Feasts and festivals

Get out now. Outside, that is. Come June, Baton Rouge will once again be a boiler.

But before us are April and May, and these 61 days provide our best shot all year to enjoy not only the outdoors, but also one another’s company. Because while every fall our eyes and our hearts turn to LSU football, and our collective nervous systems hang in the balance and on the beat of every fourth down play and two-minute drill, there is another type of community we all seek.

There is another itch to scratch.

Football is a marvelous, exhilarating attraction, for sure, but it is one that inevitably draws focus to our heroes of the gridiron, to some blown call we can’t believe the ref never saw, to what Lee Courso thinks of us, to what Les Miles “shoulda” done, to that debate on TigerDroppings that just won’t seem to die.

Instead, spring allows us ample opportunity to focus on each other.

We may not talk to our next door neighbors much—not when they’re raking leaves and we’re late for dinner; not when we tell ourselves we’ll stop and catch up next time; not even when power to the whole block goes out.

Yet somehow it is easier in April. It is easier when, for the first time all year, the porch looks more inviting than the couch; when barbecue becomes a verb again; when, “We already have plans,” turns into, “Y’all come”; when the yard is not lost, but found, and it is filled with parties, with friends, with little ones who see each patch of weeds or fallen limbs as an essential part of the great adventure instead of another Saturday hassle.

It is easier when we stand next to our neighbors at a table we’ve covered with newsprint, and we wave with our slick orange hands, and the sun shines on our faces just the same as it does on theirs.

We crack crawfish. We talk. We’re together.

April is a time for community, from crawfish boils and cookouts to the many events that make it bloom. This month, music moves outdoors with the return of Sunday in the Park and Live after Five. Blues Fest arrives April 14 celebrating the spirit of Slim Harpo, our area’s indigenous music and the popular artists pushing that traditional genre into the modern era.

FestForAll follows May 5-6 with more than 100 regional artists displaying new work, multiple stages of live music, food and fun activities for children of all ages.

Finally, Bayou Country Superfest, with its all-star lineup of chart-toppers, arrives at Tiger Stadium May 25-26.

Farther afield, Lafayette’s Festival International de Louisiane—starting April 25—and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival—starting April 27—both provide the makings of unforgettable road trips by bringing some of the most talented musicians on the planet to South Louisiana to perform, to party, to catch some of our joie de vivre and experience our unequalled artistry and cuisine.

Sometimes it takes until April to shake off the winter blues. Sometimes it takes a feast or a festival.

For the next two months, the world comes to us.

The least we can do is step outside to enjoy it and invite a neighbor to do the same.