Hopefully a lot of people will go! This is a press release that I wanted to share.
Louisiana's Multi-ethnic French Creole Cultural Educational Society Inc. of Ville Platte
From: Mr. Gene Buller, President
Bonjour a tous vous autres!
A new cultural and festival commission has been formed in order to promote and save our shared Louisiana French language and diverse ethnic French heritage.
We plan to do this by celebrating and including ALL of our diverse French-speaking people, who contributed to the creation of our shared culture and language: the Canadian French/coureurs des bois, the colonial French, American Choctaw Indians and Teutonic (German) soldiers, the African slaves, the Spanish, later Irish, Italian and Napoleonic era soldiers and 19th century 'Foreign French" including the later Acadians whose children adopted Louisiana's old world Creole culture which we call "Cajun" and which is unknown in Canada to this day.
To help us to do this, we are seeking financial contributions from local businesses, corporations and individuals. Businesses may contribute from $50.00 to $100.00 or more as possible in order to help us fund an art monument representing ALL of the French-speaking people in our State's history.
All donor/contributors will be acknowledged publicly at the upcoming July 14th Bastille Day/French Creole Festival at the Evangeline Parish Courthouse and via KVPI radio and in the Ville Platte Gazette. These donors will also receive a signed gift copy of Louisiana French Creole/Cajun author John la Fleur's Creole cooking book for donations of at least $100.00
We are also trying to get the needed support to fund and build a beautiful museum through which we will teach our several Louisiana French language traditions, conduct educational cooking classes, musical, dance, theatrical and visual arts programs and exhibits for our families and their children. We will also support any and all legitimate charitable causes.
We want to build a new commerce and tourism from across all of the French-speaking parishes of Evangeline, St. Landry, Avoyelles and Pointe Coupee. This commerce would provide and generate new jobs for all of our French-speaking people, provide a new education and pride in our true culture and shared history among our diverse people, while promoting the arts at every level.
The museum will feature permanent collections of art, home furnishings/material culture, photography, painting, sculpture, textiles and more. The museum will also be a place for Visual Arts, Culinary and other cultural competitions and other temporary exhibits which will generate tourist traffic, school groups, commerce and provide jobs for young and old.
We will all prosper from a commerce based upon our true international, intercultural and interracial history and shared French culture; our language, food, art, music, literature and social traditions which tourists from all over the world will come to enjoy and celebrate with us! We will move into the modern world while holding on to and sharing the wonderful culture we all share from our rich historic past and which distinguishes us from the rest of America.
Help us to build a new pride in our heritage and a new commerce and tourism to move our community forward and bring new jobs and tourism to our part of the state! Any donation will be appreciated. All donations are tax deductible.
You can mail checks or money orders payable to Louisiana's Multi-ethnic French Creole Cultural Educational Society Inc. and mail to:
Attn: Ms. Becky Buller, Secretary,
125 St. Paul
Ville Platte, La. 70586
Merci beaucoup a tous vous autres pour vouloir nous aider! (Thanks to all of y'all for wanting to help us!)
Gene Buller, President, Louisiana's Multi-ethnic French Creole Cultural Educational Society Inc. of Ville Platte
Pam Rivers-McGee, Vice-President,
Ms. Becky Buller, Secretary,
Chairman John la Fleur II, History & Cultural Educ.
Ms. Sharon Fontenot, Treasurer/Grant Writer
Ellen Jack, Asst. Festival Food Coordinator