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Changes for Festival International this year

Posted at 4:36 PM, Mar 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-27 16:25:52-04

Festival International de Louisiane is just a month away and today they announced some changes for this year’s event.

The biggest change is that you will now have to pay to park at Cajun Field to take the shuttle downtown.

According to Festival International Executive Director Scott Feehan says “for UL transportation to be able to do it with all the events they have going on with the baseball games and softball and Cajundome, it’s going to be 10 dollars to park at Cajun Field.”  UL will be responsible for collecting the money; the money will be split between UL’s transportation division and the Athletics Department, a spokesman said.

That same weekend, there are UL home baseball and softball games, and a boxing match at the Cajundome.

We’re told you will be able to use credit or debit card to pay the parking fee.

Another change is that the R-F-I-D wristbands will now be used to buy food, along with your drinks and merchandise.

The wristbands will be in next Friday and volunteers will be at different events leading up to the festival to help you get the wristbands early and load them so you will be ready to go before festival starts.

And the best news is the wristbands this year will be adjustable.

Finally, due to a new tax law, international bands will have to pay the Internal Revenue Service a larger portion of the money festival pays them for coming to perform.

This year it did not cause too many issues because they were able to book and pay most of the artists before the new law went into effect, but in the future, this could lead to fewer bands deciding to play at the festival.

As always, Festival International remains free to attend and will kick off April 24, 2019.