Spring is in the air once again, which means that faculty and students are preparing for Nicholls’ seventh annual Jubilee Festival. This year’s events will showcase new events as well as bring back some traditional favorites.Jubilee will begin on March 9 with a traditional event-The Folklife Festival.

“We plan the folklife event because of the high school regional social studies fair so that we can provide a service to those students and their families,” Angela Hammerli, distinguished service professor of the department of education and Jubilee Festival chairperson, said

Local artisans will be presenting their talents in front of Talbot Hall from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Displays will include woodworking, cloth weaving and spinning, drawing and basket weaving.

This year’s events will also include other returning favorites. The ninth annual Cajun and Zydeco Music and Dance Exhibit will be held in the Cotillion Ballroom of Bollinger Memorial Student Union on March 9 at 7 p.m. The event will feature performances by Renaissance Cadienne Cajun Folkloric Dance Troup and musicians Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys.

The Society for Human Resource Management and the American Marketing Association will once again host an etiquette dinner presented by Terry Roach, associate professor of business systems at Arkansas State University, on March 16 at 6 p.m. in the Plantation Room of Bollinger Memorial Student Union.

New events will be presented this year as well. Mike Tidwell, author of “Bayou Farewell” will offer presentations on April 4 at 10:45 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. in Talbot Theater.

Scholarly presentations by Nicholls faculty and students will also be added to this year’s folklife festivities.

Nicholls will also host “Elizabeth I: Ruler and Legend,” a traveling educational exhibit, to be displayed in the Archives of Ellender Memorial Library from March 7 through April 15. In conjunction with the exhibit, Debora Cibelli, associate professor of fine arts; Margaret Minor, associate professor of history; and Virginia McDonald, associate professor of languages and literature, will present a discussion of Elizabeth I at 9 a.m. on April 5 in the multi-purpose room of Ellender Memorial Library.

An advisory committee of about 40 members plans Jubilee events. The committee is made up of faculty, students and community members from the Houma-Thibodaux area.

Jubilee began in 1998 in recognition of Nicholls’ 50th year of operation.