Did You Know Louisiana Has A Bonnie And Clyde Festival?
Louisiana is known for festivals. There's one going on just about every weekend of the year. Usually, festivals are centered around events that call for celebration such as music, food, or heritage-oriented things. However, there's a town about an hour east of Shreveport, LA that hosts an annual festival to mark the anniversary of a deadly incident that made national news.
That doesn't sound like anything most people would want to party, eat and be merry about does it? Well, it's Louisiana. If we throw a second-line parade for a funeral, we can certainly create a celebration about the life and times of two bank-robbing killers. Every year the small town of Gibsland hosts a weekend-long festival in honor of the ambush that ended the murderous crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde! It's strange but true.
Folks flock to the small Louisiana town every year to enjoy the festival. This year marks the 90th Annual Bonnie And Clyde Festival, starting Friday, May 24, through Sunday, May 26, 2024. It takes place in the heart of Downtown Gibsland, complete with a parade, look-a-like actors, a high-action reenactment of the infamous ambush, and great food.
If you plan on attending, be sure to stop by the Bonnie and Clyde Museum, filled with artifacts from the couple, including the bullet-riddle 'death car' and more. The two outlaws were brought down in a hail of bullets by Louisiana and Texas lawmen in the small town 90 years ago on May 24, 1934.
Since then, the people of Gibsland mark the anniversary of that horrific day and right down to firing gunshots that echo into the night. This festival marks the actual day when Louisiana and Texas lawmen brought down the legendary couple Bonnie And Clyde. in a hail of bullets on May 24, 1934.
The May 23, 1934 death by an ambush of the two fugitives heightened their infamous legends that continue to reverberate today. From books, movies, TV, and songs, some closer to fiction than fact, each new generation is introduced to Bonnie and Clyde Perhaps no nurtures that legend better than Perry Carver, owner of the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum located on Main Street in Gibsland, “Movies just do it an injustice; the real story is just captivating.” Carver said. For more information, visit their Facebook Page.
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Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz