By: CARISSA HEBERT

Managing Editor

Folk Roots continues today at Chicot State Park and one of the highlights will be a band from Toulouse France, Bombes 2 Bal (B2b), and the Belaire Cove Crawfish Etouffee Cookoff begins at 8 a.m. in Belaire Cove.

This six-piece music ensemble masterfully fuses the traditional sounds of southwest France’s Occitania region with the dance-inspiring music of northeast Brazil, according to information on the band. “The female-fronted B2b, joined live by a pair of dancers, has one primary goal for its music: to make you dance.”

“I think this is the first time a European band comes to Chicot Park, to Evangeline Parish,” Gilbert “Winky” Aucoin, president of Louisiana Folk Roots (LFR), said. “We’re excited.”

LFR organizers are anticipating a visit from a member of the French government. Aucoin said LFR events are underway and he encourages the locals to get involved, not only to learn more about their culture but to share it face-to-face with visitors from around the world.

Gates will open at 10:30 a.m. Admission is $5. Children, 12 and under, and Friends of LFR get in free.

Events at the dance tent include:

•12 noon – A Catholic Mass in French celebrated by Fr. Joshua Guillory and The St. Joseph’s Catholic Church French Choir

•1:30-3 p.m. – Renaissance Cadienne

•3:30-5 p.m. – Corey “Lil’ Pop” Ledet and his Zydeco band

•5:30-7 p.m. – Bombes 2 Bal from Toulouse, France

•7:30-10:30 p.m. – Jeffery Broussard and The Creole Cowboys

Don’t forget at the children’s tent from 1-5 p.m. there will be hands-on traditional crafts and artist-led arts activities.

Belaire Cove Cookoff

Today is the 20th Annual Crawfish Etouffee Cookoff at the church grounds of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Belaire Cove.

Events begin at 8 a.m. with live music. Contestants for the cookoff should check-in by 7:45 a.m. Cooking begins at 8 a.m., and everything must be cooked by 10:30 a.m. All crawfish cooked will be used for the fund raiser beginning at 11 a.m. Lunches will be sold for $6 each. All proceeds will go to the chapel’s fund.

Prizes in the cookoff will be awarded to first, second, and third place. A trophy will be given for Most Original Booth and for Most Decorated Booth.

Registration for the washerboard tournament will be at 9 a.m., and the tournament will begin at 9:30 a.m. This is a new time.

Felton LeJeune and band take the stage at 9:30 a.m.

There also will be a fun jump, clown show, face painting, crafts, refreshments, hamburgers, a sweet shop and an old-time auction at 1 p.m.

Everyone is invited.