Get a real look at Atchafalaya Basin Life at Swamp Life Expo

Experience real life in the swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin at the unique Iberville Parish Swamp Life Expo, set for Saturday, October 6, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the setting of massive beautiful oak trees along the bayou at the Iberville Visitors Center in Grosse Tete.

Many people, even Louisiana residents, don’t know much about the history and local culture of living in our beautiful and wild swamps. The Swamp Life Expo offers a way to see many aspects of swamp life up close. Watch demonstrations by local fishermen showing the art of weaving fishing nets, making crawfish traps, maintaining catfish hoop nets and trapping freshwater shrimp. Learn about native plants, see and buy local handicrafts and art, and watch flint knapping demonstrations. Listen to live Cajun Zydeco music and taste samples of home-cooked dishes and desserts by local residents! An antique wood stove will be used to roast coffee beans and make French slow drip coffee and bake tea cakes. Sample home-made ice cream and snow cones. See an alligator display, local putt-putt boats with Lockwood motors, hand-crafted boat paddles, and Hit-and-Miss motor demonstrations.

The Walnut Bayou “Streamulator Model” will show how natural rivers are formed by flowing water, and children can get hands-on experience in designing healthy, sustainable rivers, courtesy of the La. Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ).

Learn how local waters flow into the Barataria Terrebonne Estuary and then to the Gulf of Mexico, and the unique wildlife and fisheries in the estuary through an exhibit by the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP). Also providing information about swamp life and their programs will be the Louisiana Nature Conservancy and National Atchafalaya Heritage Trace.

Special hands-on activities for the kids include making a blue bird house free to take home and environmental activities. Live music will be provided by Terry and the Zydeco Bad Boys.

The Iberville Visitors Center is located at 17525 Hwy. 77 on Bayou Grosse Tete, just off Interstate 10 at exit #139. The event is free and open to the public.

The Swamp Life Expo is sponsored by the Iberville Parish Council and Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso, Jr. For more information, call 225-687-2642 or go to visitiberville.com.

Contributed by Peacock Communications, LLC.