This month, as we traveled across Acadiana visiting the many different places of worship and faith, we were consistently welcomed by pastors, priests, leaders and congregations. When we asked if we could take photos, the answer was always a resounding “yes!” When we wanted to know more, they…
On any given day in Acadiana, there are myriad signs of the deep roots of faith that have held the area together throughout its storied history. On the following pages are images of just a few of the people, places and objects – as seen one hot summer weekend – that help tell that story.
Sitting in the downtown Lafayette studio of glass artist Craig McCullen, I had the opportunity to see some of his best – and newest – work come together as he prepared for an upcoming exhibit at the Baton Rouge Gallery. Each piece is imaginative and whimsical and begging for its story to be …
Among the adherents of the Catholic faith, there is a generation of millennial priests who are abiding by Pope Francis’s request to evangelize with joy and employ innovation and creativity in reaching out to people at their most vulnerable. Among the new socially progressive priests is Fathe…
Carnival. It’s the festive season that comes to a simmer at Twelfth Night and builds until it boils over with Mardi Gras, the world’s biggest free party. For a few weeks, we stand united, wrapped in a tapestry of purple, green and gold. But like many other institutions, such as church and ba…
It was a scene spanning past and future. Two couples sat in a local coffee shop, laughing and chatting easily. Effron and Patsy Savoy, their granddaughter Alise Champagne Dugas, and her new groom Dylan Dugas. (Full disclosure: Dylan wasn’t actually, physically, IN the coffee shop; he was Fac…
It’s 7 p.m. in early December, and Lane Blanchard is just getting in from a long day in the cane fields. Like other growers, he has been cutting his cane since the first week of October. With grinding season nearly finished now, he and his crew at Lane Blanchard Farms in Loreauville will be …
Santa Claus, it seems, sometimes gets a bad rap. Many besmirch the jolly old guy as a symbol of the materialism that Christmas in the United States has become – rampant commercialism, greedy consumerism, putting pressure on parents to fulfill even the most outrageous demands of their childre…
Certain sides are a mainstay on the holiday menu. Green bean casserole, anyone? In fact, in some families, it’s downright sacrilege to suggest anything different. We put out a social call on Facebook to curate your favorite (and least favorite) sides during the holidays. Check out what we learned.
Café Vermilionville has long been a first-choice restaurant for special occasions, romantic dinners, intimate cocktails and spectacular weddings in and around the Acadiana area. It’s also the perfect place to enjoy casual drinks after work in its cozy bar or listen to live music on the brick…
Cooking is LIFE!” Debbie Landry Brown says those words sitting in her mother’s kitchen, recipes on 3x5 cards spread out over the counter. “Before COVID, my mom would have all her kids and the grandkids over for a meal, once a month. It was Christmas Dinner every time!”
Thanksgiving is upon us once again – the time when we dust off the go-to holiday menu, dodge that traffic trying to hit up all the grocery stores before they run out of stuffing mix, prep dishes days in advance, and then spend the whole day cooking over the hot stove, using every pot and ute…
Built in 1896, T’Frere’s House rests – or looms, depending on the angle – defiantly anachronistic at the very end of Camellia Boulevard in Lafayette. The Victorian home and B&B feels like a snapshot you can walk through: like a tintype you find full of faces without names. It’s lovely fo…
As one of 12 siblings who grew up in the food industry, Maurice native Rachael Hebert has been cooking her whole life. Self-taught in the culinary arts and schooled by example, she eventually branched off on her own and opened Rachael’s Café in January 2012 in a strip mall at 104 Republic Av…
When Tommy Falgout was in his twenties, overseeing the staff of the Boys & Girls Clubs in Abbeville and developing its program, he once spent a day on the club’s rooftop as a stunt to increase membership. He also rode a large tricycle and ate baby food (of the staff’s choice). In the end…
Acadiana is home to a diverse farming community, ranging from small-scale operations on a few acres of land to family enterprises that span thousands of acres and multiple generations. Vegetables, fruit, cane, meat, seafood, flowers, herbs and honey, to name a few, grow abundantly here, than…
When Walteen Broussard and her husband Ted moved into their Charenton home, a fabulously renovated barn with a long foyer, she finally had the space she always wanted to display the Sugar Cane Festival posters she’d collected over the years – with plenty of room for more.
Her’s was not a typical reign, but then again, nothing was typical in 2020. When Erin Jeanne Blanchard was crowned at the 2019 Sugar Cane Festival, no one could know the events that would soon follow. It didn’t take long to discover, though, Erin was not one to let a pandemic set her plans a…
In June of 2020, during the peak of the pandemic, a group of restaurant workers banded together and decided they were ready to make a change. Determined to open their own place – and run it by their own rules – they combined their talents and opened Misfits Dine & Drink, an upscale-casua…
Wayne “Blue” Burns wasn’t expecting to have an epiphany that day last summer when he began reading the newly-erected information kiosk at the Bayou Teche Paddle Trail in Jeanerette’s Bicentennial Park. There, written on the kiosk, was a section on the history and heritage of music in the Jea…
We aren’t the only ones in Acadiana asking that question. It’s on everyone’s minds these days. Will they or won’t they have the Sugar Cane Festival? Will they or won’t they have the Gumbo Cookoff? What about Beneath the Balconies?
Shannon Gonsoulin’s story is one of deep roots fixed firmly in the land of his ancestors, a cross-continental search into his rich lineage, and a discovery that his passion for ranching was a destiny set forth by the first Gonsoulin to arrive in Acadiana.
You have your father’s twinkling blue eyes. You laugh like your mom. Didn’t Aunt Nora make that same face in pictures? There are so many characteristics and tendencies we inherit from our families. And if you’re an Hébert from Acadiana, you probably have some creative abilities that run deep…
Sometimes the creative contrast of something beautiful against something edgy makes for jaw-dropping imagery. That’s what we discovered when styling this month’s bridal photoshoot at an abandoned paper mill in New Iberia. The iconic brick smokestack near the corner of East Main and North Lew…
“It usually takes three weeks to plan for an impromptu speech.”
Gene Todaro was born and raised in Palermo, Sicily – and he definitely knows authentic Italian cuisine. His tight-knit Sicilian family and the cherished recipes they’ve carried across continents are the lifeblood of Marcello’s Lafayette, the restaurant he founded decades ago.
You’ve been dreaming of this day since that special someone popped the question, and now after a few weeks of reveling in your new couple status, you break into planning mode – or maybe you break into a sweat!
Raising enough money to help families buy a home of their own sounds like serious business, but it doesn’t have to be serious at all. A group of enterprising New Iberia women has shown what can be achieved with crazy costumes, brightly colored wigs, rhinestone tiaras, and lots of planning an…
Over the past year, our students, parents, teachers and administrators have been asked to manage a herculean task during COVID. Depending on the school your child attended, you may have seen uninterrupted in-class learning, remote learning or a hybrid of both. As of publication date for this…
Public libraries are communal hubs, so when COVID abruptly suspended many of the services provided by Acadiana’s multiple branches, administrators had to rethink their approach. Card-carrying patrons could no longer spend afternoons perusing books on shelves, nor spend a Saturday learning so…
Sitting in his Church Point home on the land he’s known his whole life, poet Darrell Bourque settles down for our interview. His wife Karen, a glass artist, slips to the back cottage to work on her latest project. We watch as his two cats vie for ruling rights outside. One of his two daughte…
There’s no shortage of beautiful historic downtowns in Louisiana, but Acadiana’s Main Streets are especially alluring. Read on to rediscover what beckons visitors and locals to these three downtowns.
I have a sepia-toned memory that resurfaces around this time each year, when the days are still too hot to think about fall, but when talk of the new school year is beginning to enter our conversations.
The academic landscape went from bustling halls to Zoom calls, and teachers and students had to constantly adapt to new standards. One Iberia Parish public school teacher and one Episcopal School of Acadiana (ESA) student share their stories of
The past year’s damaging storms and pandemic-related woes have created increased needs throughout Louisiana, yet fundraising has become more difficult for local nonprofits, schools and churches. That’s why Community Foundation of Acadiana (CFA) hoped 2021 SOLA Giving Day would be especially …
Retired Colonel Dracos Burke is meticulous in his recounting of a life that has spanned 102 years this September. At first glance his story is one of an honorable military career, but with a little tugging at the layers, Burke emerges also as a husband and father who gave his children what t…
At first I thought it was just New Iberia. In the year since moving here, I’ve sensed a strong cohesiveness in this city – a thread of persistent interconnectedness woven in its tapestry. “Everyone knows everyone,” I was told. But this month, when I visited with each of our eight Women Makin…
If you’re driving along New Iberia’s E. St. Peter Street, you’ll likely spot a simple block building splashed with a brightly-colored Cajun mural. It looks unassuming, but looks are deceiving. Inside is a dining spot housing the best overstuffed seafood poboys you’ll ever try – along with th…
When my husband and I moved to New Iberia last year, we didn’t know exactly what our lives would look like. Like so many others, the pandemic had forced us to adapt, so we settled in and embraced our new community. Eventually, though, I began to feel a tug – at first faint, then insistent. A…
We are very happy to welcome Anne Songy, who recently joined the team at Acadiana Lifestyle as our new editor. Anne, a Baton Rouge native, has been writing and editing for various publications and organizations since graduating from the LSU Manship School of Journalism. She and her husband m…
The word “fate” had to come to mind when Edward Fremin discovered that the New Iberia home he and partner Joey Billeaud had purchased, in 2006, was designed by Owen Southwell, who built the former and present St. Peter’s Church. What better place for Fremin to display his collection of over …
Bigger and bolder than ever, Bon Temps Grill is thriving at its new Oil Center location. With shades of bright blue and green, a new entrance and a pink faux-gator bougie bar, the restaurant has a buzz-worthy vibe. But, you’ll still find Bon Temps’ authentic Cajun favorites – with a twist --…
This month’s fashion feature is especially buzzworthy, thanks to Basin Arts of Lafayette and the talented artists who show in their gallery. Every photo of the spring fashion shoot features a background that is bursting with color and creativity - a sight made possible by the collaborative e…
When I was hired by founding publisher Art Suberbielle as the Associate Editor of this publication,I immediately fell in love with this magazine. But more than that, I believed so fiercely in its potential. Last year when I was named Publisher of The Daily Iberian and Acadiana Lifestyle I be…
