Because there’s more to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day than drinking green beer
by Dominick Cross
LAFAYETTE, LA. — Just as Christmas is more than receiving gifts, and, likewise, Easter is not just about chocolate bunnies (hollow or solid), so, too, St. Patrick’s Day is way more than green beer and shamrocks.
And to bring the latter point home, there’s the Celtic Bayou Festival that begins Friday, March 17, 2023 — St. Patrick’s Day — and continues through Saturday, March 18, Downtown Lafayette, at The Hideaway on Lee, 407 Lee Avenue.
Celtic Bayou Festival’s mission “is to preserve and promote the Irish culture in Acadiana,” said Sheila Davoren, festival coordinator. “And expose the traditions of it to those who aren’t aware of how to authentically celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.”
The fest kicks off Friday, 6 p.m. with music at 6:30 by The Here and Now, Máirtín de Cógáin, and Dirk Powell, Caleb Clauder and Reeb Willms.
Cover is $10 or a weekend (Friday-Saturday) special of $20. Keep an eye out for Jameson Irish Whiskey drink specials.
Come Saturday, March 18, do know that Lee Avenue will be blocked off from Vermilion to a block past Clinton.
“That’s where all the festivities are going to happen,” said Daveron. “In the old Don’s Seafood Restaurant parking lot we’re putting up a massive tent we’re calling The Guiness Main Stage tent.
“That’ where the main activities and music is going to happen,” she said. “We are going to have music at the Hideaway as well. We have a pub underneath the tent called the Bailey’s Pub.”
Unfortunately, the now famous Bailey’s Irish Pub facade won’t be seen due to the difficulty presented by a parking lot and not the ground.
Regardless, Saturday gets underway with the traditional Pub Crawl. Interested persons meet at the Bailey’s Pub in the big tent at 9 a.m.
The crawl begins at 9:30 a.m. Cost is $10.00 per person and includes discounted drink specials at designated pubs and a T-Shirt for the first 50 to sign-up. Price of drinks are not included in Pub Crawl admission price.
Following a toast or several, the troupe heads to participating establishments in Downtown Lafayette.
KLFY’s Gerald Gruenig will wear a kilt as the Grand Marshall of the festival. The Whiskey Bay Rovers and festival cofounder Tony Daveron will also participate in the crawl.
“So there’s lots of singing and merriment,” said Daveron. “And as Tony (Daveron) says, ’They’ll be having the Craic (Irish for fun/enjoyment/goodtimin’).”
An Irish Blessing, 11:45 a.m., marks the official opening of the festival at the Guinness Main Stage and by noon the music and fun begin on Guinness Main Stage, the Hideaway Celtic stage and the Hideaway Snug and goes until 10 p.m.
The Saturday lineup features Gaulway Ramblers, The Here and Now, Whiskey Bay Rovers, Avoca, Amis duTeche, Drew Landry, Elise Leavy, and The Birch Trees.
“We’re going to have three rotating areas of music,” Daveron said. “We have something for everyone. We’re family friendly.”
Admission Saturday is $15 per person, or a weekend (Friday-Saturday) special of $20; kids 7-12 are $5; 6 and under admitted free.
“We don’t want to travel on St. Patrick’s Day and we want to have fun in our backyard and we realized the only way to do that is start our own thing.”
Sheila Daveron
Along with the music and food vendors, one can expect a Guiness Cook-off, a Bailey’s Bake-off, Redhead, Freckle & Best Dressed competitions, the Tir Na Nog Children’s Tent, Irish dance workshop, a parade featuring the Baton Rouge Caledonian Pipe Band, and Celtic craft vendors.
The Whiskey/VIP Tent will have two Irish Whiskey Tasting events ($20 advance/$25 at door), and an Irish Language Class with Scott Miller which is open to the public.
The Children’s Museum of Acadiana sponsors the Children’s Tent and will include Celtic craft making, face painting, music and even Shamrock Bingo.
“I think, for us, it’s generational. This is a culture we want the kids to be exposed to,” said Daveron. “We hope that they can keep the tradition alive. That’s a very big thing in the Irish culture.
“In fact, that is actually a motto for the Hibernians,” she said. “The Ancient Order of Hibernians, which is an Irish-American group, their motto is ‘Keep the Tradition Alive.’ And we want to do it in a very respectful way.”
Daveron said in addition to bringing kids to the fete, grandparents, too, are encouraged to attend.
“We encourage the grandparents to come out,” she said. “Sometimes, the grandparents are the ones who are from Ireland and they want their grandchildren to experience the Irish culture and in the correct way.”
Green beer or Lucky Charms cereal doesn’t exactly showcase what the Irish experience is about.
“Unfortunately, some people might have a festival and it’s not embodying the actual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and the Irish culture,” said Daveron.
The Celtic Bayou Festival is an antidote to misconceived ideas about the Irish and it’s something Daveron takes seriously.
Daveron is a first-generation Irish-American woman whose father was from Ireland. Her mother, also Irish, is from the Bronx and her mother’s parents were from Ireland. And Daveron’s husband, Tony, is also from Ireland.
“So it’s important for us to pass on the culture to our kids,” said Shelia Daveron. “Our kids are very involved in the festival. They’ve been entertainers for the festival in the past with the Irish dancing.
“They’ve also played at the festival,” she said. “It’s important for Tony and I to continue this and pass this on.”
Daveron said her father was a Hibernian, New York Chapter.
“When I first moved down here, one of the things I did around St. Patrick’s Day was I went online and try to see if there was a chapter in Lafayette — and there was,” she said. “They actually help us do this festival.
“The Hibernians are very involved with this festival and I know that that makes my dad proud, although he’s not with us anymore,” Daveron continued. “I know that he would be very proud to hear that I have this close relationship with the Hibernians down here.”
Even with the help of Hibernians, volunteers are still needed.
“We have been getting people trickling in, but we’d love more volunteers, of course,” said Daveron. “Lafayette is such a festival environment. We have so many amazing festivals and people understand how important it is to have volunteers.”
The Celtic Bayou Festival came about seven years ago as one of those necessity is the mother of invention for Tony and Shelia Daveron, the couple behind the event.
“When Tony and I were first down here, people used ask us — everybody knew Tony as the Irish Guy (who also owns Irish Guy Landscaping) and he played Irish music and they knew I was an Irish dance teacher — and people would come up to us, ‘Hey, you’re Irish. What’s going on for St. Patrick’s Day?’
“And we were like, ‘Nothing.’ There’s absolutely nothing. If you want to see St. Patrick’s Day, let’s go to New Orleans or to the parade in Baton Rouge or Metairie. Metairie has a huge St. Patrick’s Day parade.’
“And so we would leave town, not because we wanted to, but also because we were getting gigs,” she said. “Tony was getting gigs in New Orleans and my dancers (Ryan School of Irish Dance) were getting gigs in Baton Rouge.
“So we were constantly drawn out of town for St. Patrick’s Day,” she said.
After a while, the couple’s respective schedules and traveling wore thin on a day they should be celebrating.
“We don’t want to travel on St. Patrick’s Day and we want to have fun in our backyard and we realized the only way to do that is start our own thing,” Sheila Daveron said. “It was a win-win for everybody. We were expanding the exposure of the culture and we were getting to celebrate in our backyard.”
