ICRA member Nelwyn Hebert names veterans attending the event.

New Iberia is proud of its veterans, and the Iberia Cultural Resources Association gave local residents a chance to showcase that pride during Sunday’s “Stars and Stripes” musical celebration. 

The event played host to the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and the Iberia Swamp Band, two top-notch musical orchestras in Acadiana who performed patriotic music a few days away from the July 4 holiday, and absolutely free inside the Sugar Cane Festival building. 

The program included a mix of patriotic music that ranged from military tunes to compositions that hail from movies like “The Patriot,” “South Pacific” and “Man of La Mancha.”

Other tunes included “God Bless the USA,” “American Songbook,” “What A Wonderful World” and “In The Mood.” Selections from the Iberia Swamp Band included “International Dixieland Jamboree,” “Armed Forces Salute,” “1812 Overture” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

“We have opened our program with symphonic variation on popular folk songs,” Maestro Mariusz Smolij said at the event. “We also have on our program legendary composer John Williams, he primarily composed music to movies from science fiction productions such as “Star Wars” to genres that stem from the imagination such as “Harry Potter.”

“But he also did worked on films that were patriotic like “The Patriot.” I think music from “The Patriot” is one of the most famous from that genre.”

But before the music commenced, organizer Nelwyn Hebert conducted an annual reading of veterans attending the event. That included a name by name of the more than 80 veterans of the military attending. 

All in all, Hebert said this years Stars and Stripes was a successful event.

“I think we had a nice crowd and we had a good number of our veterans who attended,” organizer Nelwyn Hebert said. “We had 83 veterans in today’s program. It was very good, very well attended.

“And we’re so happy to have our World War II veterans with us, because they’re all in their 90s, and we’re glad to honor them.” 

Some of those veterans include Iberia Parish President Larry Richard, Iberia Veterans Association members and “Mayor of Main Street” Paul Schwing. 

The ICRA will continue their concert series Nov. 24, where “Sounds of the Season” will be held at St. Peter’s Catholic Church.