Festival features Spanish heritage

“The festival is very much a family activity, and that’s what we’ve seen today,” he said Saturday afternoon. “People have been coming out and enjoying not only the music and all the festivities, but the genealogy display in the Sliman Theater.”

The display included information about some of the first residents to inhabit New Iberia, Reaux said. This year Reaux, Rodriguez and Domingues have been added to the list of founding Spanish families, which include the Gary, Viator, Segura, Lopez, Migues, Romero and Prados families, whose descendants are prominent in the Teche Area.

“I think the more information that we can provide the better it is. It’s very evident in the genealogy display because it has been nonstop all day long,” Reaux said.

“People are able to see where on a family tree and what branch they connect with. It’s a form of education, and we’re just providing as much information as we can and being able to share it with others.”

Reaux said festival goers equally are curious about the festival food and the cook-offs this year, which included paella and tapas as a new dish.

“We’re getting a much better response this year than we had last year,” he said. “It was something new to them, but there is a bigger variety this year and they’re starting to sample a little of everything.”

Catherine Segura, treasurer of La Asociación Española de Nueva Iberia, said the cook-off had 20 participants, which was nearly double the amount of participants from the previous year.

“It’s growing and expanding, and we’re so excited and pleased about it,” she said. 

“It’s fabulous and we had an excellent turnout.”

Kip and Pam Wright traveled from Houston tocompete in the cookoff for the second year. Until last year, they had never cooked paella, said Pam Wright, a New Iberia native and descendent of the Villatoro family.

Kip Wright said paella is the inspiration for jambalaya. The dish, like jambalaya, has a variety of ingredients, such as rice, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, shrimp broth, clam juice and saffron, which gives it the unique taste, he said.

The dish, which takes three hours to cook, also is filled with a plethora of spices, Pam Wright said, but not necessarily Tabasco or cayenne. It has more of a peppercorn flavor, which is a large portion of the seasoning, she said.

“You have to remember, the most important ingredients are a little bit of patience and an awful lot of love,” Kip Wright said.

The theme of the festival was bullfighting, which was evident throughout the festival, Segura said. The more than 100 runners who competed in the Running of the Bulls 5K also got into the spirit with bull shirts and costumes, Segura said.

“I think the community is becoming better aware of that fact that we have so much Spanish right here in our community. A lot of people are finding out about their heritage,” she said.

“All in all it’s been excellent. Everything is growing, and hopefully next year we’ll have event more.”