Festivals Acadiens et Créoles Lineup 2026 Released
LAFAYETTE, La. (press release) – Organizers released the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles lineup for 2026. In its 52nd year, the festival will run from Oct. 8-11.
Popular artists like Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys and Wayne Toups (closing out the festival Sunday evening) will perform alongside newer bands like Rusty Metoyer & the Zydeco Crush and The Holiday Playgirls.
The 2026 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles will relaunch its original stage, Scène ’76, supported by its notable partnership with the Smithsonian.
Explore: Smithsonian Center Selects Festivals Acadiens et Créoles for Its National 250th Anniversary Initiative
The Scène ’76 stage, which will be set up near Girard Park’s pond, is a throwback to the festival’s first stage when it was relocated from Blackham Coliseum to Girard Park in 1976.
The lineup for Scène ‘76 will revolve around South Louisiana’s musical traditions and their interplay with the other musical traditions of America – featuring collaborations between regional musicians and Acadiana’s frequent musical playmates like Haitian-American cellist Leyla McCalla and Indigenous fiddle ace Nokosee Fields.
The festival was chosen this year by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the folklife events in the US to join their “Festival of Festivals,” a nationwide initiative to highlight festivals that are vital spaces for cultural exchange, civic engagement and dialogue.
The Smithsonian collaboration is reflected in this year’s festival theme – Revolution and Evolution: Celebrating 250 Years of Cultural Fusion on the Bayou.
Organizers share that festival lineup regular Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers said he feels honored to be a part of the celebration at Scène ‘76. Michot will be one of many gracing the new stage, paying homage to how other kinds of music have commingled with South Louisiana’s Creole and Cajun music traditions over the years – and continue to do so today.
“As musicians and students of tradition, we don’t necessarily thrive in isolation,” said Michot. “It’s because we’re part of this larger conversation with other traditions and forms of music that we’re able to understand our own traditions more deeply.”
See the full 2026 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles music lineup here.
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles Details
- Dates: Oct. 8-11, 2026
- Location: Girard Park (500 Girard Park Dr., Lafayette, La., 70503) and adjacent locations
- Admission: Free and open to the public
- More information: https://festivalsacadiens.com/
