Events in Abbeville Louisiana

Looking for top-notch, inexpensive family entertainment, great food, a beautiful outdoor experience and some of the best music in the world? Two words: Louisiana festivals.

More than 400 Louisiana festivals occur each year – which makes it easy to see why Louisiana is often called the Festival Capital of America. We celebrate just about every crop harvested, every indigenous dish, every type of music that's played here – ranging from Cajun and zydeco to Delta blues, New Orleans jazz, Louisiana's own swamp pop, country, salsa and more. Excellent Louisiana food is a given at any festival. And as always, Louisiana festivals offer abundant opportunities for meeting new friends.

Themed festivals range from a Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula and Tomato Festival in Chalmette to the great Festival International in Lafayette; from the big Contraband Days Pirate Festival in Lake Charles to the Holiday Festival of Lights in Natchitoches. From the Red River Revel in Shreveport to the Catfish Festival in Washington. Of course, you'll want to visit the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, or the big family-fun French Quarter Festival.

And for the biggest of them all? That's right, Louisiana is home to Mardi Gras! But that's another story – and a very large one across the state!

A tradition of great oyster bars runs deep in the history of Abbeville thanks to the first 19th century oystermen who used the Vermillion River flowing through town as an avenue to sell their fresh harvest. Abbeville remains a destination for oyster lovers who satisfy their cravings at a cluster of modern mollusk emporiums. The city's French heritage runs deeper still, beginning with its founder, the Catholic missionary Père Antoine Désiré Mégret, who in 1843 named Abbeville for his hometown in France. He modeled the town's original plan after a typical French village, and today Magdalen Square gives Abbeville a picturesque downtown center with its gazebo, fountain and the historic St. Mary Magdalen Church. Abbeville is home to several annual festivals, including the Giant Omelette Festival each November when cooks prepare a 5,000-egg specimen outdoors. Downtown offers shopping, art galleries, museums and history tours, while birding trails and golf beckon nearby.