From its shop-lined Main Street to the sleepy bayou that winds through town, New Iberia is dripping with character and charm. The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival provides opportunities to see and learn more about this storied place through guided walking, bus, and boat tours.
On Friday, April 1, the Dave’s Haunts and Jaunts Bus Tour explores the spots that anchor the action in James Lee Burke’s Detective Dave Robicheaux novels. The author grew up spending his summers in New Iberia, where he stayed with his grandparents on Main Street and fished and adventured along Bayou Teche.
The guided tour starts with lunch at famed Victor’s Cafeteria, a Robicheaux favorite where fans will be able to ask their most burning questions to Howard Kingston, New Iberia’s resident Burke expert and owner of Books Along the Teche bookstore. Then, hop aboard the bus for a journey through other locales that give Burke’s novels their palpable sense of place. The tour includes the Iberia Parish Courthouse, Teche Motel, Bayou Teche, a stop at Cane River Pecan Company, and other hot spots that bring the history of the town—and the brooding detective’s perspective—to life. The tour concludes at the Iberia Parish Library with L’Acadian Art Guild's Exhibit, and guests return to Bouligny Plaza in plenty of time for the festival's opening reception.
On Saturday, don your comfy shoes to experience the Dave’s Haunts and Jaunts Walking Tour, a ninety-minute guided tour of New Iberia’s colorful Historic District. Once again, the tour starts at Victor’s Cafeteria, and takes visitors along cheery storefronts to stops that include the Bayou Teche Museum and the independent bookstore, Books Along the Teche, which you can count on to be stocked with the works of featured authors. The tour continues with a stroll through the gardens of the antebellum home, Shadows-on-the-Teche, where spring foliage will be in full bloom. Enjoy the balmy weather as you traverse New Iberia’s one-of-a-kind downtown.
Sunday brings a chance to tour the area from the perspective of its most important natural feature: Bayou Teche. Board a party barge at the New Iberia City Park boat dock and enjoy T-Boy’s Adventure Boat Tour of Bayou Teche, a peaceful one-hour trip along the historic bayou, which is the only National Water and Paddle Trail in Louisiana. The tour’s narrative has been created by conservation organization The TECHE Project, and will share recent ecological advancements like bank-line restoration and wood duck management, while also pointing out sites of historic, architectural, and literary significance. Bookings are available at 9 am, 11 am, and 1 pm.
Sponsored by Iberia Travel
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