Community Corner
Annual Bayou Fest Returns to Duke Island on Sunday
Traditional music, food highlight popular annual event.
You can visit New Orleans this weekend without leaving Bridgewater.
The 17th annual Somerset County Park Commission Bayou Fest is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Duke Island Park on Old York Road.
The Bayou Fest will feature a selection of Cajun and Southern cooking and the best Louisiana dance music to be found in the Northeast. Featured performers are the VooDudes and BeauSoleil.
Taking the stage at the special starting time of 5:30 p.m. will be New Jersey’s own Mardi Gras Party Band, the VooDudes who will strut their musical stuff to kick off this year’s Bayou Fest.
Performing a mixed bag of Creole Soul, Swamp Funk, and Bayou Boogie, the VooDudes incorporate elements of R&B, boogie-woogie, Zydeco, Latin, honky-tonk gospel, southern folk, and island music into their own distinctive blend of what can only be described as Louisiana music with a New Jersey accent.
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Following at 7 P.M., BeauSoleil, one of the most well-known Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco music groups, will take the stage.
Based in Lafayette, La., the group includes brothers Michael and David Doucet and others. BeauSoleil is one of a few groups performing traditional Louisiana music to win several Grammy awards for Best Traditional Folk Album, Contemporary Folk Music, and Best Zydeco Album, and along the way, earned nominations a dozen more times.
According to the band, they “take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend elements of zydeco, jazz, Tex-Mex, country, and blues and mix into a satisfying musical recipe."
Find out what's happening in Bridgewaterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Concert-goers are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets for seating, in addition to their appetites, as traditional food will be prepared and sold by Touch Bayou. Ample parking is available.
For more information, call the Somerset County Park Commission at 908-722-1200, Ext. 221 Monday through Friday or the Concert/Activity Hotline at Ext. 351 Friday through Sunday.
Information on this event and other Somerset County Park Commission activities may be found on the Internet at www.somersetcountyparks.org.
