Email: 7 September 2015

September 7, 2015

SAVE THE DATE

GUÉDRY ET PETITPAS 2015 REUNION

Saturday, 10 October 2015 (9:00 am until 5:00 pm)
Henry Guidry Memorial Park (130 Park Drive)
Henderson, Louisiana

(For a little something extra, see the Lagniappe section at the end of this note.)

Our upcoming Guédry & Petitpas Reunion will be at the large, covered pavilion at Henry Guidry Memorial Park in Henderson, Louisiana on Saturday, 10 October 2015.

This is in the heart of Guédry country in southwest Louisiana. Of course, the spellings you'll encounter in the area are Guidry, Guedry and Gaidry so be prepared to meet your many cousins. You may even find a local Petitpas cousin or two although they are not as numerous in south Louisiana.

We are ready to welcome all of our Guédry, Guedry, Guidry, Gaidry, Geddry, Gedry, Jeddry, Jedry, Jefrey, Gidry, Guildry, Grivois, Labine, LaBine, LaBine, Petitpas, Pettipas & Pitts cousins to south Louisiana for our 2015 Guédry & Petitpas Reunion. We have reserved the large, covered pavilion and associated buildings at the Park and have a Cajun band scheduled to play some two-steps and waltzes. We also have two superb chef cooking gumbo, jambalaya and all the fixings for lunch. And, best of all, everything is FREE!!!

This Reunion will be a bit different than some of our recent 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 will have a local Cajun band from our family play a little music during the day and will set aside time to induct some special folks into the Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur Circle of Distinction. We are planning to have local family chefs prepare a series of Cajun dishes for our noon dinner. The Reunion will be free to all.

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

Registering

So that we will have enough chairs and tables and will cook enough food at lunch, if you would like to attend the Reunion, please email Martin Guidry at guidryrmartin@gmail.com. Just state how many people will be attending in your party and your name.

We welcome everyone to the Reunion - both Guédry and Petitpas descendants and friends of the family.

If you should fail to register, that's okay. Come on down to Henderson, LA and join us.

Two other major events in mid-October 2015 in South Louisiana

* Grand Réveil Acadien (Great Acadian Awakening)

- 3-12 October 2015

- Events throughout South Louisiana

(Lake Charles, Lafayette, Carencro, Loreauville, Rayne, Houma, New Orleans)

- For more information & program of events, visit their website & Facebook page:

http://www.louisiane-acadie.com

https://www.facebook.com/GrandReveilAcadien

- Key dates are: 9 October (Genealogical conference), 10 October (Reunions) and 11 October (French mass, Cajun music and food)

* Festivals Acadiens et Créoles

- 9-11 October 2015

- Girard Park in Lafayette, LA

- Large music, food and crafts festival

- For more information & program of events, visit their website & Facebook page:

http://www.festivalsacadiens.com

https://www.facebook.com/festivalacadiens

- October 11th will be a key date to visit this festival and also each evening

A Few Acadian Historic Sites in Lafayette, LA Area

* Acadian Village

* Vermilionville Folk Life Park

* Jean Lafitte National Historical Park's Acadian Cultural Center

* Alexander Mouton Home Museum

* St. John the Evangelist Catholic Cathedral & historic cemetery and live oak tree

* Acadian Memorial in St. Martinsville, LA (17 miles southeast of Lafayette)

* Town of Abbeville, LA (20 miles south of Lafayette)

* Town of Opelousas, LA (20 miles north of Lafayette)

Henderson, LA Travel Information

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.

Three commercial airports serve the Henderson, LA area:

* Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

- 116 miles from Henry Guidry Park on Interstate Highway I-10

- Serviced by most major airlines including Air Canada, Delta, United,

US Airways, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest

- Rental Cars (Most companies including National, Avis,

Alamo, Dollar, Thrifty, Budget, Hertz, Payless, Enterprise)

* Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport

- 53 miles from Henry Guidry Park on Interstate Highway I-10

- Serviced by Delta, United, American, US Airways

- Connects to Dallas (American), Charlotte (US Airways), Houston (United),

Atlanta (Delta, United), New Orleans (United)

- Rental Cars (Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National)

* Lafayette Regional Airport

- 13 miles from Henry Guidry Park via Interstate Highway I-10

- Serviced by Delta, American, United

- Connects to Dallas (American), Atlanta (Delta), Houston (United),

Denver (United)

- Rental Cars (Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, National, Enterprise)

To reach Henry Guidry Memorial Park from any of the airports via I-10, proceed to Exit 115 (in Louisiana I-10 exits are numbered by miles heading east from the Texas-Louisiana border with the LA-TX border being 0). Exit south onto LA 347 from I-10 at Exit 115 and proceed to the stop light (0.2 miles). Turn left (east) at the stop light onto LA 352. Proceed about 2.4 miles on LA 352 and watch for Henry Guidry Memorial Park sign on your right. Turn right at the sign onto Park Drive and proceed to the pavilion (ca. 0.5 miles).

Lodging in the Vicinity of Henderson

Lafayette is a relatively large city of 125,000 people. There are many motels, hotels and bed & breakfast inns in the immediate area. The Lafayette Convention and Tourism Website has a nice listing of available lodging as well as restaurants, attractions, events and festivals in the local area. View its website at:

http://www.lafayettetravel.com

Breaux Bridge is a small community of 9,000 folks about 9 miles from Henderson. The Tourism in Breaux Bridge Website provides lodging, cultural, dining, music, attractions and other information. View its website at:

http://tourism.breauxbridgelive.com

Henderson is a very small community of 2,000 folks. It has excellent dining facilities and cultural activities. You can learn a bit about these at the website:

http://www.louisiana-destinations.com/henderson.htm

Another outstanding website for information on activities and sites in St. Martin Parish is the St. Martin Parish Tourism website at:

http://www.cajucountry.org

A Little HIstory

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, bar 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).

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.

A Little Lagniappe

For those that may be in the Lafayette, LA area a couple of days before the Reunion, you may want to catch these two presentations. Both are free and open to the public.

Thursday, 8 October 2015 (1 - 3 pm) at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinsville, LA

Martin Guidry and Greg Wood (of Maryland) will be presenting a two-part presentation on "The Acadians of Maryland". Martin will briefly discuss the history of the Acadians in Acadie, their deportation with specific reference to Maryland, their dispersion within Maryland, the stay and treatment while in Maryland and their departure for Louisiana.

Greg will discuss the fate and lives of the Acadians that remained in Maryland after 1770 and their impact on Maryland from 1770 until today.

Friday, 9 October 2015 (2:15-3:15 pm) at the CajunDome (Blues Room) in Lafayette, LA

Martin Guidry will present "An Exile of Hopes and Heartbreaking Tragedies Through the Eyes of Pierre Guédry (1741-1825)". He will discuss the life of Pierre Guédry, son of Augustin Guédry and Jeanne Hébert, from his birth at Merliguèche, Acadie through his difficult travels from Baie des Espagnols, Lunenburg, Georges Island, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Louisiana.

We hope to see everyone at Henry Guidry Memorial Park on October 10th,

Marty

Martin Guidry
6139 North Shore Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70817
225-571-9726
guidryrmartin@gmail.com
Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur, Inc.
https://guedryfamily.guedry.org/
https://guedry.guedry.org/
https://clotiaux.guedry.org/
https://butaud.guedry.org/