The Best of the Bayou Festival presented by Rouses Supermarkets will showcase Houma and the surrounding area as a “premier tourist destination through a multi-day celebration of music, food, arts and our unique culture” this weekend.
The Best of The Bayou Festival is a free event scheduled for Sept. 29th from 10 a.m to 10 p.m. and Sept. 30th from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m in the Downtown Houma area.
The festival is owned by the Best of the Bayou Foundation, which is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to create grants to give to local charities. The event is managed by The Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce but depends on volunteers in order for the event to be a success.
Food, games and pure southern Louisiana culture will adorn this festival as it jumpstarts the journey of bringing tourism back into the area.
Inside the Festival Market presented by Gulf Coast Market place, several arts and crafts booths showing original works and items native to the region will be set up for festivalgoers to view.
Also, Chevron is sponsoring the Bayouland Kids Korner that will include several kid friendly attractions which includes a rock wall and arts and crafts. Kids Korner will be open from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Festival manager Lori Toups Benoit said that this festival could be compared to the Downtown on the Bayou Festival that Houma used to host about a decade ago.
“This festival is new and exciting, especially with the caliber of bands we’ve booked,” Benoit said.” Best of the Bayou will hopefully give locals an event to be proud of and also showcase “the bayou” as a wonderful place for visitors to enjoy!”
According to Benoit, festival goers can expect “top notch entertainment.”  The bands hail from several surrounding areas in the state including the bayou areas, New Orleans and Acadiana. Nationally known headliners include Marc Broussard, Ruthie Foster, Cowboy Mouth and GIVERS. Twenty-five bands in total will grace the two festival stages beginning at 11 a.m on Saturday and 11:30 a.m on Sunday.
“Some bands are ‘old’ and more established, while some are relatively new, ” Benoit said. “The genres of bands are varied but all include that southern flavor. We hope to also introduce festival goers to some bands they may not have known about otherwise if it were not for the festival.”
Beau Porche, lead member of Houma’s funk rock band Beau Porche and the Backstabbers, who will be performing at the festival on Saturday, said he believes that the festival is the beginning of something special for the Houma-Terrebonne area.
“Not only is it a great place for these local and national acts to connect with their audiences, but I think it’s going to inject life into Houma,” Porche said.
Porche also said the he and the band have an exciting and energetic hour-long performance lined up for festival goers.
“We’re going to try and keep them moving and smiling the whole time,” Porche said.
Joe Stark, singer of the rock band Baby Bee from Houma who is also performing at the festival on Saturday, said that this festival is “going to rock.”
“We’re going to have a great time if we don’t rain out and we are super excited because it is out first big show in a long time,” Stark said.  “The festival showcases a lot of great artists in southern Louisiana and I think that the festival has a great roster. Any time people can come together with music it’s all good.”
British Petroleum was also involved in funding the festival by providing seed money to the Louisiana Office of Tourism as a part of the multi-million dollar settlement after the 2010 oil spill that affected the Gulf Coast region.
Benoit hopes that the community’s support of this festival will continue throughout the years to come.
“We obviously hope the festival accomplishes its mission and sustains itself so that it can remain free, like with other famous festivals in Louisiana such as French Quarter Festival or Festival Internationale in Lafayette,” Beniot said.
Visit www.bestofthebayou.org for additional information about volunteering services for the festival. Also, follow the festival on Twitter at @BestofTheBayou and like their Facebook page Best of The Bayou Festival.