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History of the Louisiana Swine Festival
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BASILE, La. (KLFY) -- The Louisiana Swine Festival is celebrating its 57th anniversary in Basile.
Darrel Lejeune with the LA Swine Festival said it started in the 60s when local 4-H students were showing swine in livestock shows.
"Their parents decided, maybe there's a money maker in this. Let's not just raise pigs for show, let's raise them to sell," Lejeune said.
The Louisiana Swine Association was created for local pig farmers to raise and sell feeder pigs in the Basile area, starting with swine shows every three months at 'The Pig Barn,' which brought in people from across five parishes.
"In the '60s, because the swine industry was so large in Basile, we decided that, as a community, we wanted to support the local pig farmers," Lejeune said. "And of course, the only way to do that, in those days, was through a festival."
Then, the Louisiana Swine Festival was created. For the first few years, the festival was held in front of the school, and only the pig sales were held at "The Pig Barn."
The swine shows continued until 1974 when the swine industry fell in Basile, but the festival continued.
"At first, there was a debate about whether or not we should keep the name 'Swine Festival' or maybe change it to something else that would be more appropriate for the times," Lejeune said. "But, because we had become known as the 'Home of the Swine Festival,' the community and the people involved with the festival, decided, let's keep the name and we can make the festival into whatever we want to."
This story continues below the video. Watch the interview with the Swine Festival's hog-calling champion:
They kept the tradition of the festival Mass and parade, but added pig chases, cook-offs and hog calling contests, drawing in an average of 5,000 people per weekend every year.
"One of the biggest deals is the fact that Basile, right now, has a population of about 1,000 living inside the corporation limits. The community is made up of a whole lot more," Lejeune said.
"Because from Basile all the way to Iota, that's all really considered Basile. And from Basile all the way to Durald, that's considered Basile. But the town itself is only about a square mile. Despite that, we continue to have a festival because all of those people come together as a community, whether or not they live in Basile itself," he continued.