Email: 30 December 2014

December 30, 2014

Bonjour Cousins,

Next Guédry et Petitpas Reunion - Saturday, 10 October 2015 at Henderson, Louisiana

We have reserved the large, covered pavilion at Henry Guidry Park in Henderson, Louisiana on Saturday, 10 October 2015 for our next Guédry et Petitpas Reunion.

This is in the heart of Guidry country in southwest Louisiana.

We are in the planning stages at this time, but more details will be forthcoming in the next few months.

Henderson, Louisiana is located about 12 miles east of Lafayette, Louisiana and is at the edge of the Atchafalaya Swamp. It is just off interstate highway I-10 at Exit 115. Henderson is approximately 9 miles southeast of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

Shortly after the Great Flood of 1927 Henry Guidry and his family left their home at Atchafalaya, Louisiana and resettled near the railroad stop at Lenora, Louisiana. Here he opened a restaurant. Shortly afterwards, he moved his restaurant and family a little closer to the river and founded the settlement later to be called Henderson, Louisiana. At Guidry's Place (the name of his combined restaurant and dance hall), Henry Guidry began serving crawfish dishes and the public loved it. HIs wonderful chef Gladys Breaux developed and prepared many of the tasty dishes. Henry brought crawfish to the world stage - prior to this they had been eaten by the Acadians in Louisiana, but only at homes. Guidry's Place eventually evolved into Pat's Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant which is still serving crawfish today. Henry's brother, Edwin 'Mulate' Guidry, was a crawfish marketer, catching the tasty crustaceans in the Atchafalaya Swamp. Mulate later opened the Rendevouz Club near Henderson and then moved his Club to Breaux Bridge. Here he renamed it Mulate's and began a restaurant famous for its crawfish dishes and live Cajun dance music. Today Mulate's Restaurant in Breaux Bridge is known as Pont Breaux's (aka Breaux's Bridge).

October is a wonderful time in Louisiana with cooling temperatures, mild weather patterns and has the least rain of any month.

Besides the many historic sites in the Lafayette area such as Acadian Village, Vermilionville Folk Life Park, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park's Acadian Cultural Center, the Alexander Mouton Home Museum, the St. John the Evangelist Catholic Cathedral with its historic cemetery and live oak tree, the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinsville and the towns of Abbeville and Opelousas, there are also two major events occurring in mid-October 2015. The Festivals Acadiens et Créoles (a large music, food and crafts festival) will be in Lafayette (Girard Park) on 9-11 October 2015 and the second Grand Réveil Acadien (Great Acadian Awakening) will have events throughout South Louisiana during 3-12 October 2015.

We are still in the early planning stages of our Guédry et Petitpas Reunion, but it will be a bit different than previous reunions. It will be outdoors along the edge of the Atchafalaya Swamp. It will be a more relaxed setting with lots of time to mingle, meet everyone, exchange family history and stories and enjoy the area. We will not have a formal agenda as in the past with only one or two short activities planned. We may have a local Cajun band from our family play a little music during the day. We will have local family chefs prepare a series of Cajun dishes for our noon dinner. The Reunion will be free to all although we will have to charge a small amount for the optional meal (approximately $7-9 per person).

For those coming by plane - the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is approximately 115 miles east of Henderson, LA on interstate highway I-10, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is approximately 60 miles east of Henderson, LA on interstate highway I-10 and the Lafayette Regional Airport is approximately 15 miles west of Henderson, LA.

Lafayette, LA is a medium-sized city of 125,000 people with lots of nice motels, hotels and bed and breakfast facilities. Lafayette, Breaux Bridge, Abbeville and Henderson have many fine restaurants.

I will be sending out a Registration Form in the near future as we will need to know how many folks will attend to have adequate seating and to prepare enough meals.

So set aside the first half of October to be in south Louisiana for the Grand Réveil Acadien, the Festival Acadiens et Creoles and the Guédry et Petitpas Reunion. We'll all have a great time enjoying our culture and being with our cousins from throughout North America.