Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle
, October 13, 2008 23:41
Who will be named the 2008 Chef de Riz? The Chef de Riz will be chosen from the eight winners in the Rice and Creole Cookery Contest to be held Friday. Contestants will compete in the categories: Rice and Meat, Rice and Seafood, Rice Salad or Vegetable, and Rice Dessert, with four age divisions for each category (only the teen and adult divisions are eligible for Chef de Riz).
The International Rice Festival in Crowley, LA was first held in 1937. Crowley is a little west of Lafayette in the very Cajun Acadia Parish, and that is reflected in the musical entertainment for the festival: Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys, The Lost Bayou Ramblers, Lil Nathan & The Zydeco Big Times, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Jamie Bergeron & The Kickin’ Cajuns, the Prairie Cajun Fiddlers, the Bayou Boys, Gumbo Zydeco, Leon Chavis & The Zydeco Flames… that’s just a sampling. If you love zydeco and cajun music (we do!), the International Rice Festival is for you.
It’s not ALL music and dancing. There will be a demonstration of rice threshing, The International Rice Eating Contest, and a rice grading contest. Other activities include a classic car show, a poker run, the crowning of the festival queen, a 5K run, an outdoor arts and crafts show, a frog derby, a children’s parade, and the Grand Parade.
