Waylon Thibodaux headlines 13th Swamp Pop Festival

Add Cajun French words and a little bit of culture to the popular 50s music of Fats Domino and Chuck Berry and you’ve got a genre of music native only to Louisiana and the raucous sound behind 13 years of the Gonzales’ Swamp Pop Festival.

The Swamp Pop Music Festival is Louisiana’s fastest growing festival with 6,000 visitors traveling to Gonzales each July. This might be one of the best places in the world to hear Swamp Pop Music, so join the fun in the fully air-conditioned Lamar Dixon Expo Center Friday, July 16 and Saturday, July 17.

Destiny of Louisiana kicks off the fun Friday at 6 p.m. followed by Aaron Foret, Travis Matte & The Kingpins.

Waylon Thibodeaux, “Louisiana’s Rockin’ Fiddler,” will wrap it up around 12:30 a.m.

On Saturday the music is non-stop from noon to midnight featuring Cliff Nickens, Kenny Fife & Bac Trac, Wayne Foret, Treater with Charles Mann, Kenny Cornett & Killin’ Time; Warren Storm, Willie T & Cypress with special guest Tommy McLain, and Jamie Begeron & the Kickin’ Cajuns.

Wayne Toups will not be playing the festival this year. He was mistakenly listed in the lineup in a photo caption in the Friday Gonzales Weekly Citizen.

In addition to the music, the festival will feature a two-day Jambalaya Association Cook-Off, an open truck and car show presented by Alternate Route Cruisers and a motorcycle poker run. Visitors to the festival can sample some of the tastiest jambalaya found anywhere in the world as dozens of expert jambalaya chefs meet head-to-head in three separate heats.

From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, riders can enter all makes and models of street-legal motorcycles in the Motorcycle Poker Run, “Cruisin’ For A Cure,” to help raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Entry fees are $25 per bike and $5 per additional rider.

This year’s festival is sponsored by Furnace and Tube Service, Guaranty Broadcasting, the Jambalaya Association, Paragon Casino Resort and Braud Welding & Industrial Supply. All proceeds from the Swamp Pop Music Festival benefit the Cystic Fibrosis  Foundation, which works to find a cure for CF and to better the quality of life for those with the disease.

The Swamp Pop Music Festival began as a grassroots effort to support the CF Foundation in 1998 and is now the nation’s largest attended event the CF Foundation puts on in the country.

Admission to the 13th Annual Swamp Pop Festival is $12 on Friday and $10 on Saturday. For more information, visit www.swamppopmusicfest.com or contact the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at 225-769-9994.