Iberville Parish Louisiana International Acadian Festival
Plaquemine sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where Bayou Plaquemine cuts through the middle of town. Every autumn the town turns its bayou front into a stage for its own history, and the International Acadian Festival is the weekend when Plaquemine tells the story of the people who built it. The festival takes its name from the Acadian exiles who settled along the bayous of south Louisiana, and its centrepiece is a ceremony on the water itself, with pirogues gliding in by firelight to re-enact the arrival of Evangeline. Visitors come for the music and the food, for the parade and the fireworks, and for a gathering on the parish calendar since the late nineteen sixties. The Knights of Columbus, Plaquemine Council 970, organise the weekend, on grounds along the waterfront park named for a former mayor.
About
The International Acadian Festival is Plaquemine’s annual celebration of Acadian heritage, held on the banks of Bayou Plaquemine in the parish seat of Iberville Parish. The sheet title is printed as the event’s name, and the published name form is the same “International Acadian Festival”. The festival was first held in 1969 as “The Cajun Festival”, created to instil pride in the community’s Acadian heritage and the history of Plaquemine. A local organiser is credited in the layers read as the brainchild behind the first gathering, recorded here by role only, since neither the brief section nor the facts file prints a personal name.
The festival’s signature moment is the Water Ceremony, held on Bayou Plaquemine itself. Evangeline and Indian princesses arrive by fire-lit pirogues, re-enacting the scene from Longfellow’s poem that has shaped how Louisiana tells the Acadian story. The ceremony is followed by a full weekend of carnival rides, live music, Cajun food, arts and crafts, a cornhole tournament, a cooking contest, fireworks, a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, a Blessing of the Grounds, and a pageant. The grounds sit at the Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park, on the bayou in downtown Plaquemine, and the C.M. “Mike” Zito Multipurpose Center has hosted the festival for several years. One layer says the 2026 edition relocates to the Multipurpose Center because of a scheduling conflict at the Waterfront Park, while a festival-guide layer lists the Waterfront Park for that same year, and the two accounts are carried here unmerged.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Published name | International Acadian Festival |
| Host town | Plaquemine, Louisiana |
| Parish seat | Plaquemine |
| Venue | Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park |
| Organiser | Knights of Columbus, Plaquemine Council 970 |
| First held | 1969, as “The Cajun Festival” |
| Best documented edition | Fifty-fifth annual, October 2023 |
| Most recent edition listed | Fifty-eighth annual, October 2026 |
| Centrepiece | Water Ceremony on Bayou Plaquemine |
| Admission in 2023 | Five dollars |
History
The International Acadian Festival began in 1969 under the name “The Cajun Festival”. The layers read credit a local organiser with the idea, and the festival was created to instil pride in the community’s Acadian heritage and the history of Plaquemine. That purpose has stayed at the centre of the weekend ever since. The Acadians who settled this part of Louisiana arrived as exiles from Nova Scotia, and their descendants built the towns along the bayous and the river. The festival’s Water Ceremony draws directly on that story, staging the arrival of Evangeline by pirogue on the bayou, with firelight on the water, as a living version of Longfellow’s poem.
The record of dated editions is strong. The fifty-fifth annual edition ran from the twenty-seventh to the twenty-ninth of October 2023, opening Friday from five in the evening until eleven at night, running Saturday from eleven in the morning until eleven at night, and closing Sunday from noon until nine in the evening. The fifty-eighth annual edition is listed for the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth of October 2026. A pageant was held on Saturday the twenty-fifth of October 2025, on the festival grounds inside the City of Plaquemine Community Center. The 2019 edition ran from the eighteenth to the twenty-first of October 2019. The billings are carried as printed, and the layers give 1969 as the first year. The Knights of Columbus, Plaquemine Council 970, have organised the weekend throughout the recent record, and its purpose has stayed the same: a public celebration of Acadian heritage in the town where that heritage is lived every day.
For a useful comparison, see the Iberia Parish Louisiana El Espanol de Nueva Iberia Festival for another county festival.
What to Expect
A visit to the International Acadian Festival begins on the waterfront, and the Water Ceremony is the moment to plan around. Evangeline and Indian princesses arrive by fire-lit pirogues on Bayou Plaquemine, re-enacting Longfellow’s poem as the crowd watches from the bank. The ceremony is the festival’s most distinctive feature, and it sets the tone for everything that follows: this is a heritage festival first, and a fairground second. The Blessing of the Grounds opens the weekend in a similar spirit, and the pageant and parade carry the celebration through the town.
The rest of the programme fills the grounds from morning to night. Carnival rides run through the weekend, and live music plays across the stages while vendors sell Cajun food and arts and crafts. The cooking contest draws local cooks into competition, and the cornhole and Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments give visitors a way to take part rather than only watch. A parade runs on Sunday at half past ten in the morning, and fireworks close out the weekend after dark. Families tend to spend the daylight hours on the rides and the food stalls, and the evenings on the music and the fireworks. The grounds are compact, with the bayou on one side and the downtown streets on the other, so a visitor can move between the waterfront, the rides and the food court without a long walk.
Planning Your Visit
Plaquemine is the parish seat of Iberville Parish, and the festival grounds sit in the middle of downtown, on Bayou Plaquemine. The Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park is the usual venue, and the C.M. “Mike” Zito Multipurpose Center has hosted the festival for several years, so a visitor should confirm which ground holds the edition they plan to attend, since the layers read carry two different accounts for 2026. The 2023 edition ran Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday from noon until nine in the evening, and the 2026 edition is listed for the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth of October. Friday evening gives a visitor the opening hours and the first taste of the food stalls, Saturday is the fullest day, and Sunday carries the parade at half past ten in the morning and the closing hours.
Admission is a point where the record disagrees, and a visitor should be ready for either figure. The organiser’s own flyer for the 2023 edition printed an entrance charge of five dollars, and that figure is fenced to that year. A festival-guide layer reports gate admission of around twenty-six dollars in recent years, with children under ten admitted free, and that figure is carried unmerged with the 2023 figure, since the layers do not settle which price applies to a given year. Food, rides and tournament entries are separate from the gate. Parking sits on the downtown streets around the grounds, a short walk from the waterfront. The grounds are outdoors, so a visitor should dress for an October weekend on the bayou, with sun cover for the afternoon and a layer for the evening, when the fireworks go up over the water.
A Sample Itinerary
A Saturday visit makes the best use of the festival’s fullest day. Arrive in the late morning, when the rides are running and the food stalls are open, and start with a walk along the waterfront. Spend the middle of the day on the food court and the arts and crafts stalls, and look in on the cooking contest and the cornhole tournament. In the late afternoon, find a place on the bank for the Water Ceremony, when the fire-lit pirogues come down the bayou with Evangeline and the Indian princesses aboard. Stay for the evening music and the fireworks after dark. A Sunday visit follows a different rhythm: arrive for the parade at half past ten in the morning, spend the afternoon on the rides and the pageant, and leave before the nine o’clock close. A Friday evening visit is the quietest option, with the opening hours from five in the evening until eleven at night.
A Comparison
The International Acadian Festival is often mentioned alongside the Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette, but the two are different events, and the layers read fence them apart. The Lafayette festival is a large international music gathering, while the Plaquemine festival is a parish heritage weekend built around a single town’s Acadian story and staged on its own bayou. The Water Ceremony has no counterpart in Lafayette: the pirogues, the firelight and the re-enactment of Longfellow’s poem belong to Plaquemine alone. The Plaquemine programme is smaller and more local in scale, with a parish pageant, a cornhole tournament, a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, and a cooking contest run by the town’s own organisations, above all the Knights of Columbus, Plaquemine Council 970. For a visitor already in Iberville Parish, the Plaquemine festival tells the story of the place itself, on the water where that story happened.
Checklist
- Confirm the venue for your edition, since the layers carry two accounts for 2026
- Arrive Friday evening for the quietest hours, or Saturday for the fullest day
- Plan around the Water Ceremony on the bayou, the festival’s signature moment
- Be at the parade route by half past ten on Sunday morning
- Carry cash for food stalls, rides and tournament entries, which sit apart from the gate
- Check the admission figure for your year, since the layers record two prices
- Dress for an October weekend outdoors, with sun cover for the afternoon and a layer for the evening
- Leave time for the fireworks after dark
- Look in on the cooking contest and the pageant
- Set aside time to walk the downtown streets around the grounds
Beyond the Festival
Plaquemine rewards a visitor who stays past the festival hours. The town sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River, and the bayou that carries the Water Ceremony runs through the middle of downtown. The courthouse square holds the parish’s civic history, and the riverfront gives a view of the working river that shaped the town. Iberville Parish’s Acadian heritage runs through the whole area, and the festival is only its most public expression: the food, the music and the French names on the street signs all trace back to the same settlement story. A visitor with an extra day can drive the parish roads along the bayou country, where small towns and churches carry the same heritage in quieter form.
Why It Matters
The International Acadian Festival matters because it keeps a community’s origin story in public view. Plaquemine’s Acadian heritage is not a museum exhibit; it is the history of the families who settled the bayous, built the town, and still live there. The festival’s Water Ceremony stages that story on the water itself, with pirogues and firelight and the figure of Evangeline, and it does so in the town where the story is rooted. The festival also matters as a civic institution: organised by the Knights of Columbus, Plaquemine Council 970, it brings the town’s organisations, cooks, musicians, pageant contestants and parade marchers together for a single weekend, as it has since 1969. For a visitor, the festival is a way into that history that no book can match, because the story is told on the bayou, in the open air, by the people who live it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes the Water Ceremony different from the rest of the programme?
The Water Ceremony is staged on Bayou Plaquemine itself, with Evangeline and Indian princesses arriving by fire-lit pirogues to re-enact Longfellow’s poem. The rest of the programme is a fairground weekend of rides, music, food and tournaments, while the ceremony is a piece of theatre on the water that belongs to Plaquemine alone.
Which ground should I head for on the day?
The Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park is the usual venue, in downtown Plaquemine on the bayou. The C.M. “Mike” Zito Multipurpose Center has hosted it for several years, and one layer says the 2026 edition relocates there because of a scheduling conflict, while a festival-guide layer lists the Waterfront Park for the same year, so confirm the venue before you travel.
How do the two admission figures in the record fit together?
They do not settle into one price. The organiser’s flyer for the 2023 edition printed an entrance charge of five dollars, fenced to that year. A festival-guide layer reports gate admission of around twenty-six dollars in recent years, with children under ten admitted free. Carry enough for the higher figure and treat the lower one as a past edition’s price.
Is the Lafayette festival the same event under another name?
No. The Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette is a different event, and the layers read fence it apart from the Plaquemine festival. Lafayette’s gathering is a large international music event, while Plaquemine’s is a parish heritage weekend built around its own Acadian story and bayou.
What to Expect From the Next Iberville Parish Louisiana International Acadian Festival
How often is Iberville Parish Louisiana International Acadian Festival held?
The festival is an annual autumn gathering. The layers read list a fifty-fifth annual edition in October 2023 and a fifty-eighth annual edition in October 2026, a yearly rhythm on the parish calendar.
When is the next Iberville Parish Louisiana International Acadian Festival?
The most recent edition in the layers read is the fifty-eighth annual, listed for the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth of October 2026. A following edition would fall in the autumn after that date, with exact days set closer to the time.
Will the dates change?
The festival has kept an October place on the calendar across the editions in the record: the 2019 edition ran from the eighteenth to the twenty-first of October, the 2023 edition from the twenty-seventh to the twenty-ninth, and the 2026 edition is listed for the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth. The weekend moves within October from year to year, so confirm the exact days once the organisers announce them.
The International Acadian Festival is Plaquemine’s way of keeping its own history alive in public, on the water and in the streets where that history happened. A visitor who plans around the Water Ceremony, arrives in time for the Sunday parade, and leaves room for the food, the music and the fireworks will see the festival as it is meant to be seen: a parish seat celebrating the Acadian story that built it, year after year, on the banks of Bayou Plaquemine.
