Plans are in the works to revitalize festival grounds in St. Martinville

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (KLFY) - An estimated six million dollar project is in progress to enhance St. Martinville's festival grounds. This comes after the city was awarded $400,000 for the Love Louisiana Grant, to reconstruct the grounds.

Mayor Jason Willis says this project is being constructed, in hopes of uniting the northside and southside of St. Martinville. "We used to have fairs...we used to have different things, in that area, so we would love to bring the festival back over here, different festivals," said Willis.

Willis says this master plan is being designed to provide a public space that can support a variety of community events and festivals. He says this project will be done in three phases. "Everything is expensive and this grant right here was up to $400,000, so that $400,000 will go a long way, it will change the whole outlook of how that space looks right now, but we definitely want to do the rest in phases," said Willis.

Just some of the work to come includes enhancing includes adding parking for the grounds and the Farmers Market, re-constructing the nearby warehouse on the property into multipurpose facility, adding sound equipment and beautifying the stage, as well as adding a playground for special needs kids, booths, tents, and more. It will also focus on making it possible for boats to dock to the area. "We have one of the most beautiful bayous in Louisiana, normally you have to drive to Lafayette or a different area to have these nice things and we want to bring the same nice things that is in other cities to St. Martinville as well too," said Willis.

Phase 1 is expected to be completed in six months. Willis says the city plans to host a groundbreaking ceremony for the grounds in the coming weeks.