What to Bring/Wear

    Wear comfortable walking shoes and comfortable clothes. The grounds are either concrete slabs, caliche and rock or grass so wear comfortable shoes that you can dance in.

The weather for the fourth Saturday in September is sometimes cool and sometimes warm. Remember, you'll be outside most of the time. People wear short-sleeved shirts/blouses and pants/skirts. A nice T-shirt and shorts is great wear.

There is plenty of shade, but there is also plenty of sun. A cap or visor is a good idea. Some people bring umbrellas. Sunscreen may also be a good idea.

There are plenty of places to sit in chairs around tables, picnic tables, or bleachers, but sometimes the popular places run out of seats. You are welcome to bring a camp chair that you can fold up and carry in a bag slung over your shoulder.

What NOT to Bring/Wear

We cannot allow pets on the festival grounds, no matter how small, no matter how well behaved. Don't try, you will be turned away. (Service animals are welcome.)

It is against state law and Cajun Festival rules to bring alcohol of any kind onto the grounds. Any alcohol will be confiscated and you will be asked to leave the premises.

We do not allow glass containers as they may break on the gravel and rocks on the festival grounds.

Please do not bring ice chests or your own food or drinks. We have plenty of food and drinks available. If you bring an ice chest, food, or drink, we will ask you to take it back to your car.

Please do not wear anything overly provocative. This is a family affair and a shirt and shoes event. No swimsuits, please. No pants or shorts that display your underwear.

No skateboards, two-wheel scooters, roller skates or roller blades. This is not the place for them as there is no place for them to be used.

Parking

All OFFICIAL Cajun Festival parking is FREE. If someone is trying to charge you for parking, the money you give them goes to them, not the non-profit Cajun Festival.

We have a large parking lot next to the festival. We have volunteers to assist patrons in that parking lot.

We have satellite parking lots nearby. We have a free shuttle bus service that will take you from the satellite parking lot to the festival main gate. The shuttle buses start before the festival and will keep running until everyone is gone from the festival grounds.

There will be Cajun Festival Parking signs around the area. The newest and largest satellite parking lot is just east of FM 1283 on Park Road 37. The other satellite parking lot is at the Lakehills United Methodist Church on 8th Street.

Please lock your car. We are not responsible for damage, ect. to your car; however we have had no trouble in the past and expect none in the future.

Handicap Access

The festival grounds is accessible to wheelchairs and motorized scooters. Our Cajun Festival founder uses a motorized scooter to get around the festival grounds. We have rocks and uneven ground, so if you are in a wheelchair and don't have much power in your arms, please come with a friend or family member to help you.

We have a handicap parking lot, but sometimes it fills up. What many people do is drop by the main gate first and let out the passengers and then one person takes the car to one of the parking lots.

While pets are not permitted, service animals are welcome.

Rain or Shine

The festival goes on rain or shine. We do not have a rain date. We have a covered pavilion, a large tent and some of the arts & crafts booths are inside the civic center. If it rains (which it has only a very few times in all of the years we've conducted the festival), bring a rain poncho or umbrella.

Also, just because it is raining where you are, doesn't mean it's raining here. In 2004, the weather people told everyone we were in flash flood conditions and it was going to rain all over the place. It did rain some in San Antonio. It didn't rain in Lakehills. It looked like it a couple of times, but we never received sky moisture.

Then in 2005, Hurricane Rita was supposed to come ashore around Corpus Christi and the Thursday night forecast for the Lakehills area said Saturday will be windy with afternoon showers developing with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the upper 60s. The rain chance was 30%. The wind was to be in the 20-25 mph range.

But the hurricane's landfall shifted further east and there was no rain Saturday, little wind, and lots and lots of heat.

In 2006, rain threatened in the evening and we believe some people didn't come because of the threat. But it didn't rain in 2006 at all. If it rains in San Antonio, it doesn't mean that it's raining in Lakehills.

If you are worried about the weather in 2009, call us at (830)751-9904. That's the phone number at the civic center.

How much is the food?

Prices for the food for the Cajun Festival are very resonable. Most Authentic Cajun food is served in an entrée format: one dish per serving. Entries include:

  • Crawfish Étouffée
  • Crawfish Pie
  • Red Beans and Rice
  • Jambalaya
  • Louisiana Meat Pies
  • Boudin
  • Sausage on a Stick
  • Cajun Chicken Breast on a Stick
  • Shrimp on a Stick
Two dishes are served as a complete meal:
  • Cajun-spiced Fried Catfish with Cajun fries
  • Cajun-spiced Pop-Corn Shrimp with Cajun fries

We feel our prices are lower than most festivals.

Food, Drink, Gumbo are purchased with tickets

Food, gumbo cook-off samples, and drinks are purchased with tickets. You buy tickets at the ticket booths and then go to the food and drink booths and pay for the food and drink with tickets. It makes it easier on everyone to purchase food and drinks with tickets. If you go to the gumbo cook-off area, gumbo is paid with tickets also. Regular gumbo is $1.50 and seafood gumbo is $2.

You may buy as many or as few tickets as you like; however, Tickets are not refundable.

Credit Cards/ATM

This year, we will accept cash and checks for tickets. We will accept credit cards for tickets at the souvenir booth. Souvenirs may be paid by credit card.

We will NOT have an ATM machine. However, there is an ATM machine at the bank next to the Lakehills Ice House. The Lakehills Ice House is just south on FM 1283. Assuming you come on Park Road 37, you will cross FM 1283. You'll go south about 0.1 miles on FM 1283 and the ice house will be there on the right.

One Day Festival

The Cajun Festival is one day and one day a year only. In 2010, the date is Sept. 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. It takes up to 500 volunteers to put on the Cajun Festival for one day. It would take 1,000 volunteers to put the festival on for two days. As much fun as that might be, a two-day festival is not going to happen.

Future Dates

Future dates for the festival are:

  • 2011: Sept. 24
The festival is always held on the fourth (not the last) Saturday in September.

Lost & Found

If you lose something at the Cajun Festival, call us the day of the festival at (830)751-9904 and we'll see if security can find it. If you discover you lost something after Cajun Festival Day, call the Bandera County Sheriff's Department at (830)796-3771. We turn all found property over to them.