Cajun meets cowboy at the Southwest District Livestock Show & Rodeo

Story by Alena Maschke

It all starts with a procession of covered wagons and riders on mules and horses, crossing the misty Cajun prairie on an early winter morning. Traveling most of southwest Louisiana on a weeklong trip, the Western Heritage Trail Ride marks the beginning of livestock show and rodeo week in Lake Charles, a celebration of the area’s Cajun and cowboy heritage.
 
“I used to hear people say: People from Lake Charles can’t make up their minds, do they want to be Cajuns or Texans,” said Blaine Crochet, one of the trail ride’s organizers. Traversing crawfish and rice fields in their Western attire to ride into the Burton Coliseum for the annual livestock show and rodeo, the trail raiders proudly represent a little bit of both.
 
But participants in the trail ride hail not just from Lake Charles, but all over Louisiana and beyond. Founded by Rudy Faulk of Kaplan in 1985, residents of Acadiana, Texas and even homecomers and visitors from other states saddle up to take part.
 
“We do all this to bring awareness to the livestock show, to the rodeo,” Crochet said.
 
The annual Southwest District Livestock Show & Rodeo is the largest district show in the state by participants, both two- and four-legged. Despite a decline in participant numbers following the 2020 storms that ravaged the southwest region, this year 600 exhibitors from a seven-parish area came to show roughly 1,500 animals, according to organizers. 
 
And there’s plenty of motivation to compete. The almost weeklong event also features a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association competition, which draws in hundreds of attendees over the weekend. Proceeds from the rodeo help fund the livestock show and scholarships awarded to participants. 
 
“That makes us kind of unique,” said Jimmy Meaux, LSU Ag extension agent for Calcasieu Parish and lead organizer of the event. Contestants received a total of $70,000 in scholarships, Meaux estimates. 
 
The livestock show and rodeo are the heart of the event, but throughout the week parades and festivities celebrate the local Cajun cowboy heritage. Just like trail ride organizer Crochet, many in the region have grown up just as comfortable in shrimp boots as they are in cowboy hats – and everyone gets to participate.
 
Three years ago, Meaux and his wife started a rodeo event for children with special needs. Inspired by their son Brody, who passed away at age 20 after a long and painful struggle with MECP2 duplication syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, which affects development of the brain and muscles, the “Brodeo” offers a unique opportunity for children to participate in accordance with their abilities.
 
“He went through a lot of pain and suffering, and I wanted something good to come out of that, so we came up with this,” JoAnn Meaux said of her son’s legacy.
 
For the children who attend, it’s a unique opportunity to socialize and participate in fun rodeo activities such as barrel racing on stick horses or riding a plastic bull. 
 
“It's a wonderful experience for them to get out, because some kids really don't have the opportunity,” said Heather Chaline, a special education teacher at Key Elementary in Sulphur, who brought a group of children to the “Brodeo” event this year.
 
Keeping the tradition alive hasn’t been easy, especially in a part of the state that has suffered severe damages and population losses from back-to-back natural disasters in recent years. And while there are still farming and ranching families in the area, few local residents today earn their livelihood that way. 
 
“We have fewer farmers than we used to have,” Meaux said. But participating in the competition teaches the young participants live skills they can apply in any career, he noted. “The skills that they get out of it, the kids, the life skills that they learn — I think they see the benefit of that.”
 
For children who show their animals in the competition, the livestock show is an opportunity to connect with their families’ farming and ranching roots. In the nearby barn, they enthusiastically sweep floors and put the finishing touches on their animals for the big show.
 
For Rhonda Bourgeois and her 11-year-old daughter Addie, showing livestock is continuing a long-held family tradition. “I’ve been showing since I was nine, in 4-H, my dad was showing since he was nine — it’s generation after generation,” Rhonda Bourgeois said. 
 
During the COVID pandemic, Addie got bored at home after finishing her remote schooling for the day, and eventually she asked for a cow, her mother remembers. So the family went up to Kentucky and bought a heifer for the then 8-year-old. She’s been showing at the livestock show ever since.
 
“It’s just family,” Bourgeois said. “It’s really special.”