[00:00] Cold Open

Dave Evans: The food's delicious, the music's great, it's free. You probably can get a good rate for a room over at L'Auberge or Golden Nugget or any of the places, and then you can just come and enjoy yourselves Louisiana and Lake Charles style.

[00:22] Intro

Brady Renard: Thanks for joining us on Louisiana's Playground Podcast, your guide to everything there is to see, taste and do right here in Lake Charles.

Jillian Corder: That's right. I'm Jillian Corder. That's Brady Renard.

Brady Renard: Yeah, I was supposed to say my name and I didn't.

Jillian Corder: That's OK. I remembered it this time. We're excited to bring you once again the authentic stories and experiences of Southwest Louisiana, because we've got all the tools you need to explore it.

Brady Renard: And a terrific show for you today, Episode 106. It's crazy that we're way past 100 at this point. Our sixth video episode, and so I think we're really starting to hit our groove. I think we've got something going here.

Jillian Corder: I think we might keep going. Who knows? Today we're talking all about Chuck Fest, which is coming up Oct. 17.

Brady Renard: It'll be here before you know it. And we talk, obviously, as we always do, the conversation is more than just about what's happening with the event today. It's really about the genesis and the feel, the passion behind it, the spirit, the heartbeat. And it was a great conversation with Dave Evans, who obviously is the restaurateur that became a festival creator as well. And, you know, obviously, yeah...

Jillian Corder: Hobbyist.

Brady Renard: Hobbyist, that's a good one. Still runs Augustine and Luna downtown. So great conversation, and we have a lot to get to there. But before we do, it's really the segment that I most look forward to each and every episode, because it's a chance that I get to taste delicious food.

[01:45] Envie Eats

Jillian Corder: That's right. It's the segment we like to call Envie Eats.

Brady Renard: And, you know, we like to call it that because why?

Jillian Corder: Because that's its name.

Brady Renard: Because that's its name. Envie Eats takes us all the way to Sulphur on Ruth Street to The Hut. It's a drive-thru, and they do have one little picnic table out in front, but barbecue shack that is delivering some of the best barbecue in the area.

Jillian Corder: It's really good stuff. Like, don't pass it up. Don't be... You don't need a sit-down restaurant to be good.

Brady Renard: No, absolutely not. And the menu is pretty extensive for the amount of meats that they have, the proteins, and then obviously the sides that they have, from mac and cheese to green beans and loaded mashed potatoes and baked beans. So much to get there. They also have burnt ends, and that is the yummy fattiness that is just so perfect for barbecue. And it's really like, I don't know, for me, I always kind of judge a place on, like, how good are their burnt ends? And theirs were delicious. I mean, so chewy, and yet the outside has that good crisp to it. And the barbecue sauce pairs so well with it. I love the flavor of beef with the barbecue sauce. The other meats, I like it with it, but I really love the taste of beef with, like, a good barbecue sauce. And it's sweet and smoky, and it's so much fat and full of flavor. And, oh man, the burnt ends are just so good. I know that's not your thing, the burnt ends.

Jillian Corder: It's not my thing.

Brady Renard: But for those that are normal, they're delicious.

Jillian Corder: And for those who, it's their thing to eat pulled pork, that's what I got. It was delicious. I'm a pulled pork girl. This is where I get all the... I get this all the time. Anytime we go to a barbecue restaurant, this is what I'm getting. So I kind of compare them all. Pork was so delicious. It was tender, it was shredded, it was wonderful. I didn't get the sandwich, but they do have a sandwich.

Brady Renard: And huge portion.

Jillian Corder: Oh, yeah. I got the plate, if you will, the one-meat plate that comes with two sides and a roll, and it was really, really good. The barbecue sauce is so good. I will say this, though. The meat does not... the pulled pork does not require the barbecue sauce.

Brady Renard: Of course not.

Jillian Corder: And I think that really makes it stand out to me. But it was really good with it. The barbecue sauce was good. It was not too sweet. Sometimes barbecue sauce gets a little too sugary for me. I like sugar, but not in my barbecue, you know?

Brady Renard: There's a lot of ways to do it. Some are kind of a lot more vinegar-forward.

Jillian Corder: Yeah. This was just like, I don't know, overall it was really well balanced to me, with the savory and the sweet. Had that little hint of smokiness to it, but not too much, not overwhelming. I paired it... My sides were the barbecue baked beans, because you must.

Brady Renard: Fair.

Jillian Corder: I also poured the barbecue baked beans over the top of the...

Brady Renard: Did you put it on the roll bread? 'Cause it comes with white bread too. Did you put it and make a little sandwich?

Jillian Corder: I used it to soak it all up there at the end. But I also got the loaded mashed potatoes. So good.

Brady Renard: They looked great.

Jillian Corder: Oh, it's everything. It had some bacon in there, real bacon, not like, you know, faux bacon bits. Not imitation bacon, the real thing. Cheese, it's just chives in it. It was really good. Absolutely delicious all the way around. Great meal.

Brady Renard: I went with the three-meat plate. So I got the sausage and the brisket and the turkey. So I've become kind of a late-stage adopter of turkey at a barbecue restaurant.

Jillian Corder: Same.

Brady Renard: And why was I waiting so long? Their chicken comes highly regarded. Their ribs come highly regarded, but I wanted to try some of the other stuff as well. And their turkey's fantastic. Like, you see so much seasoning on it. And I'm kind of, for barbecue, I'm Team Turkey over Team Chicken now. At a barbecue.

Jillian Corder: OK.

Brady Renard: I'm... and I've been sold enough at this point that it just holds the seasoning so well, and it's a little firmer, so it works. And it's because it's much more hardy than chicken is in that regard.

Jillian Corder: Breaking news.

Brady Renard: Look, I'm not trying to disparage chicken here.

Jillian Corder: So are you Team Turkey or are you Team Chicken? Answer below. Answer below in the comments. Are you Team Turkey or Team Chicken?

Brady Renard: Send us a nicely worded letter to 1205 N. Lakeshore Drive.

Jillian Corder: Yes, we'll read your comments...

Brady Renard: But no, it's so tender, so much flavor, and the seasoning really stood out. I preferred it probably without the barbecue, the turkey, because there was so much there. The sausage, meanwhile, had a really crispy casing to it. A little kick, full of flavor as well. Everything that you expect out of the sausage. I liked how it paired with everything. The brisket was smoky, and like I said, I liked the dip in the barbecue sauce. I loved that sweet savoriness with the brisket that's already kind of fatty, and, oh man, it was so, so good. I loved every bite of it. And then you get to the sides. The green beans, I know you love to say it all the time, it wasn't a throwaway. They really elevated them, but they kept it simple. You know, you didn't try to do too much. It's not like you look at it and you're like, oh, there's as much bacon in here as there is green beans. And, like, not that it's bad, but at that point, you're not really eating green beans.

Jillian Corder: Yeah, yeah.

Brady Renard: These, it's just that they obviously kept it... They kind of added some heat to it a little bit. They kind of helped really pull out the green beans and the flavor of the juice throughout, rather. And really spectacular. And their mac and cheese, like, who doesn't love mac and cheese?

Jillian Corder: With barbecue, that's awesome.

Brady Renard: Yeah, you know, you take some of the brisket and you put a little barbecue sauce, and you put that mac and cheese, and you wrap it up in the bread, and it's...

Jillian Corder: Yeah. Did you put your mac and cheese on your brisket?

Brady Renard: Yes. Yes. All of it together, and the cheesiness and the savory and the sweet and the fat. It's the flavor pyramid, right? And everything is on there.

Jillian Corder: That's what's in your food pyramid. It's like brisket...

Brady Renard: The flavor pyramid.

Jillian Corder: Mac and cheese, and at the very top is your barbecue sauce.

Brady Renard: Yeah, don't forget the bread at the bottom.

Jillian Corder: That's it. And bread at the bottom, obviously.

Brady Renard: And then, of course, you can't do barbecue without having something sweet at the end.

Jillian Corder: OK, let's talk about this for a minute. They had a banana pudding that is so good. I was really full, and I got my little cup of banana pudding, and I thought, I'm going to take a bite so I can talk about it on the podcast, but I'm never going to be able to finish this. When I tell you that thing was gone within minutes, I was like, where did it all go?

Brady Renard: Who ate this?

Jillian Corder: Oh, it was so good. The banana pudding was, like, thick. It almost had a little bit of, like, a moussey texture to it. Nilla wafers were on point. A banana in there. The flavor was great. Not too many bananas, because I don't actually love a banana, but, oh, it was so good.

Brady Renard: I had to put... I wrote in there, T-H-I-C-C.

Jillian Corder: It was thick.

Brady Renard: You know, it was, but in the right way. And it wasn't overly sweet, which is obviously always what you have to watch out for. That's kind of a separator between bad banana puddings and great ones. This one wasn't, and this one wasn't too sweet. And so it was so good. And they also have, like, seasonal desserts. They have, like, a... I think currently, right now, they had some type of, like, Nutter Butter-style cheesecake that would have been equally as delicious. But we went with the banana pudding because it's, I don't know, it's classic. And so that's what we kind of went with. Anyway, overall, the meal is fantastic. I don't think that you're going to be remotely disappointed getting anything there on the menu, 'cause everything that we had was pretty, pretty darn good.

Jillian Corder: Yep. Stop by The Hut.

[09:23] Guest Introduction

Brady Renard: From a great meal to a great guest. We welcome on Dave Evans. He's a Lake Charles native, a self-taught cook and the man behind Luna and Augustine and so much more. But today we're really talking about Chuck Fest, the free, all-day festival that he founded to celebrate the culture and creative community right here in Southwest Louisiana. After a few years away, Dave's back at the helm and bringing back Chuck Fest bigger and better than ever. Today we're talking food, music, downtown and why this city might be worth fighting for. Welcome to the show, Dave.

Dave Evans: Thank you for having me. Appreciate that.

[09:55] Rapid Fire

Jillian Corder: Dave, you know this. Lake Charles is known for all of Southwest Louisiana, for big-city amenities and the small-town charm, kind of a combination of all of it. So here on the podcast, all of our guests, we start out with some Rapid Fire questions so that our listeners, our viewers, get to know how you play in Louisiana's Playground. Are you ready?

Dave Evans: Sure.

Jillian Corder: OK, No. 1: crawfish or gumbo?

Dave Evans: Oh, gosh. What's the temperature outside?

Jillian Corder: So it does... There's a gumbo season.

Brady Renard: I don't want to hear it. I'm plugging my ears.

Dave Evans: I can eat gumbo any time of the year, obviously. I do tend to think of it as, let me see if you know how to cook or not, kind of thing.

Brady Renard: It's a good barometer.

Dave Evans: It's a good test, you know. I'd probably say gumbo.

Jillian Corder: Good choice.

Dave Evans: And it's a lot more ingredients, a lot more creativity, that kind of thing.

Jillian Corder: OK. Poolside or beachside?

Dave Evans: Mountainside, actually.

Jillian Corder: OK.

Dave Evans: I'm a crazy mountain fan. I love the beach. The beach, mainly because the sound, mainly because the crashing of the waves. I'm more than content on a balcony playing the guitar, listening to the waves crash. I like that. That's serene to me. But nothing, and I mean nothing, beats the mountains for me. There's something about the connection to the earth, the different terrain. I was born and raised here. I've always only been able to see about 50 feet away. There are no hills here. So, I mean, once you get to where mountain ranges are and you're able to actually see differences, it's vast. I don't know. Being here my whole life, it's like, that's really different. The ground's not squishy. Hold on a second.

Jillian Corder: When the ground is hard and the highest elevation point is, you know, not the levee.

Dave Evans: Right.

Jillian Corder: That's... you know, it makes a bit of a difference. True.

Dave Evans: Absolutely.

Jillian Corder: OK, our last question is concert or comedy show?

Dave Evans: Concert. Hands down, concert.

Jillian Corder: I knew that was going to be a good answer.

Dave Evans: I love comedy. I love to laugh, but music makes my world completely turn around.

[12:16] How Chuck Fest Began

Jillian Corder: Which leads us... segues right into our conversation today.

Brady Renard: Yeah, and Chuck Fest. So give me the elevator, the one-sentence pitch. What is it?

Dave Evans: Geez, you would think after all this time I have this just, like, right here. You know, it's a lot of things. It is the capability of getting together and celebrating and showing off, making sure everybody realizes we have things that shine. You know, in 2014, I had had Luna for 10 years, and we were wanting to put together this giant celebration of Luna. And, you know, I found at that time, Luna did a whole lot of live music then. The food scene was different. The music scene was different. And I found a lot of folks staying in almost a level of disbelief, or, wow, those guys are from Lake Charles? That band is from here? Oh, that chef who cooks that amazing food is from here? Wow. We... and I'm not saying we have disbelief in ourselves, but it felt like we just, we had more belief in, like, New Orleans or Lafayette. And it's like, hey guys, we can do amazing stuff. We can cook amazing food. We can play amazing music. We are just as creative and capable as the rest of them.

So it was really to kind of put together a platform to strut our stuff. The Festival Internationals, the New Orleans Jazz Fest, like, the town itself gets to strut its stuff. It's not just a great music act or a great whatever. It's, the town gets to strut its stuff. That's why we decided, well, besides, you know, Luna being on the block, that's why we decided to close the street down, because it used to be just on the 700 block. Then it grew every so often. But, you know, it's celebrating everything that is Lake Charles. And then, because we're still in our infancy, it's celebrating that everything is Lake Charles, Louisiana. So food, music, art, everything is from Louisiana. So...

Jillian Corder: I love it. And I think that's such a smart move to... You're trying to teach people not to be shocked by it anymore. You shouldn't be shocked that we have great talent in our backyard.

Dave Evans: Search for it. We have great-tasting stuff. We have great-sounding stuff. We have artists here that can paint amazing art, that can draw amazing imagery. Accept, and all of a sudden, our proud factor turns into ability. Our proud factor, it's, no, we're not showing off. This is us accepting the fact that we're really good at stuff. We can hold our own with New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette. And I'm not trying to put us up against it. I just want the same attraction. James Beard. James Beard don't come to Lake Charles. They come to New Orleans. They make their way over to Lafayette. They're not looking at Lake Charles yet. We got to give them a reason to look. Like, show off. Hey, strut your stuff. See what we got, you know? Things of that nature. I want equal treatment.

[15:52] Greatness Inspires Greatness

Brady Renard: And before we get in, just because it's obviously a passion point for you, it feels like since that point, we've seen a lot of it, you know?

Dave Evans: Yeah. Because everybody kind of naturally started to embrace it a little more. The more murals all of a sudden started popping up, the more interest in what we can accomplish and what we can do. From new restaurants to new art coming out, being produced, being, you know, framed prints, being, like I said, murals, music. You know, we're doing all of it. But the more that we show off that we're capable, the more the kids look at that and go, I want to pick up a guitar, I want to sing you a song. It's not a ridiculous notion anymore. It's an actual notion. It's a, well, of course, any person is capable of anything they put their mind to.

Brady Renard: Right.

Dave Evans: You know, it's just overcoming the burden of being embarrassed, or mine's not as good as yours, or whatever that is. It's never going to get better unless you get on out there and do it.

Jillian Corder: Yeah, and like you said, greatness inspires greatness, right? And being proud of ourselves and buying in, the buy-in of, this is who we are, this is our unique identity here in Lake Charles. And being proud of it, suddenly you've got more people who are like, oh, OK.

Dave Evans: I mean, have you guys ever thought about, like, Louisiana versus the rest of all of it?

Jillian Corder: I do have a shirt that says Louisiana versus all y'all, and it is my favorite thing to wear around.

Dave Evans: I'm from Louisiana. I can't say that first word, but, I mean, you know what I'm saying? It's real stuff. Like, it is. Other people's states don't and haven't done what our state has done. We've created whole genres of music. We've created whole genres of food. We, like, in this swampy, murky, no-man's-land of a place, we have accomplished a lot of amazing things. And if we leaned into it again, we'd all believe a little bit more into it. I just want our side of the state to feel the same thing, you know, to depend on NOLA as a big sister. Like, we should be looking over there and going, how did you guys get where you're going? The tourism is unbelievable, you know? So it's embracing that and developing that.

Brady Renard: That heartbeat.

Dave Evans: Absolutely.

[18:20] Stepping Away and Coming Back

Brady Renard: And so in 2014, you obviously created Chuck Fest, and then you ran it for a few years. In 2022, you stepped away for the last few years.

Dave Evans: '21. It was between '21 and '22, I gave it away. And that was mainly... you know, we operated it. '19 was a stellar year. 2019 for Chuck Fest, it was, like, the best up until, and all of us who put it on, we just were left in this, oh my gosh, what have we done? We have created something that has just got all the traction. Watching this thing get into this, we estimated, like, 15,000 people in the downtown, on the downtown grid. That's a lot of people in Lake Charles celebrating the same thing at the same time. So, you know, 2020, with COVID and everything, everybody canceled everything that year. It was an awful year. '21, we got in line to do it. We were planning and plotting, and then all of a sudden a storm hit New Orleans and took all of the resources. We couldn't get tents anymore. We couldn't get generators. You know, all of a sudden, all of this giant, bigger-than-us problem arrived, and it was... a lot of things happened, and it just seemed like a good time for the festival to continue going forward with all the momentum.

I thought about it and was like, you know what? I'm a chef, restaurateur guy. Like, this is what I do. I just picked up putting on festivals as a hobby, kind of, which is ridiculous. So, you know, it was more of the thought of, like, who's the capable people around here, you know? And so, looking at Arts and Humanities, they were putting on Live at the Lakefront, they were putting on these different things, and it's like, oh, well, this is a great fit for them. They need to celebrate the arts and music and everything. They ran it from '22 to '25. And after '25 happened, you know, there's all kind of weird bureaucracy in Arts and Humanities, just like the city, just like all of the effective things. And it just wasn't for them what it was for us, because I don't have a budget yearly that I got to pay employees and all that with the festival.

It was never a money thing. It was never a profitable thing for me. It's a nonprofit that I started, and we put on a great party, a great celebration for downtown. The businesses get the benefit. Luna gets the benefit. Panorama gets the benefit. Tia's, all of my neighbors. All of my neighbors suddenly have a day in October that pays their rent for the whole month and maybe next month. And, you know, that's why. That's why you continue it. You've created something that's so successful and so longed for by the public that, you know, I'm trying to create more of them. I'm trying to create more days throughout the months, because we have Mardi Gras and we have Chuck Fest. There's only a couple more that really create that frenzied, gigantic business day.

[21:42] Scholarships and the Next Generation

Brady Renard: Yeah. So we see the passion. What about 2026 now, as you are back in the game of running it? What is fundamentally different than maybe years past?

Dave Evans: The economy. The economy is frightfully different. In our working with our nonprofit, we're raising money to improve the future of music, arts, culinary, the whole thing, by eventually getting to that point of, this thing's rolling well enough where we have funds coming in well enough, and from the day-of raisings, we're able to provide monies for scholarships for SOWELA, for McNeese. Anything involving culinary arts, anything involving arts, period, and anything involving music. So it's basically two to SOWELA, two to McNeese every semester. We're trying to get to that point where we can provide for that type of thing to happen.

What builds a better food scene? A better food scene is built by more available chefs with creative flair that are going to go and create new things. Where do those people come from? That's coming specifically here. It's coming from SOWELA, which is an amazing place. They have an amazing state-of-the-art teaching facility. But those kids graduated high school and said, I don't want to go to college, I want to go learn how to cook better. Those are the ones who are going to be the future of the culinary scene. They're going to create the food, just like the musicians, just like the artists. So to nurture that from as soon as we can get involved, you know, that's kind of the angle. The beneficiary of the whole thing is to build that future line. Eventually, you know, having new restaurants because of the kids we've helped, and we've been able to get them to stay here. We don't want kids to graduate from SOWELA and bail. We want them to graduate and get into the culinary scene and learn things. The musicians, the artists, embrace the area and the thing. So...

[24:00] Building the 2026 Lineup

Jillian Corder: So I kind of want to pivot just a little bit here, because we now, you know, understand the passion behind it, like you said. But also, for those who are going for the party, it's quite a party, too. You're kind of giving some of those people, you talked about the economy and everything, you're kind of giving people a day to escape.

Dave Evans: Oh, sure.

Jillian Corder: And just have a good time.

Dave Evans: And it's, you know, it's kind of trying to play to everybody. It's trying to look across the landscape of music out there and go, OK, who can we have? Well, this coming up, the '26, coming back to it, it's obviously a rebuilding year. I couldn't just pick this thing back up and it's, like, in well shape to go. We had to form a whole new board. We had to form a whole new thing. We had to take over the website again and come up with all the new stuff. It's not easy at all. And so, you know, I knew with me back in the driver's seat of the whole thing, it's always been important to me to try and, like, exhaust all the local stuff and then exhaust the fact that, what do we have here that we need to make sure shines? What do we have here that we need to, you know...

And, you know, Rusty Metoyer, amazing musician, incredible guy. He's a headliner on our Broad Street stage. Bringing zydeco, trying to bring more zydeco, more of that flair onto it, trying to celebrate more of the country aspect. The type of music that everybody wants to hear. Everybody's different. If we had it my way, which you would think this is my way, I would have just this small group of styled music. But I'm trying to play to the entire town, the entire region. I'm trying to tell Houston, I'm trying to tell Baton Rouge, I'm trying to tell Shreveport: Everybody come celebrate and check out what we have, and taste what we taste like, hear what we sound like and see what we look like.

And that's the thing. Having a great... you know, I said Rusty. Wendy Colonna, for those of you who might know of her or do know of her, know that she's an amazing singer-songwriter. Just has been at it this whole time. She's born and raised here. She's been living in Austin for 20, 25 years, accomplishing what a lot of folks don't get to accomplish: living your dream, playing music, writing music, being an artist, you know? Of course, we have the wonderful Flamethrowers. We kind of get in every other year with them, to where, you know, they're the best band in town. They're the ones bringing the biggest crowds no matter where they are. That's because they're a fantastic band and they have a fantastic set, and it's all the best musicians in town playing music together. Why would it not be fantastic?

Jillian Corder: What can we expect this year with the festival?

Dave Evans: Them. Lots of great music. We have... I already said Wendy. We have Flamethrowers and Rusty, of course. But then, you know, Justin Martindale's going to be on the Broad Street stage as well. We also have Dani LaCour. She's fantastic. You go down the list: Louisiana Surf Department. They're a wonderful band that, again, they have members that are from Louisiana that moved to Austin, formulated this great band, and they're out there doing it, touring all the stuff.

[27:56] Stages, Food and the Festival Footprint

Jillian Corder: For somebody who hasn't gone to Chuck Fest, kind of give us an idea of the feel. Obviously, you said all of downtown is taken over, multiple stages.

Dave Evans: Stages. It's the 700 and 800 block of Ryan Street, and it's the 200 and 300 block of Broad Street. So it's just a nice T. We have two street stages, which, that's been the norm for the past few years. There's the Broad Street stage and then the main stage, which is Ryan Street stage. We have the Luna stage, we have the Panorama stage, all of the main stages. We also have the new... the No Boundaries stage. No Boundaries is the new spot in town, a new nightclub across the street from Luna. They took the old Crystal's Downtown spot.

Jillian Corder: Oh, OK. I did not know that.

Dave Evans: Yeah, they're going to have a stage now. They have, I believe it's five or six acts scheduled there as well. We also have the Velvet Room. So this year we've actually added on some stages. We also have Stellar Beans. Stellar Beans has always participated, being the acoustic stage. So we have six acts there. Basically every spot downtown that generally does live music has six acts playing at it. So we have a total of about 40 music acts playing from noon past midnight downtown.

We have a lot of different food vendors. It's going to taste really good. Insane Sausages. Tasterite Jamaican. They've been there, I think, almost every year. We also have Hi-Licious Street Kitchen. Hi-Licious has been there every year as well. We're going to have a small little truck kind of corral of, I think it's six trucks. And then we're going to have, I believe it's... right now we're still working on the final things of it, but I want to say it's going to be somewhere between 10 and 20 food booths, being different restaurants, different caterers, different things of that nature. So lots of different stuff. I mean, we're trying to make sure that everybody, you know, we get a little bit of everything. We have some seafood, we have some barbecue, we have some delicious, you know, Asian food. Like, you know, just touching on all the spots.

[30:16] Still Going, and Still Free

Brady Renard: So what of that, of this 2026 celebration, are you really most excited for people to see?

Dave Evans: That we're still going. That we're still functioning. That we can still pull it together, up by our bootstraps. You know, like I said earlier, this is such a difficult task. And I definitely think that that's something that, you know, I don't need to make sure that everybody knows that it's difficult, but I definitely want everybody to know that it's difficult. It's a gigantic task with a thousand moving parts all the way up until the day of, and then the day of has, like, 10,000 moving parts. So, you know...

Jillian Corder: Yeah, your notebook... He has a notebook here, for those that are listening. You have a notebook here that's giving me little "Good Will Hunting" vibes, on the chalkboard there. It's a little... it's a lot. I can't imagine.

Dave Evans: I have a music one, a restaurant one, a festival one. I just try to purge. Look, there's a good idea in there somewhere, and I'm going to get it. I'm going to pull it out. It's going to be on paper, and I'm not going to be able to forget it. That's the whole premise behind it.

Brady Renard: A free festival.

Dave Evans: Yes.

Brady Renard: Why is that important to you?

Dave Evans: Free festival. Let's see. If I make it free, it's open for everybody. I don't know when the last time, if you've been to Jazz Fest, or if you've maybe gone over to the ACL or any of these gigantic fests, and I'm not comparing Chuck Fest. Sort of I am, but I'm not. If I make it free, everybody can come. Everybody can make it. Everybody can come and enjoy it, you know? Every caliber of every person. If I had a huge price tag on it, there's a group of people that couldn't come enjoy the music. There's a... you know. So this way, by making it free and getting the outside businesses involved, it's kind of a support within a support. And it's just access, you know, making sure that everybody... it's accessible.

[32:27] Local Artists on Display

Jillian Corder: I love that. And one of... so Chuck Fest, we went to when we first moved here. We've been several years, but because we worked at the time, and I still do, literally around the block. So if you're watching the newscast that night, you can hear Chuck Fest in the background. You can actually... we're right by that stage. You can actually hear it in the background, which is always fun, and we always walk over and have a good time. It was one of the first things we went to when we moved here, 11 years ago now. And I think what I loved about it is that I met there some of my now-favorite local artists, too. And so that's part of it too, having these local artists on display, vendors set up, that kind of thing.

Dave Evans: Yeah, strutting their stuff. You know, getting recognition for that stuff is not that easy. It's a long line of things. It's a getting in front of somebody, or look at mine, not theirs, or whatever it might be. Giving them this platform to set up, to sell, you know, vendors, or maybe it's craftsmen who make things, maybe it's, you know, of course, the painters and stuff. But what about the folks who are making jewelry? What about the folks that are making, you know, bespoke... or one of our neighbors on the block? You know, they make amazing hats. They make them from, you know, scratch. They make them beautiful. Like, getting the notification, making sure that everybody knows that we do great stuff, you know? Someone who lives on the South Side that don't come downtown might not know that we have a groovy hat store a couple doors down from Luna, you know? They might not, you know.

[34:06] Why We Do It

Brady Renard: What do you think, when you kind of look back on the weekend after it's done, will make you say, you know, this is why we do it?

Dave Evans: This is why we do it.

Brady Renard: And this is what we wanted Chuck Fest to be. Because I loved the evolution. It was just a block party.

Dave Evans: It was.

Brady Renard: And now it's a multiple block party, right? It's a downtown party now.

Dave Evans: Sure. Quality of life has a lot to do with that. Making, you know, wanting to be sure that we have... You guys moved here. All of a sudden, there was this neat downtown festival happening. And that's not why you guys stayed, but I'm sure it helped in y'all's appreciation and y'all's, like, grow and love of the place, and, like, wow, we have this to go to. Before Chuck Fest, there wasn't a downtown free festival you could walk to if you live downtown, or, you know what I mean? So being able to get that and, like, provide that, and, like, looking back on that, like, keeping culture alive, providing that kind of oomph to our economy, our souls, that goodness of, like, human touch and human, like, emotion. Watching music, tasting this, being elated by that, you know? That human experience. That's a huge thing, you know. The smiles of people, the oodles of thanks. I don't do it for that, but I can't tell you that it's a bad feeling that everybody says, thanks, Dave. And, like, yeah, you bet. This is amazing. Thank you for participating, kind of thing, you know?

[35:54] Two Days and the Houston Pitch

Jillian Corder: That's great. And this year, two days.

Dave Evans: It's two days. I mean, you can say two days. It's Friday night, and it's basically kind of a pre-party Friday night. We have some bands that are going to be at Luna and Panorama and No Boundaries and over at Velvet Room. Basically, the block kind of warming up for the Saturday. And so it's a three-band lineup at each place kind of thing. And then Saturday being the main event kind of thing.

Jillian Corder: Awesome. So, you know, it's all about celebrating what we have here locally, but certainly wouldn't hurt to pitch it to the people that aren't from here, to show them what Lake Charles is all about.

Dave Evans: Oh, sure.

Jillian Corder: How do you pitch it to Houston, to New Orleans, to wherever people might be coming from?

Dave Evans: You know, Houston, the way I would pitch it to them is, like, there's no traffic.

Jillian Corder: That's an easy one.

Dave Evans: There's no hell of being on the highway. Once you get to our quaint little town, there's plenty of parking. You don't have to do what you would normally do, the hell of having, you know, crazy traffic or bad parking or any of those things. Nobody's charging you to park.

Jillian Corder: We don't have any of those flashing "This way to Parking Lot Green" at NRG.

Dave Evans: It's 20 bucks, 40 bucks. None of that. None of that. That's a silly selling point. The food's delicious. The music's great. It's free. You probably can get a good rate for a room over at L'Auberge or Golden Nugget or any of the places. And then you can just come and enjoy yourselves Louisiana and Lake Charles style, which is probably a lot better and laid back and less to worry about, you know, than the heavy time of Houston. We got a really, really good time for everybody who wants to come and enjoy it. And then we get to strut our stuff and show off what we're made of, kind of thing.

[37:51] Growing Downtown Year-Round

Brady Renard: Yes. Obviously, the mission and the passion behind it is more than just a weekend of what Chuck Fest is. And I know you've been working on the fight for increased activity downtown, kind of year-round. How does Chuck Fest fit into that bigger picture, that goal that I know you have, that obviously has been a fire, but I know you've kind of even put a little gasoline on it recently?

Dave Evans: Sure, sure. Well, you know, with the example of a Chuck Fest, the functionable footprint of it, being able to see that that works, the repetition of it one time of year, people look forward to it. Obviously, people are looking to do things like that. So with that, as I was stating earlier, coming to the realization that a day like that, the... not necessarily implications, but the results of a day like that for downtown, it's, you know, you got to try and do it as much as you can. You know, like I was saying, Mardi Gras is a giant time for downtown. We have some of our best days, but the best day of the year since 2014 is Chuck Fest. That gives everybody downtown the best day of the year.

And so trying to recreate smaller, more, you know, functionable things. We're doing that with Earth Fest. We're doing that in April with Earth Fest. It's basically the same thing, the same process. The past two years, it's worked only on the 700 block of Ryan, because we've got to steadily grow it out and eventually get to that footprint. Eventually, with Chuck Fest, since opening Augustine, we opened Augustine about a year and some change ago, I now want this festival I started to go all the way to the courthouses, where they have the Downtown at Sundown. And we'll get there. That's kind of the end goal. Because then, all of a sudden, we have a stage at that end of the street. We have a stage at Division. We have Broad. We have grown it out and spread it out to where now almost all of the businesses can... at that point, all of the businesses would relish in the whole thing. Pujo Street Café, Villa Harlequin, all of the other restaurants that might fall short off the block. They don't get all of the foot traffic in front of their places. This is what we're trying to get to, you know? But it's, like I said, it's a giant undertaking.

Jillian Corder: It is.

Dave Evans: So it's just crawling.

Jillian Corder: It is. But maybe, you know, with Chuck Fest, like you said, greatness inspires greatness. More will come from it. That calendar in downtown Lake Charles will fill out with more events and things like this throughout the year.

[40:48] A Call for Sponsors

Dave Evans: Absolutely. If you or someone you know is up for sponsoring great, great times and wonderful things that we put on, that is definitely necessary. Without sponsors, you know, we can't do anything. Performance is a wonderful sponsor. JD Bank, Merchants and Farmers, Oak Crossing, Generational... I mean, it just goes. And without these folks, we're not able to do it, because otherwise it's put on to, you know, one or two people, and we can't foot the bill for that. This is a giant undertaking. So finding sponsors, getting the help, getting the financial backing for this thing to help us improve our community, our culture, our, you know, enjoyment of life and everything that surrounds it, you know, that kind of thing. So please help.

Jillian Corder: Yeah, smile directly into that camera. That's the one.

[41:50] Sign-Off

Brady Renard: As a wise spirit once whispered to a man on a cornfield, if you build it, they will come. Yes, indeed. And so we've seen it, and thank you so much for all that you do and the celebrations, and we're excited to see it this year.

Dave Evans: Thank you for having me. I appreciate that, for sure.

Brady Renard: And the biggest thank-you of all, though, goes out to who?

Jillian Corder: You, the listener.

Brady Renard: For joining us right here on this here podcast, spending some time with us. If you could, as we always ask, if you could like, rate and review, we always appreciate it. We'd like to keep the conversation going on our clips and the podcast as a whole. We'd love to hear from you.

Jillian Corder: Yep, that also helps us grow our audience and further share the unique experiences and fun adventures that we're having here in Southwest Louisiana. You can go to visitlakecharles.org/podcast for advice on where to eat, more episodes and events that are happening this very weekend. I'm Jillian Corder.

Brady Renard: And I'm Brady Renard. Thanks again for coming to play at Louisiana's Playground. C'est tout.