The 62nd Annual Louisiana Cattle Festival will be held in Downtown Abbeville during the weekend of Oct. 8-10.

Former New Orleans Saints player and football Hall of Famer, Rickey Jackson will be a special guest of the festival.

“No doubt he’ll draw people,” said President of the festival Francis Plaisance.“We’ve received information that families from Alaska, Illinois, New Orleans and Houston will be attending because he’ll be here.”

The festivities will kick off Thursday evening with an honoree social and banquet held at 6:00 p.m. at the St. Therese Family Life Center.

A livestock show and Alice Lancon Memorial Cooking Contest will be held bright and early Friday morning at 8 a.m. The judging for these events will begin around 10 a.m. and public viewing will begin at noon.

The Cattle Festival’s opening ceremonies will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Main Courthouse bandstand and a sheep show judging will be held at 6:30 p.m.

There will be two Fais-Do-Do stages during the festival’s run. Friday night, stage one will feature Timbo and the Once Man Band at 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m., Beau Young Trio from 7:30 p.m.- 9:30 p.m. and 5th Avenue from 10:00 p.m. until midnight. Schel Reaux will play stage two from 7:00 p.m.-9 p.m. and Jaryd Lane will play from 9:30 p.m.- 11:30 p.m.

The livestock show will begin Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. and a reception, presented by Ray Chevrolet, will honor the festival queens and dignitaries at 10:30 a.m. The booths and fair will open downtown at 11:00 and the grand parade will step off at 1:00 p.m. The parade will wind along Charity Street and end on State Street.

Stage one will feature Al “lil fats” Jackson from 5:30 p.m.- 7:30 p.m. and Jamie Bergeron from 8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. Wayne Toups and Zydecajuns will cap off the evening, playing from 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Stage two will feature Cypress Band, featuring TK Hulin & Willie Tee from 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. and Richard LeBouef from 8:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m.

Family Day activities will begin with downtown booths at 11:00 a.m. Sunday. From that time until 4:00 p.m., a gospel extravaganza will be held at stage two. A children’s parade will take place at 2:00 p.m. and an Abbeville Fire Department will hold a demonstration at 2:45 p.m. A fire department water fight will be held at 3:30 p.m. All activities will close downtown at 5:00 p.m.

Airplane rides will also be offered during the festival at the Abbeville Municipal Airport to benefit the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame Museum.

“In my 14 years on the committee, I’ve never seen a response like this year’s,” said Plaisance. “I’ve just been amazed. We hope everyone comes out and that we have nice weather.”

For more information, please visit the festival’s Web site at www.louisianacattlefestival.org or call either (337) 652-0646 or (337) 385-2397.