LAFAYETTE PARISH (KATC) — Under the theme, “Bringing the World Together,” Festival International de Louisiane’ returns to Lafayette as one of the most anticipated events of the festival season.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to be in Lafayette this weekend for the events which will feature food, culture and music from around the world.
Downtown Lafayette will be transformed with five stages, food vendors, and over 73 musical acts from places as far as Scotland, Ethiopia, and Brazil.
With the large crowds expected this weekend, KATC spoke with Carly Courville, Marketing Director with Festival International to answer a few questions about the shuttle service.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU EXPECTING AT THE FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND?
Typically we expect about three hundred thousand Festival International attendees so downtown gets pretty congested especially in terms of parking so we have some great parking options to make that safe and more efficient for you.
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW PARKING WILL WORK THIS YEAR?
The only real difference is this year with our shuttle and parking is that we have moved locations. Formerly we were at the Canjumdome but now we will be at the UL Health and Sciences Building which is the old Lourdes Hospital. Everything else is the same. Shuttle pick up and drop off downtown will be at the corner of Lee and Berry. To park is $15 and they only accept credit and debit cards. Our shuttle is free but your $15 parking goes toward UL.
WHAT ABOUT THE SHUTTLE SCHEDULE?
For the shuttle, it runs Thursday through Sunday and you can view the schedule on www.festivalinternational.org or the Festival International app.
Here is the provided schedule route on the festival website:
LEE STREET/BARRY STREET STOP
THURSDAY 5:00 p.m. - 11:15 p.m.
Last bus leaves downtown at 11:00 p.m
FRIDAY 4:45 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Last bus leaves downtown at 10:45 p.m.
SATURDAY 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Last bus leaves downtown at 9:45 p.m.
SUNDAY 11:30 a.m. - 7:45 p.m.
Last bus leaves downtown at 7:30 p.m.
Service every 15 minutes.
ANY OTHER TIPS YOU HAVE FOR ATTENDEES?
Festival does bring a lot of attendees downtown so be sure to check out the shuttle, take advantage of the parking over there. Another great option is to bike downtown. We have bike valet available for free so you can check that out on our map at www.festivalinternatinal.org or in our app. Biking is a great way to avoid trying to park downtown. And what some people do is they’ll park their cars as close as they can and then they’ll jump on their bike and come downtown. We just can’t wait to welcome everyone downtown for Festival International 2024.
HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND THIS INFORMATION?
It’s available on our app. You can find our full site map which shows you where everything is. It’s very user-friendly, you can find all of the vendors, their cuisine, and you can go back to the map.
