Mickela: I so appreciate it.

Thanks for dancing so much.

Thank you, Harry.

Thank you.

I just lost about six inches.

I'm a dancer, and I'm a traveler.

And wherever I go, I experience the world one dance at a time.

I'm Mickela Mallozzi.

and this is "Bare Feet."

♪ "Bare Feet" is supported in part by... Announcer: Bloomberg Connects gives you a way to experience the arts from your mobile phone.

You can explore hundreds of cultural organizations from around the world anytime, anywhere.

Learn more at bloombergconnects.org or wherever you find your apps.

Announcer: Additional funding was provided by Koo and Patricia Yuen through The Yuen Foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

And by the Ann H. Symington Foundation.

Announcer: The island of Ireland.

You should always listen to your heart.

Fill your heart with Ireland.

♪ Mickela: Welcome to Lafayette, Louisiana.

I'm here to celebrate the 50th annual Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, a yearly celebration of the rich and diverse history and cultures living and thriving here in Lafayette.

Cajuns are the descendants of the Acadiens, the French who settled in Acadia, Canada, in the 17th and 18th centuries.

They were then expelled and fled to French Louisiana here in Lafayette starting in the early 18th century, and they've been here ever since.

My first stop is to the Blue Moon Saloon & Guest House to get an introduction to the Cajun culture.

The Blue Moon Saloon is one of the most famous venues for local musicians here in Lafayette.

It's a no-frills, laid-back kind of vibe here, and every Wednesday, they host the Cajun Jam, starting with a lesson in Cajun and zydeco dance styles prior to the evening's music jam.

This week's lesson is led by third-generation Cajun music and dancer Adeline Miller.

Tell me the difference between Cajun music and Cajun dancing and zydeco.

Adeline Miller: Cajun and zydeco music came up at the same time parallel to each other, and there's a lot of influence that are shared, and there's a lot of things that make it different.

The zydeco music has a lot of African beat to it and rhythm to it, and the Cajun music from Acadie, where they had a lot of French, like, stringed instruments and everything.

There is a similarity, but definitely the rhythm is different.

OK, so we're going to be starting with a waltz.

So you're going to take, like, a very big first step.

1... and then 2, 3.

And then it's basically walking in rhythm.

And I don't know if there's anyone did any ballroom dancing, but a lot of ballroom dancing is up on your toes, on the balls of your feet.

We're Cajun down here, so think of yourself in the mud with the crawfish, and you're kind of getting in to your knees.

If you don't have a dance partner, come in the middle and we'll find you one.

Mickela: Who am I going to be dancing with?

Adeline: My dad.

Mickela: Ah!

So nice to meet you.

What's your name?

Brent: Brent Miller.

Mickela: Brent.

Adeline: So have a sturdy frame, and you do like this.

And this is how you move, as a unit.

♪ All right.

I think we're ready for the two-step.

♪ Mickela: How did you learn this music?

Adeline: My grandfather and my grandmother and my dad were notorious for dancing.

Everywhere my grandfather went, he danced with everybody in that room.

So that's how I kind of got into it.

And as I started performing and learning our culture and our language, I realized how important was dancing, because you might not be able to cook Cajun food yet, you might not be able to speak our Cajun French language, you might not be able to play an instrument yet, but the first thing you can do is get on the dance floor.

♪ All right.

We're going to do a simple zydeco step.

1, 2, 1, 2, back, back.

1, 2, 1, 2, back, back.

1, 2, 1, 2, back, back.

1, 2, 1, 2, back, back.

...2, back, back.

All right.

Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin.

[Cheering] Hey, that was good.

Well, that's all I got for today.

Most important thing is you have to go to live music and practice what you've learned or you're just going to forget it all.

And the only reason-- Like, really, the reason that musicians play is because of y'all.

So just thank you all again for even wanting to do this.

Mickela: Yeah!

Man: Whoo!

Mickela: After the lesson, the real fun begins.

The Blue Moon Saloon fills up with locals and visitors for the weekly Cajun Jam, ready to share their moves on the dance floor and enjoy some of the Cajun hospitality and culture together.

So what do we have here tonight?

Man: Smothered chicken with smoked sausage, potatoes, and carrots in a gravy.

Mickela: Oh, my gosh.

♪ What does it mean as a young person to play music that's been around for so long?

Adeline: I feel incredibly grateful to have something that I can call my own and an identity, knowing that this was passed, generation, generation, generation.

Someone has to pick up the torch.

And we celebrate it so well.

Like, we have so much fun celebrating our culture.

Whether you're on the dance floor or you're onstage, you're holding an instrument, you're holding your baby, you're holding your family, your friends, you will see a lot of passion here in this town.

♪ [Cheering] Mickela: My next stop here in Lafayette is to the vibrant and culturally-rich Maison Freetown, a museum whose mission is to preserve and protect the diverse history of the Creole culture here in Lafayette.

I meet with the curator of Maison Freetown, Erica Fox, who has generously offered to give me a tour of this historic and rich space.

♪ Erica Fox: Freetown was the community where free people of color and emancipated enslaved lived.

Later, it became, like, the epicenter where many of the immigrants of our community all lived together.

So it was like a free space, where different cultures could kind of all collide and intersect with one another.

The full name is Maison Creole de Freetown.

The people that lived in this area were mostly people who were French-speaking Creoles.

Mickela: What is Creole?

Erica: It could be everything from music and language to some of the traditions that are passed down.

It's like the intersection of various cultures coming together.

This is our co-op.

Our gift shop birthed the museum.

We saw that people were eager to learn and thirsty for that knowledge.

And we've created a space where people can have those safe conversations around culture.

All the work that you see here is created by Black, Indigenous, and persons of color.

Mickela: Can you tell me why you started working here and this mission of Maison Freetown?

Erica: I love seeing culture through other people's eyes, and that's pretty much why we started this small group.

We wanted to celebrate what we knew was very unique about our space.

Mickela: Erica's mother, Joyce Melancon, is one of the community members who reinstated the historical True Friends Society of Lafayette and started the nonprofit to revitalize this house as a living museum and community center.

Erica: My mother is my backbone, and that's what I mean about Creole being about family, because our families have our backs regardless.

And so, yeah, I always want to honor my mom because she is my backbone.

Mickela: Yeah.

♪ Today, the museum is hosting a la-la, a Creole jam session with zydeco music.

Zydeco was born from the confluence of the Creole and Indigenous communities here in Lafayette.

Erica: We're just giving you a little taste of what a traditional house la- la looks like.

It was a time when people would, like, roll back the carpets and folks would gather.

Donna Angelle: Back in the days, they would do la-la, like at the bayou, and invite everybody in the neighborhood and have a cookout and stuff.

I picked that up, you know, from my parents, and I love it.

Man: ♪ Wah-pah!

♪ Donna: Ooh!

[Indistinct]] Mickela: What are some of the programs that you offer here?

Because it's not just a museum.

Erica: It's not.

It's a cultural space.

The artisans themselves teach workshops and pass down the traditions.

Mickela: One of the programs that Maison Freetown hosts is the French Table.

What is the French Table?

Geneva Phillips: Well, it's a group of people that come together, just visit and talk.

We speak in French or Creole.

Wilfred Paul Cluse: The word Creole means simply "to create."

So the people coming from Europe, from Africa, their offspring would be a new creation.

Erica: The everyday use of real French, it was something that was kind of frowned upon.

In school, they were told you cannot speak French, and for most of them, French was their first language.

So they had to sneak on the playground and talk to one another because it was seen as something bad.

♪ Mickela: What does that mean for you both to be a part of this legacy, to keep that language alive?

Geneva: For me, it's a joy and honor that I can see them light up when they see you speaking, and then you start bringing back stories, you know, from way back.

Or, "My mother used to do this."

"My grandmother used to make this..." Wilfred: When I get an opportunity to sit down and listen to all the people talk and we bring things back, the things we, like you said, we "used to do" that made us who we are, to me, that is a rebirth of what we--of my essence.

♪ Erica: A lot of the people that inhabited this area came from trying to seek asylum, religious freedoms.

They were refugees.

They were immigrants.

And that's something we don't always talk about... Mickela: Right.

Erica: the beautiful side of when cultures collide.

Mickela: Right.

Erica: And that's what this place is.

Freetown, you're truly free because it celebrates so many different people.

♪ Mickela: [Indistinct].

Thank you!

Donna: Whoo!

Mickela: Thank you!

That was awesome!

Whoo!

♪ One of the signature sounds of Lafayette's zydeco music is the rub board.

And today, I'm meeting with world-renowned rub board maker Tee Don Landry.

There's just so much happening in this space, right?

Tee Don Landry: Yeah.

Well, like I tell people, it's ten-by-ten, and you got to walk outside to change your mind... Mickela: [Laughs] Tee Don: it's so small.

Mickela: What are rub boards?

Tee Don: Rub boards is a percussion instrument.

They started off, of course, like the old washboards they used to wash clothes with.

Mickela: Mm-hmm.

Tee Don: So in 1946, my dad was working at the refineries in Port Arthur, Texas, and also the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, and his brother were working there as well.

Mickela: Oh, wow.

Tee Don: Well, Cleveland used to play the old wooden rub board, and he had to hang it over on his neck with a rope.

My dad was a master welder and fabricator, metalworker.

So he said, "Can you make this?"

And he took a stick in the dirt, and he drew basically this design outline... Mickela: Oh.

Tee Don: to where the strap would be all together.

Mickela: So you didn't have a string?

Tee Don: Yes.

Mickela: Right.

Tee Don: And so my dad said, "Yeah, I can make anything you want."

So he made the first rub board with the shoulder straps ever.

♪ This is my large products here, my women's products.

Mickela: Oh, she's pretty.

She's real pretty.

Tee Don: I designed that one for Rihanna.

Mickela: This instrument, it's beautiful, but it also brings people together to make music together.

Tee Don: Right.

And when you walk on the stage with a rub board on... Mickela: I'm sure everyone goes crazy.

Ha!

Tee Don: you take all the attention.

Mickela: Yeah!

Can you show us the process?

Tee Don: You want to hear my guarantee?

Mickela: I would love it.

Tee Don: They're guaranteed not to rust, bust, collect dust, rip, rattle, or come apart at the seams.

Mickela: [Laughs] That's a pretty good guarantee.

Tee Don: So I have one that's started off.

And these are made out of stainless steel, and every rib is bent one at a time.

Next step is, I'm going to put the leather cord on it.

So I got it measured out right here.

Mickela: Oh, cool.

Tee Don: High tech, high tech.

Mickela: It works.

Tee Don: Yeah.

[Zydeco music playing] This stuff that I do, it's like Christmas every day because everybody is happy to get it.

Try it on.

Mickela: And where should it sit on me?

Tee Don: Anywhere you want it.

Mickela: Anywhere I want.

Tee Don: It does look fine right there.

Yeah.

[Rhythmic clanking] Mickela: Oh, I hear the different-- Tee Don: All right.

Let me go get one.

Mickela: Oh, we're gonna jam.

♪ Tee Don: It's a Cajun waltz.

Mickela: A Cajun waltz.

I feel like--I feel like we're missing something.

Tee Don: What about a 'tit-fer?

You know what a 'tit-fer is?

Mickela: What's a 'tit-fer?

Tee Don: It's a triangle.

It's called a little iron.

Mickela: Little iron, 'tit-fer.

Tee Don: Little iron.

And I got one of the best little iron players.

And she's my wife... Mickela: Aw.

Tee Don: Cathy.

Mickela: Hey!

Tee Don: Come on up, baby.

Mickela: [Laughs] So nice to meet you.

Cathy: Nice to meet you, too.

♪ Mickela: Louisiana is known for its food.

So next I meet with Marie Ducote-Comeaux, owner of the Cajun Food Tours, to learn more about Lafayette's history through its local dishes and delicacies.

Our first stop is to the Olde Tyme Grocery to try their famous po'boy.

The po'boy sandwich was born during the Great Depression.

The Martin Brothers Coffee Stand & Restaurant handed out free sandwiches to striking streetcar workers in New Orleans at the time.

So the Martin brothers named the sandwich the poor boy to refer to the workers on strike.

Ross Murphree: Hey, Miss Marie.

Marie Ducote-Comeaux: So, hey.

Ross: How we doing?

Marie: Good to see you, Ross.

We're doing good.

Ross: Good.

Marie: Of course we're gonna have my usual.

Do you want it dressed?

Mickela: Yes, dressed.

Ross: OK. All right.

Mickela: So, Marie, what is your usual?

He said, "Do you want your usual?"

Marie: Oh, my usual, which would be the fried shrimp po'boy.

Mickela: "Is it fully dressed"?

What does that mean?

Marie: Oh.

"Fully dressed" means everything on it-- lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, ketchup.

Mickela: All the fixings.

Marie: The fixings.

Mickela: Oh, my gosh.

What inspired you to start bringing people on to these tours?

Marie: I was a Louisiana history teacher.

I guess that's how I first fell in love with our culture and realized how extremely unique Louisiana's culture is.

There has been nothing like getting to see our culture through the eyes of people from literally all over the world to give you, like, this whole much more profound appreciation and pride.

Ross: All right.

Here's your shrimp po'boy.

Mickela: Oh, my gosh.

Ross: You got a water.

Mickela: That's really big, by the way.

Marie: One of the tricks that Olde Tyme has is they pull out half...

They pull it out.

Ross: We gut it... Mickela: Oh!

Ross: so we can put more in it.

Marie: So then the bread... Mickela: There you go.

Marie: Yeah.

And the bread doesn't overpower the awesome Gulf shrimp.

Mickela: What do you say in French?

Bon appetít?

No.

Marie: Allons mange'.

Others: Allons mange'.

Ross: Let's go eat.

Marie: Let's eat.

Mickela: OK. Allons mange'.

The shrimp is, like, perfectly cooked.

Marie: Because it's local, fresh Gulf shrimp.

Mickela: Whose recipe is this?

Ross: Family recipe.

Mickela: Olde Tyme is a family-run establishment, and it's been a local favorite since first opening back in 1982.

Ross: We're so blessed to be part of this community, to have grown up in an iconic business that over the years, has become a regional, even national, brand is really cool.

There's a lot of pressure that comes with that, right?

But overwhelmingly, it's been a great thing for our family.

I think it's a part of the culture of Lafayette.

Mickela: Right.

Ross: And, you know, we're just lucky to be here.

Mickela: Our next stop is to Bon Temps Grill to taste some of their famous homestyle gumbo, an iconic dish here in Lafayette.

Server: Enjoy.

Mickela and Marie: Thank you.

Marie: This is really important.

Potato salad in this area is always served with gumbo.

It's kind of a regional thing.

You try a bite of potato salad and then you dip it in the gumbo juice.

Mickela: All right, all right.

Marie: Like that.

Mmm!

It's cold and warm.

Marie: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mickela: It's sweet, a little bit sweet.

Marie: Yeah.

That's the potato salad.

The word gumbo is an African word for okra.

And the original dish itself is actually African.

For a very long time, that was what gumbo was, was a porridge thickened with okra.

The Indigenous people over here, though, were making something similar with filé.

Mickela: And what's filé?

Marie: Filé is the dried, crushed leaves of a sassafras tree.

Mickela: Oh, wow.

Marie: Literally every culture that comes together to make us what we are in this area is represented in a bowl of gumbo.

You've got the Indigenous people, you have the Africans, you've got the Germans, you've got the French with the roux.

So we often use gumbo as an analogy for our culture, as a matter of fact, because in a gumbo, all of the ingredients maintain their own identity, but if you cook them long enough together, they all flavor one another.

And you'll see that in the people here, you know?

Mickela: And it tastes pretty good.

Marie: Yeah.

Mickela: Ha ha!

Our last stop is to Johnson's Boucanière to try their famous boudin.

Lori Johnson Walls opened the Boucanière in 2008 to carry on her family's legacy, still using recipes from five generations back.

So there's no plates, no forks, nothing?

Marie: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Mickela: You're like, "Oh, you Yankee.

What are you talking about?"

Marie: No.

This is portable food.

This goes back to our ancestors making this during a boucherie.

A boucherie was a pig slaughter, you know?

And everybody comes over to help, and they got to eat while they're there, because it's a long day.

And boudin was one of those things that they would make for everybody to eat.

Mickela: Boudin is a blend of cooked pork, rice, vegetables, and seasonings stuffed into a casing.

Marie: One thing you need to know is there's no Cajun who would ever, ever, ever, ever call boudin a sausage.

Mickela: OK. Marie: We got good Cajun sausage, but this is boudin.

To get good boudin, you have to go to a meat market, where they are making this fresh every day.

It's a labor-intensive art form, and they still make it the way they did way back in the 1700s, 1800s.

Mickela: All right.

I want to try this.

This smells amazing.

Both: Allons mange'.

Mickela: Mmm.

Mmm.

There is a kick-- There is a kick to this one.

Marie: [Laughing] Mickela: There's a kick to this one.

It is delicious.

Marie: You want that water now, don't you?

Mickela: Yeah, I do.

Marie: [Laughs] Mickela: Can I get this anywhere else, anywhere in the world?

Marie: It comes from this area.

It was created in this area by the people who settled here.

You're not going to get authentic boudin anywhere else.

Mickela: The time has come-- the main reason why I'm here in Lafayette-- to attend the annual Festivals Acadiens et Creoles... ♪ the world's largest Cajun and Creole celebration.

♪ People come to Lafayette from all over the world for this three-day festival full of dance, music, food, and, of course, fun.

♪ Man: I want to thank Johnson's Boucanière, who supplies the boudin every year for our edible ribbon.

All right.

3, 2, 1!

Cut the boudin.

[Cheering] Mickela: What's happening now?

Leiton LeBlanc: They're cutting the boudin.

They're going to be handing out the ribbon out to all the people who came out here.

Mickela: So we can try it?

Leiton: Yeah.

Mickela: Oh, my gosh.

This one?

Right here.

Merci.

Merci.

Thank you.

Happy festival!

The festival consists of various stages, tents, and venues, including a jam circle tent open to all professional and amateur musicians alike, looking to learn, practice, and pass down this traditional Cajun and Creole music.

Nervous.

Really nervous.

I'm really nervous because the last time I did waltzes with Tee Don... [Man playing accordion] 1, 2, 3.

♪ It's working.

Is that all right?

♪ What does it mean to have this festival celebrate 50 years for you?

Barry Jean Ancelet: This festival was born out of a one-night concert in 1974 that was supposed to be a one-off as a sort of an exercise to see if we could get people here to pay attention to their own music and their own culture, and appreciate it in a different way.

And 12,000 people came.

Mickela: Oh, my God!

Barry: Something's going on.

Mickela: Yeah.

Barry: We touched on something, and we've been here ever since.

Mickela: Wow.

♪ [Song ends, cheering] ♪ Mickela: The crawfish spinach bowl.

Server: Yes, ma'am.

Mickela: Can I try it right here?

Server: Yes.

Mickela: This is really big, girl... Server: You won't finish it, I promise you.

You will not.

Mickela: All right.

Here we go.

That's delicious.

Server: Thank you.

Mickela: Oh, my gosh.

Creamy, salty, spinachy, cheesy.

There's crawfish in this, right?

Server: Yes, ma'am.

Mickela: It's delicious.

What's étouffée?

I've never had it.

Server: Well, it's shrimp with cream of mushroom sauce.

It's really, really good.

Mickela: All right.

♪ Server: Pretty good, isn't it?

Mickela: That's really good.

I'm gonna gain about 10 pounds at the festival.

It's only two days, so... it is what it is.

All right.

Let's go.

More food.

Time for dessert.

I would love to try some of your beignets, please.

Server: OK, great.

Mickela: OK.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Server: All right.

Mickela: Oh, my gosh.

These are amazing.

They're so light.

Server: And light.

Mickela: So, like, a perfect end to a savory feast here at Festivals Acadiens et Creoles.

Merci beaucoup.

Allons mange'.

Let's eat.

[Server laughs] ♪ Mickela: Tell us about what it takes to make this happen.

Barry: We've pulled this off for 50 years with an all-volunteer staff.

Mickela: Wow.

There's also no barrier to entry.

It's a free festival.

Barry: Yeah, because we've always wanted to make it really easy to access, so for people to come out and celebrate themselves.

We didn't want people to decide not to come just because they couldn't scrape together ten bucks.

Mickela: Right.

Barry: This has always been about celebrating the past, but it's always been about handing it off to the future as well.

And, you know, how else can kids fall in love with their culture unless they see other people enjoying it, right?

Mickela: Yeah.

Woman: I feel like this is the real deal.

We get bands from Louisiana coming out to the Bay Area... Mickela: Yeah.

Woman: but this is in their home territory.

So, you know, the tradition, and the people are so friendly.

And so I'm thrilled to be here.

Mickela: Yeah.

What's your favorite part of this festival?

Harry: It's a friendly atmosphere, a family atmosphere.

Mickela: Yeah.

Harry: And everybody gets along.

Man: We got to learn to love each other.

But, hey, music and dancing is part of it.

Mickela: It brings us together.

Harry: Right, right.

Mickela: Yeah.

Barry: If somebody had told me 50 years ago that we would be seeing this kind of creative explosion, I would've--well, in my wildest dreams.

And here we are in my wildest dreams.

Mickela: Yeah.

Barry: If anybody out there is watching, celebrate yourselves.

Mickela: Yeah.

Barry: Appreciate yourselves.

We all have wonderful things about our own communities and our own cultures and our own societies.

And, you know, I think we would all do well to feel good about those things.

That's what happened here.

Mickela: Yeah.

Barry: And look at the results.

♪ Mickela: Lafayette's Cajun and Creole cultures are a diverse blend that extends into its food, music, dance, and the warmth and generosity of its people.

But the passion and pride here that everyone shows for their traditions, passing them down from generation to generation is what stands out to me the most.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Let the good times roll, Lafayette.

And thank you for letting me celebrate 50 years of sharing these traditions with the world.

To another 50 years of this celebration and beyond.

And I'll see you on my next "Bare Feet" adventure, wherever it may take me!

You can stay connected with us at TravelBarefeet.com where you'll find extra bonus videos, join our "Bare Feet" series conversations through social media, and stay updated with our newsletter.

♪ Mickela: I feel like we need-- we need something else.

Tee Don: Yeah.

Me, too.

Uh, what about a--What about a 'tit-fer?

Mickela: I feel like we're missing something.

Tee Don: We're missing a 'tit-fer.

Mickela: I think we're missing a 'tit-fer.

Tee Don: Let's see if we can find one.

Mickela: Can we find a 'tit-fer?

Tee Don: There's one right there.

Mickela: There's a beautiful 'tit-fer player over there.

♪ Mickela: "Bare Feet" is supported in part by... Announcer: Bloomberg Connects gives you a way to experience the arts from your mobile phone.

You can explore hundreds of cultural organizations from around the world anytime, anywhere.

Learn more at bloombergconnects.org or wherever you find your apps.

Announcer: Additional funding was provided by Koo and Patricia Yuen through The Yuen Foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

And by the Ann H. Symington Foundation.

Announcer: The island of Ireland.

You should always listen to your heart.

Fill your heart with Ireland.

[Baby talk]