Lake Charles "Postpones" Decades Old Festival

So long Contraband days and CM tower.

It's been dead for a long time but locals refused to give up on the dream, for some reason.

Contraband Days was the mecca of white trash when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s

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Contraband Days

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I remember growing up we went to see Wayne Toups at Contraband Days. It was a lot of fun back then.

Felt like the last few years of it there was a lot of security concerns with unsupervised teens running rampant over the joint. At least that’s what I remember.

Only time I've ever been mugged was at Contraband days.

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Where did all the loot go???

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They have a map but someone spilled grog on it.

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There are just too many other festivals of that size

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This has gotten many festivals over the years. In North La the Louisiana Arts & Folk Festival was a massive draw for decades. Over the course of that festival weekend it would draw well over 50k-75k people into tiny Columbia, La. There would be live music, cane syrup being pressed and made, quilting, woodworking, art, food, etc. It was a great time.

At one point it had gotten so large that a smaller, similar festival began just a few miles up the road (on the same weekend). Even it became so popular that it eventually required police presence to direct traffic (Hwy 165 was only two lanes at that time).

Eventually, other areas around the state saw this success and began running their own festivals. Around this time there was a change in management which began raising booth fees and basically telling vendors that if they didn't like it they could go elsewhere (still running on the mindset of being the only game in town).

These days it still goes on, but instead of being spread out over 2.5-3 days, needing school buses to bring people back and forth from their parking spots over a mile away and covering a few acres, now it's relegated to only one day and is held downtown.

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When I was young, Contraband Days was once the second biggest festival in the state. Filled with 2 weeks of events at the Civic Center and North Beach area.

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White Trash Fest!


Two nasty people I went to HS with were once arrested for banging in a port-a-potty at Contraband Days.

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White Trash Fest!

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I feel like this became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It didn’t need to be that way.

The SWLA community can be self-defeating at times.

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White Trash Fest

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It always seemed that the people you would see attending would never leave their homes the other 50 weeks of the year because you never saw them except during contraband days.