LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- For nearly four decades, fans of the Festival International de Louisiane have packed downtown to hear music, and experience unique cultures.

Hollie Girouard, no stranger to the festival, knows what it's all about. But she'll experience it from a different angle this year, as a downtown business owner, a third-generation owner of the restaurant TONS. 

"Our original location was in Broussard Drive in in Broussard, and now we just opened TONS downtown Lafayette on Jefferson," Girouard said.

Festival International draws people from all over the country and all over the world, according to Ben Berthelot, CEO of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission. And that economic impact totals nearly $50 million coming in to the local economy.

"That's when you look at economic impact, you think of visitation. That's a big piece of it," Berthelot said. "But you also have the local restaurants who are making money as vendors at festival, but also those visitors who are staying in our hotels and going out to other restaurants who may not even be participating as vendors."

Berthelot said it's that sort of that trickle-down effect that helps to create a wonderful event.  

"And certainly after 40 years, they know how to do it and do it very, very well," he said. "But it's still very important for all of us to continue to support festival and make sure that it remains free because it's not free to put on for sure."

Girouard said she plans to work overtime to make sure this Festival is not only a good one for her establishment TONS, but a great experience for the customers coming to Acadiana for one of the most popular festivals in the region.

"I expect a large crowd, a lot of foot traffic," she said. "Our parking lot becomes the beer garden stage for the festival, so we're going to be right on the side of a really popular, really cool stage."

See the most recent study by the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission below.

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