Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals hosts annual convention amid pageant controversy

BATON ROUGE – Saturday afternoon was busy for the members of the Louisiana’s Association of Fairs and Festivals, who were prepping for the awards ceremony and pageant Saturday night and Sunday.

The convention was held at Crowne Plaza in Baton Rouge.

“This is really the weekend we come together to celebrate everything fairs and festivals throughout Louisiana,” President of LAFF Katelyn Calhoun said. “Baton Rouge has been our home for a long time and we’re very proud to be here.”

The convention consists of food, breakout sessions, and prepping for the festival season ahead. Festivals which tend to bring in people from across the country. 

According to Explore Louisiana, Louisiana hosts over 400 festivals each year.

“This weekend helps our state because fairs and festivals play a vital role in tourism. Tourism means generating economic dollars to put back into our state,” Calhoun said.

The association hosts over 60 pageant queens during the convention, who compete for the pageant title of LAFF.

In the past year, the evening gown competition section was removed, causing controversy online.

“This year, we have changed a little bit of our pageant format so that we can include our queens a little bit more in our association. We know there were some changes that weren’t popular and that’s okay. We’re going to work through those and work with our membership to better develop some things so that we can make everybody happy at the end of the day,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun declined to comment further on the conflict but believes this decision is for the best.

The annual convention is closed to the public, and is only open for members.

To learn more about the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals, or to become a member, click here.