By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

GARYVILLE — Still riding high from receiving the 2015 Travel Attraction of the Year Award from the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association, San Francisco Plantation will host its 12th annual Frisco Fest Saturday and Sunday on plantation grounds.

Gates will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day for the plantation’s biggest fundraiser, from which generated funds are used for the plantation’s upkeep.

Organizers promise this year’s festival will be better than ever, with much to offer for the whole family. More than 100 crafters and artist booths will be on the grounds, and master gardener clinics and a junior art expo will also be offered.

“Most of our crafters have been with us for 12 years,” Kim Fontenot, the plantation’s general manager, said, adding new crafters will also be on the grounds and offerings will range from artwork and pottery to jewelry and woodworking.

Fontenot said children’s clothing, monogramming, plants and candles will all be offered by vendors, as will specialty food items including pickles, jams, jellies and pickled eggs.

New to this year’s spring festival will be an expanded food court, Fontenot said, which is now open to outside vendors. She said expanding the food options was popular at the plantation’s Fall Festival, where outside vendors were allowed for the first time.

“Our food court this year we will feature local cooks, restaurants and New Orleans food trucks,” Fontenot said, adding food options will include seafood pies, pulled pork, jambalaya, seafood pasta, shrimp and grits, funnel cakes and much more.

Children’s activities at the festival will include pony rides, a petting zoo, inflatables, rock climbing and bungee trampolines, Fontenot said.

Frisco Fest is also packed full of special events. The Tour De’ San Francisco Bike Race along scenic River Road and Cruisin’ The Plantation Car Show will take place Saturday, with the schedule on Sunday offering a 5k run, 1-mile run and live music by Geno Delafose and The French Rockin Boogie from noon to 3 p.m.

All of the festival excitement takes place on the picturesque grounds of San Francisco Plantation, located at 2646 River Road in Garyville. Admission into the festival is $5, and free parking will be available.

Tours of the plantation home will be available throughout the weekend, where extensive renovations completed in September will be on display.  

For more information, visit friscofest.com or call 1-888-322-1756.