While the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival was in full swing Saturday, there was a parallel party happening on Hopkins Street with event-goers exhibiting their own local pride.

Now in its second year, the Brown Sugar Music Festival was live all Saturday with music, food and good company to last throughout the hot day.

Though in its second year as a recent event, the origins of the festival are much older. The festival was a staple in the West End during the 1950s and ’60s. Last year, organizers Phanat Xanamane and Anthony Daniels decided to revive the festival in order to reinvigorate a sense of pride and community in the West End.

If Saturday was any indication, that mission was once again a success. A long slate of musical performers, vendors and event-goers turned Hopkins Street into the perfect venue for a festival that represents a thriving community in Iberia Parish.

Vendors like Taylor Garrett were set up all along Hopkins selling merchandise. A New Iberia native and Lafayette resident, Garrett said she was hoping to showcase her burgeoning business at the Brown Sugar Music Festival and Sugar Cane Festival.

Two stages were setup on Hopkins with performers ranging from Young Hub City, Mz Pat, the Bunk Johnson Brazz Band, Dallas Sings and more. Acadiana group the Kabuki Dancers also was on site to show off their dance moves and get the crowd energized.

Hip-hop, reggae, southern soul, R&B, gospel and poetry were all on the list, and allowed those coming into New Iberia for the weekend to experience another aspect of the city’s local culture and talent.