What: La Fete De L’Automne Creole Festival, sponsored by the Old Mines Area Historical Society of Washington County
When: Sunday, October 2, 2011
Time: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Where: Fertile/Old Mines, Missouri
How to get there: Fertile is about 1 ½ hours south of Troy near Washington State Park on Highway 21 and Route C. Here is a detailed map with directions. Click on My Places and then on My Saved Places.
For more information, call the Historical Society at 636-394-3628.
The heritage, music, culture and food of French Creole people come alive on Sunday, October 2 at the annual Le Fete De L’Automne, a festival celebrating a little known area of Missouri–Old Mines and Fertile.
The festival is a wonderful look into the lives of French Creole descendants, many of whom still speak the dialect and preserve their ancestors’ way of life in what was known as Upper Louisiana, part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Just 1 ½ hours south of Troy, your drive through the fall foliage leads you to a day of music, featuring internationally known fiddler Dennis Stroughmatt and Creole Stomp.
In addition to the wonderful music, you’ll enjoy the famous chicken and dumplings dinner, croquinoles (French pastry made fresh on site), bakery (lots of home baked goodies), French sausage, ice cream, roasting ears and beverages, including mulled apple cider. Visit an historic display in the old Maplewood School house, see live demonstrations, trace your ancestors, purchase historical publications see what’s on offer at the country store.
Also featured are apple butter making, 1800s crafts, a gunsmith, blacksmith shop and the log home museum.
About the music
Dennis Stroughmatt, an authentic Creole/Cajun fiddler and preservationist, is a featured speaker for the Missouri Humanities Council Program Bureau and a touring master artist on the Mid-America Arts Alliance Artist Tour. As a teenager, Dennis was introduced to the American French culture in Old Mines. He spent two and a half intensive years recording, observing and learning many of the Creole French traditions still alive in “Upper Louisiana.”
The knowledge he gained there includes a centuries’ old French Creole fiddling style from fiddlers Roy Boyer and Charlie Pashia, fluency in Illinois-Missouri Creole French, and a wealth of stories and songs from storytellers and singers like Rose Pratte, Annie Pashia, Kent Beaulne, and Eli Robart, all of which have been handed down generation to generation in Missouri and Illinois for nearly 300 years.
A wonderful storyteller as well as a musician, Dennis also tours with Louisiana Creole greats Morris Ardoin and Dexter Ardoin, Lafayette’s Bayou Boys, The Lucky Playboys and other premier Creole/Cajun Bands.
