Representatives with Evangeline Parish Tourism and St. Landry Parish Tourism visited Acadia Parish on Monday to continue collaboration efforts to create tours for the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Byway, which leads travelers through Evangeline, St. Landry, and Acadia Parishes. During the visit, the group toured the Crowley Motor Co. and Ford Building, which houses Crowley City Hall. It is also home to four museums, which include the Rice Interpretive Center, the history of Crowley, J.D. Miller Music Recording Studio, and Ford Automotive Museum. Next stop was the Grand Opera House of the South, where the group learned history about the building from Kim Gattle. The tours ended with a stop at Kelly’s Landing, where the group enjoyed crawfish etouffee from Kelly Hundley and his wife, Lynn. There they also learned about other special events, museums, and things to see in Acadia Parish including Tee-Mamou Mardi Gras Folk Life Festival in Iota, Germanfest, which takes place in October in Roberts Cove, Acadian Baptist Center, frog murals and statues to view in Rayne, and the Le Vieux Presbytere in Church Point. Pictured in back from left to right are Jackie Loewer, Acadia Parish rice farmer, and Acadia Parish Tourist Commission (APTC) Board Members Harold Fonte and Lee Lawrence. Pictured in front from left to right are Sarah Wise, St. Landry Parish Tourism Marketing Director; Nancy Loewer, Acadia Parish Tourism Executive Director; Opal Andrus, Evangeline Parish Tourist Commission (EPTC) Vice President; Wanda Verrette, EPTC Board Member; Bart Wild, APTC Board Chairman; Paula Darbonne, EPTC Board Member; Elizabeth West, Evangeline Parish Tourism Marketing Manager; Herman Fuselier, St. Landry Parish Tourism Executive Director; and Gene Thibodeaux, APTC Board Member nominee. Not pictured is Mary Hawkins, St. Landry Parish Tourism Communications Manager; Amy Mathiew, Executive Director Assistant for Acadia Parish Tourism; and Mary Beth Miller, APTC Board Member. (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth West)
