If nothing else, you can expect to leave Festival International de Louisiane with a belly full of the region's finest cuisine.
But what happens to the untouched food after the music ends and the last shuttle leaves downtown Lafayette for the night? It's now showing up in community fridges across Acadiana.
"When I started volunteering for Festival International, I found out how much surplus food there was going to be out there," said Leonardo Meza-Juarez. "I decided to gather my friends and team and community to do this. I'm calling us the Food Rescue Team."
Meza-Juarez worked with Sylvie Wartelle, Festival's vendor and merchandise coordinator, and Candace Gulotta-Gaubert, Festival's sponsorship and development director, to make his idea a reality just two weeks before the event kicked off.
Initially, he was hoping to collect surplus food from restaurant vendors, but with little time to coordinate prior to the event, staff encouraged him to begin with catered food that shows up at VIP areas for financial supporters, artists, staff and volunteers.
"It's nice that connection was made," said Scott Feehan, executive director of Festival International. "We do end up with extra food sometimes. Sometimes we run out. But when we end up with a bunch of food, it's a scramble to figure out what to do with it."
It took several vehicles late Thursday night to transport trays of red beans and rice, shrimp fettuccine, salad and bread pudding to St. Barnabas Church, where volunteers were ready and waiting to package plates of food. From there, volunteers took about 100 plates to four community fridges. Volunteers were filling the fridges around 1:30 a.m. Friday. The fridges were empty less than 12 hours later.
"It's important to know this is not leftover food," Meza-Juarez said. "People are not picking at this food. These were trays that had not been touched. We take precautions and follow regulations to make sure it's safe to consume."
Meza-Juarez was once a hungry teenager who didn't always know where his next meal would come from. Meza-Juarez said he was kicked out of his home at 16 because he is trans. He often relied on friends or partners for meals or scraped together coins to purchase items on the dollar menu at fast-food restaurants.
Now 31 and a self-employed contractor, he's working to reduce food waste and ensure others in his community don't go hungry. Meza-Juarez said he's hoping to expand this effort to other festivals, community events, weddings and even family gatherings.
"This is not going to be the last of it," Meza-Juarez said. "Anywhere there's a surplus of food, I want to have teams of people on hand. I want this to be a bigger mission for the community."
Community fridges where Festival International meals will be delivered in the days ahead are located at:
- 400 Camellia Blvd., Lafayette
- 2905 E. Simcoe St., Lafayette
- 106 Milton Road, Maurice
- 620 Charity St., Abbeville
Meza-Juarez is looking for additional volunteers to help transport and package food after other festivals and community events. Learn more about opportunities by emailing track19992@gmail.com.
"It's a privilege to do this, and I'm not doing this alone," Meza-Juarez said. "It's taken a team of people here with me. They're doing all the work, and they're the heroes of this story."