Opelousas might be the official St. Landry parish seat for most of the year, but during Mardi Gras season, the Carnival capital of the Cajun Prairie shifts to Eunice, Louisiana. For the week leading up to Eunice’s Traditional Courir de Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday (February 17 in 2026), the town’s population explodes as tens of thousands of revelers descend on Second Street for five days of flat-out fais-do-doing.
Mardi Gras in Eunice is like nowhere else in the world—a unique fusion of music, food, history, culture, language, and rural Acadiana traditions that unite to form a celebration a world away from the opulent float parades and balls of New Orleans. More than thirty of Acadiana’s biggest bands come to this town (population 9,000) to keep streets and dancefloors filled. The five day schedule also includes Cajun dance lessons, an accordion & fiddle contest, a Lil’ Mardi Gras courir for kids, a Paw Parade for pooches, and a Cajun Boucherie.
Collectively known as the Cajun Mardi Gras Festival, the event has burnished Eunice’s reputation as Louisiana’s “Prairie Cajun Capital.” After all, where else can you spend a week two-stepping in the street, sampling a smorgasbord of traditional Cajun specialties, then costuming up to observe Acadiana’s ancient Carnival rituals of rural revelry? Read on to learn more.
Sunday Boucherie, Downtown Eunice
“We take the hog and butcher it and make all the Cajun dishes right there: boudin, backbone stew, cracklins—they’re doing everything fresh there on the street. It’s true farm-to-table,” says Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot with a hearty laugh. Mayor Fontenot is talking about Eunice’s Cajun Boucherie, a community celebration that kicks off downtown at 10 am Sunday with the slaughtering of a hog. Locals then come together to prepare traditional Cajun dishes that make use of every morsel: from snout to tail. Area cooks talk onlookers through the dish preparations in Cajun French, with interpreters on-hand to translate as needed. Mayor Fontenot’s delicacy of choice: cracklins—flavor bombs of seasoned pork skin, deep-fried until light and crisp. But if old-time specialties like boudin rouge, ponce, or hogshead cheese are more to your liking, you can sample all those, too.
*Can’t make it Sunday? Don’t worry. On Monday, February 16, Lakeview Park & Beach follows up with its famous annual Lundi Gras Boucherie, featuring traditional dishes prepared by some of Acadiana’s best chefs, while live Cajun and zydeco bands keep the music coming in Lakeview’s onsite barn-turned-dancehall all day long.
1 of 3
On Mardi Gras Day, Courir-goers galavant door-to-door through Eunice on foot, trailer, and horseback to gather gumbo ingredients.
2 of 3
On Mardi Gras Day, Courir-goers galavant door-to-door through Eunice on foot, trailer, and horseback to gather gumbo ingredients.
3 of 3
On Mardi Gras Day, Courir-goers galavant door-to-door through Eunice on foot, trailer, and horseback to gather gumbo ingredients.
Mardi Gras Day Le Vieux de Mardi Gras de Cajuns Traditional Courir
On Mardi Gras Day (February 17) at the Traditional Courir de Mardi Gras, locals and tourists alike are invited to register (though, it often fills up days before—pre-registration online is highly encouraged), then costume up (all the way up: mask, capuchon, and all) to walk, run, hop a trailer with locals, or ride on horseback as revelers go door-to-door across the prairie, then back into town to beg, borrow, collect, and catch the ingredients (from onions to andouille sausage to live chickens) to make a communal gumbo that’ll be served later in the day. “You can be a part of the big, old-school trail ride or you can watch. You get your costume on with the crazy fringes, gather the ingredients, and once they get the chicken, it gets released and it either falls or flies and everyone chases it,” Mayor Fontenot said, describing the hysteria that happens when 800 costumed participants and 100 horses chase chickens around his town.
Planning to participate? Find the registration link ($40 per person) and all the gotta-knows at the Le Vieux de Mardi Gras de Cajuns de Eunice Facebook Page.
Eunice: Prairie Cajun Music Capital
From Friday afternoon through Mardi Gras Day (February 13—17, 2026), back-to-back bands play from two downtown stages each day and evening. Some of the biggest names in Cajun and zydeco music are on the schedule this year, including Wayne Toups (8:30 pm Friday), Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin’ Cajuns (6 pm Saturday), and Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie (6 pm Tuesday). Not knowing the steps is no excuse: the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center offers free Cajun dance lessons all five days, meaning that the Cajun Mardi Gras Festival is truly a “dancing-in-the-street event that everyone can enjoy,” says Eunice Tourism & Main Street Director Alicia Mire.
1 of 2
Two stages occupy the musical talents of Cajun and zydeco bands throughout February 13—17 in downtown Eunice.
2 of 2
Photo by David Simpson
Fiddlin' around
Besides the boucheries and courirs and live bands, Eunice also hosts various craft and cultural demonstrations throughout the week. Stroll the streets and savor dishes served by local chefs and food trucks. Peruse wares by local arts and crafts vendors. The family-friendly festival also features a Lil’ Mardi Gras Parade (3 pm Saturday) for les bebés, and a Pet Parade (3 pm Sunday). But whatever your age, Mayor Fontenot encourages getting involved in as many festivities as possible, adding with a chuckle, “I’ve been doing the parades since I could walk!”
Plan your itinerary by visiting www.eunicemardigras.com.
