 in Morgan City and Bayou Vista.
Tournament play kicks off Friday, July 15 at 1 p.m. Play times are the same in all locations. Schedules are:
—Friday: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
—Saturday: 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
—Sunday: 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.
—Monday: 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
—Tuesday: (Championship Game) 5:30 p.m.
Games will be played on fields at Bayou Vista Community Center. Morgan City play will be at fields in Complex Park (go to the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium and follow the signs).
Entry fees at both parks are $7 per day per person per park or patrons can purchase a $30 tournament pass allowing entry into all parks for the entire week.
Rain delays or other changes will be announced on smcbaseball.com.
In Morgan City, Central Catholic hamburgers and sno balls will be sold. In Bayou Vista, the fare includes hamburgers cooked by the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office, jambalaya, nachos and Frito pies. T-shirts also will be sold at both locations.
When you’re not playing baseball, we’ve got lots of fun activities for the kids as well as live music during dinner for the adults. There are museums for entertainment and fast food for a quick meal as well.
In short, there’s something for everyone on the Cajun Coast.
While you’re here, don’t forget to share your adventures on social media (we’re on just about all of them @CajunCoast!) and add the hashtag #CajunCoast so we can find you!
Why is Monday Red Beans and Rice Day?
In the 19th century, Monday typically was laundry day. Without a washing machine, the lady of the house tended to every article of clothing by hand. That didn’t leave much time for cooking, so dinner had to be something that required little attention. Enter the red kidney bean, brought to South Louisiana by those fleeing Haiti’s slave rebellion.
After soaking the night before, the beans were set on the stove with the “trinity,” the quintessential Cajun cooking base of onions, bell peppers and celery. It also was traditional to throw in the Sunday dinner’s ham bone for flavor. That’s now often replaced with sausage to complete a comfort food familiar to all South Louisiana dinner tables.
Serve your red beans over white rice and offer hot sauce so guests can make it as spicy as they’d like.
Here’s your 
recipe for authentic Cajun red beans and rice:
1 pound dry kidney beans
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 cups water
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon Beazell’s Cajun Seasoning
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
4 cups water
2 cups long grain white rice
• Rinse beans, and then soak in a large pot of water overnight.
• In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, garlic and celery in olive oil for 3-4 minutes.
• Rinse beans and transfer to a large pot with 6 cups water. Stir cooked vegetables into beans. Season with bay leaves, cayenne pepper, thyme, sage, parsley and Beazell’s. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 2.5 hours.
• Stir sausage into beans and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the rice. In a saucepan, bring water and rice to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Honky Tonk Hometown
The Last Honky Tonk Music Series brings national acts to small communities across the country, creating a camaraderie between artists and music lovers.
The series is a volunteer network comprised of artists, venue owners, radio programmers, sponsors, music industry professionals and music lovers now headquartered in Morgan City, LA thanks to a partnership with D.a.T SaUcE.
“Morgan City, LA is now our ‘Honky Tonk Hometown,’ as it has become our National Headquarters for LHTMS,” Chief Administrator Brigitte London said.
“Our office is located in Morgan City in the building of our national sponsor, D.a.T. SaUcE. on Hwy. 182 E. We are excited about all of the musicians we bring to the area on a weekly basis, in addition to the wonderful local talent that currently exists. We intend on creating a music destination in this beautiful bayou country with events, festivals and visitors to our headquarters location,” she added.
The Last Honky Tonk Music Series is a historic Roots Music Series featuring national artists performing in official venues on a weekly, monthly or seasonal basis, depending on the venue. From small honky tonks to large outdoor arenas, shows vary in size and structure with solo acoustic performances and full band shows featuring artists in the roots country, southern rock, blues, folk, Americana, outlaw country and bluegrass genres who are committed to bringing authentic and powerful show performances to audiences of all sizes, cultures and creeds.
The Last Honky Tonk Music Series officially launched on March 23, 2014 at Bobby Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, KY. Since then, hundreds of shows have taken place across the United States.
In Morgan City, shows are brought weekly to Acadiana Bar and Grill. To check the schedule, updated every week, visit the Cajun Coast Live Music page.
Dat Sauce & Last Honky Tonk Music Series will present the 1st Road to 3rd Street Songwriters Festival to be held in Morgan City, LA in April 2017.
The festival is a kickoff to the fabulous 3rd Street Songwriters Festival in Baton Rouge, LA. Road to 3rd Street will feature legendary songwriters as well as up-and-comers in all genres.
Writers will range between “hit writers” hailing from Nashville, Tenn., to local talent. The event even will include a Young Songwriters Spotlight. In addition to performances in select venues across the city, there will also be workshops and classes, a bayou songwriter’s retreat/workshop, a kick-off party/seafood boil/jam bayou-style, vendor booths, a cooking contest, a Write-On-The-Spot Contest and more.
When the full schedule of events is solidified, tickets will go on sale.
Get Social with #CajunCoast: Featured Photo
Instagram poster @tltickets, whose real name is Tara Gauthreaux, has a feed full primarily of one gorgeous nature shot after another.
If she is a painter of sunrises, sunsets and gorgeous skyscapes, then Louisiana is her canvas.
This shot, captured in April, particularly captured our hearts because of its subject – Cypremort Point State Park.
Scrolling through Instagram, it’s hard not to be taken with the striking sunsets that are consistently posted from Cypremort Point. Whether staying in the cabins there overnight or visiting for the day to fish, lounge on the beach, observe abundant wildlife or launch a boat for watersports, it seems that all visitors are taken with the magnificent sunrises and sunsets that overlook the Gulf of Mexico from this vantage point.
When you’re given a canvas this magnificent, you simply must hold onto it as long as you can.