Rougarou Festival returns to Houma this weekend, mixing fun, folklore and fundraising

After two pandemic- and hurricane-related cancellations, Houma’s spookiest event returns this weekend, with the goal to raise awareness for Louisiana’s disappearing coast.

Named after the legendary bayou creature that has the head of a wolf and body of a human, the Rougarou Festival celebrates the area’s folklore and culture in true Louisiana fashion: with a celebration that includes a parade, costume contest, Cajun food and folklore storytelling.

At the parade, keep an eye out for costumes made of local materials — moss and oyster shells, for example — bayou boats turned into decorated floats and moves from the 600-person Rougarou Witches dance krewe.

“I’m always impressed with the creativity and artistry for the costume contest,” Jonathan Foret, event organizer and executive director the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center.

But there’s one message that organizers hope comes through loud and clear among revelers: The area’s culture can’t be celebrated if land is lost to coastal erosion and Gulf of Mexico storms.

“If the Rougarou doesn't have a place to live, then neither do we,” Foret said.

The Discovery Center, a brand new facility that intends to increase awareness and education of the area’s important local ecology, is the organizers’ focus of the fundraising and where the festivities are taking place.

Previously:Rougarou Festival combines learning with spooky fun

From 2013:Rougarou Festival draws hundreds downtown

Though festival admission is free, organizers are able to raise money for the center from food, drinks and merchandise sold at the event. In 2019, the Rougarou Fest raised over $100,000 for the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center.

Construction of the educational outreach center, which also aims to revolutionize how people think, teach and learn about the state’s coast and wetlands, began in January 2021; the grounds were completed this fall.

The space boasts a half-acre of man-made wetlands and an educational pavilion with bathrooms onsite. Aside from the Rougarou Fest, the grounds will be used to provide programming like school field trips, classroom visits and summer camps for kids.

Foret said the center is a crucial place for local kids growing up in some of the most vulnerable areas in the world due to climate change.

“It's our responsibility to make sure that the children that grow up in Terrebonne Parish and coastal Louisiana have the knowledge that they need to either live successful lives for as long as they can in the area, or at least be able to weigh the risk of living in a coastal community,” Foret said.

The festival is also set up to be environmentally conscious, with reusable, recyclable or compostable materials being used throughout the weekend, and there will be zero-waste stations to collect those materials.

The festival will also have a recycling center where bottles and cans can be traded for tickets and prizes.

Foret said the festival is also throwing “RouCoins” during the parade. The RouCoin — a play on the word BitCoin — is a wooden token to help keep the festivities clean and can be redeemed later for one free cone of frozen yogurt.

“It also gives us that opportunity to advocate for our community because it's not just where you live,” said Celeste Roger, this year’s Rougarou Queen. “It's our surrounding land, our values, our waterways.”

Roger said she hopes to see the new environmentally-friendly measures at the festival inspire the attendees’ to implement similar initiatives into their daily life.

“It's going to be really awesome to have something where it definitely supports the overall goal and mission of the festival,” Roger said.

Want to go?

What: Rougarou Festival returns to Houma after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic and Hurricane Ida.

When: Oct. 21-23.

Where: South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center and surrounding grounds at 132 Library Drive in Houma, near the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center.

Parking: Spots available next door at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library and Civic Center. There will also be RV camper spots for those coming out of town.

Parade: Unlike previous years, the parade will roll near the Discovery Center instead of downtown. It starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center parking lot adjacent to the skate park. It turns left onto Barrow Street, left onto La. 311, left onto Civic Center Boulevard and left into the Civic Center parking lot.

Admission: Free.

Details: rougaroufest.org.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Rougarou Festival returns to Houma this weekend after two-year hiatus