Check out Lâche pas’ mural

KAPLAN — Kaplan is the Mardi Gras capital of Vermilion Parish, so it’s fitting that a new mural being created there depicts the celebration.
And that local students taking part in Louisiana Heritage Connections (Lâche pas) class are helping to create the mural, it’s fitting that it depicts a local, traditional version of the celebration.
Rene Rost Middle School students, taking part in the Lâche pas class, have joined with members of the Rotary Club of Abbeville and its satellite, After-Hours Club, to place a mural on the side of Piazza Office Supply in Kaplan.
“This is an exciting project,” Rotary Club’s Davelyn DeMarcy. “It’s really good for Rotary to collaborate and mentor the children at Rene Rost to help make their town beautiful.
“That’s the spirit of this project.”
Everyone will be able to see the work up close today (Sunday), as there will be a ribbon cutting for the mural. The event, which will serve as a fundraiser to help defray the cost of the mural, will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Piazza Office Supply, located at 104 N. Cushing Ave. in Kaplan. Costs for the project include the hiring of a professional artist to assist and the purchase of materials.
“We are using this opportunity to raise the remaining funds for this project by selling brown bag hamburger meals for $8,” DeMarcy said.
This project has allowed Rene Rost students involved in Lâche pas to dig deeper into their local culture. It is a traditional arts survey where students engage in Cajun and Zydeco music, Louisiana folk art, dance, history, French traditions, and of course, cuisine.
“Lâche pas is its affectionate name,” said Madeline DeHart, supervisor of Arts, Music and Foreign Language for the Vermilion Parish School System, “but the class is really named Louisiana Heritage Connections. Lâche pas is short for a saying that means ‘don’t lose the culture.’ We’re taking the local culture and incorporating it into the school day.”
Lâche pas students take part in the class during the “ninth” hour.
“That’s actually after school,” Dehart said. “That’s why we received a grant, because it is considered innovation.”
Lâche pas will begin its second year at Rene Rost when the school year commences in August. Beginning next school year, Lâche pas will also be offered to sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students at J.H. Williams Middle School in Abbeville and Erath Middle School.
“Those students will be able to do projects like this in their community,” Dehart said.
In Kaplan, more than a dozen students have worked on the mural. Artist Blake Broadhead of Lafayette, whose grandfather is from Kaplan, has done the professional work for the project.
“He’s the hired artist,” Dehart said. “He sketched the outline and will return and put the finishing touches to make it look more professional.”
For the students, it’s been fun.
“I asked the kids what their favorite parts of the class so far,” Dehart said. “They said they enjoyed the art.”
On the mural is a family enjoying a Mardi Gras by wearing traditional costumes.
“People know the modern celebration,” Dehart said, “with purple, green and gold colors and elaborate beads. That’s just not how our ancestors celebrated Mardi Gras here. In Cajun Country, that’s the last time they were going to have a really big meal. So they would go around begging for food. They made their costume using little pieces of fabric from remnants of clothing. These remnants were put together to make a costume. That’s what the family on the mural represents.”
“They are in what I call traditional Mardi Gras, rather than what we know in the modern day.”
DeMarcy agreed that the mural and its location tie together nicely.
“Kaplan is our main source for Mardi Gras in the parish,” DeMarcy said. “What better project than a mural of a traditional Mardi Gras.
“It brings it all together. “