Minutes: 18 April 2011

April 18, 2011  

Bonjour Cousins,

Our Guédry-Labine & Petitpas Reunion is coming together nicely at this point. It will be 8 October 2011 at the Cut Off Youth Center in Cut Off, LA. This year we plan to have more time available for folks to meet and mingle with others at the Reunion so that you can talk and get to know each other. We will have a reduced program and many displays throughout the day. Here's a sampling of what we what have scheduled so far.


REUNION
* As we have in the past, we'll open the Reunion with a special Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church - located on the same plot of ground as the Youth Center

* During the Reunion we will have two presentations - Sandra Perro will present a photographic slide presentation on historic Acadian sites and Marty Guidry will present a PowerPoint presentation on the Guédry family

* Jules Guidry, Mary Lou Guidry & the Lachez-Les Cajun Music Band will liven up the day with some authentic Cajun music.

Nonc Jules is well-known in Cajun music circles - being one of the pioneers in organizing Cajun music jam sessions in south Louisiana, in encouraging young Cajun musicians to strive for excellence and as the long-time host of the extremely popular radio program "Le Bal de Dimanche Apres-Midi" (The Sunday Afternoon Dance) which highlights the Cajun, French and Creole music and musicians of Louisiana. He occasionally hosts the live "Rendezvous des Cadiens" Saturday evening show at the Liberty Theater in Eunice, LA and entertains our many south Louisiana visitors at the recreated Acadian village Vermilionville where he plays accordion, sings and discusses his Cajun culture and language. Mary Lou Guidry also is an artisan and performer at Vermilionville. In 2007 Nonc Jules was awarded the Jo-El Sonnier Greatest Cajun DJ Award and in 2010 he was inducted into the Order of Living Legends at the Acadian Museum in Erath, LA. Here's a couple of websites featuring Nonc Jules Guidry:

http://www.acadianmuseum.com/legends.php?viewID=191

http://louisianafolklife.nsula.edu/artist-biographies/profiles/98

* We are working on a couple of other programs for the Reunion, but haven't finalized them yet

* A couple of very talented Cajun cooks will prepare an authentic Cajun meal for us at noon. For the young ones we'll have some American food as hamburgers and hot dogs.

* We'll also have displays of Guédry family history and crafts and perhaps even a craftsman or two to visit during breaks.

* And, we'll have some mementos for sale

* We are hoping to close the Reunion with a bus tour of Fourchon, Cheniere Caminada and Grand Isle that are about 45 minutes from Cut Off. During the tour we'll discuss the Guidry history in this unique coastal area, the impacts of the BP Oil Spill on the marshes and the tremendous influence of Fourchon in all our lives as approximately 30% of the nation's oil enters the U.S. through Louisiana Offshore Oil Pipeline at Fourchon.

Attached is a Application to Register for the Reunion. We ask that you register as early as possible for the Reunion so we can plan the cooking, seating and bus tour. The cost is only $40 for a family ($20 for an individual) and we'll refund your fees as late as September 1, 2011 if you cannot attend because of other commitments.


HISTORIC TOUR
As we have done at several past Reunions, we will have an historic tour shortly after the Reunion. The tour will be on Friday, October 14, 2011 from Lafayette, LA. Several of the places that we'll visit are not available to the public, but we have arranged them for our Guédry-Labine & Petitpas Tour. The cost of the tour will be to cover expenses and gratuities to the sites we visit and will be in the range of $60-90 per person which will include transportation. Lunch will be separate and paid by you at the restaurant. Here's what we have confirmed so far:

* A tour of the historic St. Gabriel Catholic Church built by Acadians in 1776. This church has approximately 73% original of its original structure and is the oldest religious building in the Mississippi Valley. During the tour two of the church historians will give a brief presentation on the history and architecture of the church and then we'll be able to walk around the interior viewing the architecture, looking at the scale models of the original church and viewing old Spanish documents discussing the construction and history of the church. Here's a link to some information on the church although some of the dates and information is inaccurate based on recent historical studies:

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/stg.htm

* Viewing and perusing the original 1707-1748 Grand-Pré, Acadia baptismal, marriage and funeral records. When the Acadians were deported in the mid-1750's, one group of Acadians deported to Maryland took with them the Grand-Pré records from St-Charles-des-Mines Catholic Church. They carried these records with them to Louisiana and for many years they were kept at the St. Gabriel Catholic Church. Today they are housed in the Archives of the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. Since being brought to the Diocesan Archives, they have only left the vault twice. This will be the third time and will a unique opportunity for you to see the original records of your family during the 1707-1748 period.

* We'll drive past and discuss several of the land grants of Pierre Guédry - an Acadian originally exiled to North Carolina in 1756. By 1761 he was in Philadelphia and then in 1767 was at Port Tobacco, MD from where he boarded the "Jane" for New Orleans, LA. After landing at New Orleans, he and his family were sent by the Spanish to Fort San Luis de Natchez on the Mississippi River where he lost his wife and two infant children to disease. He married his second wife shortly before going to St. Gabriel in late 1769. From St. Gabriel he settled for several years near Opelousas in St. Landry Parish where his second wife died in childbirth. He married a third time and about 1793 moved to St. Martin Parish at Grand-Pointe (today Cecilia). Here he raised cattle and became quite wealthy - having an estate worth over $110,000 at his death in 1825 (today's value would be over $2.3 Million dollars). He was one of the wealthiest Acadians in Louisiana at the time of his death. Pierre outlived his three wives and 4 of his 20 children.

* Tentatively we plan to visit the oldest Guidry home known to exist today - built about 1797. We are still working on securing approval to visit this home. It has a very interesting history as do some of its Guidry occupants.

* We will stop for lunch at a local Cajun restaurant.

Because of the limited space available to view the Grand-Pre records and inside the St. Gabriel Catholic Church, the tour will be limited to 25 persons. Reservations for the tour will be to those who commit first; however, we will try to accommodate as many of our out-of-state guests as we can. I will attempt to arrange a second tour later in the year for in-state family members wishing to see these historic treasures if we cannot accommodate everyone on October 14th.

If you are interested in being on the tour, please email me at guidryrmartin@gmail.com . I will keep a dated list of requests and as soon as we have the costs determined, I will send out a notice requesting payment using the guidelines above.


SWAMP TOUR
I would like to know if anyone has an interest in taking a Swamp Tour with Ron "Black" Guidry and his Cajun Man's Swamp Cruise. The date of the tour would be Monday, October 10, 2011 and the cost would be approximately $25. All participants would need to get to the cruise dock on their own. I can highly recommend Black's swamp tour as one of the best available. Not only is Black a very good naturalist, but he will entertain you with his stories and his skills playing and singing Cajun music. And you'll almost certainly see several alligators up close and personal. The boat tour last about 2 hours. If you are interested in this swamp tour, let me know by email at guidryrmartin@gmail.com . If we have enough interest, I will try to reserve October 10th for the Guidry family. Some of you from Canada may recognize Black Guidry from his KIA commercials. Here's a link about Black's Cajun Man's Swamp Cruise:

http://www.cajunman.com/

Note that all of the dates for our activities are on off-dates for the Grand Réveil Acadien 2011. See this link for the Grand Réveil Acadien 2011 agenda:

http://www.gra2011.org/

I invite everyone to join Les Guédry d'Asteur. Our dues are very low at $6 per individual and $10 per family. Attached is a Membership Application.

And for those coming to Louisiana in October, please consider a visit to the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana. For a really unique experience you may want to attend the L'Ordre du Bon Temps dinner the evening of October 13th. This is a re-creation of the earliest supper club in North America - the 1606 dinners at Port-Royal, Acadia. The cost of the meal and evening entertainment is $50/person. For more information, please email at guidryrmartin@gmail.com .

Merci,

Marty

Martin Guidry, President
Les Guédry d'Asteur

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