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Contact: David West
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
6/25/98
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - It will be Mardi Gras in July at the 19th annual Natchitoches - Northwestern Folk Festival July 17-18 in Prather Coliseum. Residents from the community of Grand Marais between New Iberia and Jeanerette will be at the festival to display local Mardi Gras costumes and discuss local traditions.
The theme of this year's festival is "Celebrating Louisiana's Creoles: Their Communities and Culture." The Natchitoches - Northwestern Folk Festival is sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University. The Louisiana Creole Heritage Center at NSU is helping coordinate this year's festival.
Grand Marais is one of the 30 communities in Louisiana where Creole culture has taken root. Many of those communities will create special exhibits at the Folk Festival. These exhibits will become part of the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center's permanent exhibits of Creole photographs, recordings and art.
Costume designer and seamstress Wilda Boutte will display and demonstrate some of her elaborate work at the Folk Festival. Boutte has been making Mardi Gras costumes for more than 35 years. She began by making a Zorro costume for her husband which won first prize. Boutte along with a group of talented friends make more than 20 costumes each year.
Some of her costumes include a design similar to that used by the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans, a jester and a "Three Amigos" costume with Mexican flair. The most popular costume is called the Bedon with traditional colors of gold, green and purple and a tall pointed hat.
An exhibit by Felix Jeanminette, the 1999 parade chairman for next year's Grand Marais Mardi Gras celebration, will also be featured. Jeanminette has been one of the driving forces behind the event which brings 20,000 visitors to the community each year for a parade, dancing and contests.
Mardi Gras has been celebrated in Grand Marais since the early 1900's and has evolved over the years. A big part of the celebration is showing off costumes made by wives and mothers. Participants often exchange costumes and change their walk and speech to fool others.
Music will be an important element of the Festival. More than 20 dance groups including the largest contingent of zydeco musicians ever booked at the Festival will perform. Country-Western, bluegrass, folk, blues and Cajun music will also be presented at one of three performing stages.
Along with the exhibits, crafts, music, stories and cooking, the Folk Festival will also celebrate Louisiana Creole culture with workshops, panel discussions and genealogical studies.
To receive ticket information or more details about this year's Natchitoches-Northwestern Folk Festival, contact the Louisiana Folklife Festival at P.O. Box 3663, NSU, Natchitoches, LA 71497 or call (318) 357-4332.