By Dan Diefenderfer
We are blessed to live in such a culture-filled state as Louisiana. There are more festivals than days in a year! We are home to the French Quarter, and being the oldest settlement in the Louisiana purchase puts Natchitoches at the top of the tourist list. The Cajun and Creole settlements throughout Southern Louisiana are like nowhere else in the United States. Here in Louisiana, all the hunting and fishing makes us a “Sportsman’s Paradise.” We have Mardi Gras parades in almost every city in Louisiana. The kids get a five day break from school to celebrate the holiday. We have one of the top-rated music festivals in the World, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, coming up in April and May. We are home to Swamp Pop, Blackened Red Fish, Crawfish Boils, Jambalaya, Gumbo, alligators and we’re the birthplace of Jazz! I could go on for days! Please take time to visit all of our treasured historical sites, festivals, communities and restaurants. You don’t have to travel far!
Here in Central Louisiana, we have three Audubon Golf Courses, beautiful Historic downtown Natchitoches, Melrose Plantation along the River Cane, two world-class casinos, the Alexandria Zoo, our treasured Alexandria Museum and talented Rapides Symphony Orchestra. Avoyelles Parish, which is the only French settlement in Central Louisiana, is home to some of the best Cracklins and food in the state, the 4th of July festival and Cenla’s largest casino/hotel/RV park and Golf Course at Paragon Casino and Resort. Leesville holds the annual May Fest. Cenla is home to four micro-breweries. We need to, as a community, support these places and events at our local levels and throughout the state.
I hear all the time,”If there was only more to do here.” Then, a great band will come to town and no one shows up. We are chock a block full of things to do and the best way to continue to grow Central Louisiana is to support the Arts and to travel and enjoy the wonderful places Louisiana and our culture offers. As always, travel safe and pass a good time. Don’t forget to check out 318Central.com to find out what’s going on, we LOVE our READERS! Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Dief
