What’s on your summer bucket list?

    We’d like to know.

    However, if you could use some help with ideas, let us offer a few:
    Ride the Acadian Ambulance at the Children’s Museum of Acadiana.

    Eat a banana split at Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe at Jefferson Street and Johnston, the last Borden’s store of its kind in existence.  
    Visit alligators up close and personal at Lake Martin.

    Eat gourmet food from a truck at any of the dozen or more gourmet food trucks of Lafayette.
    Walk the Horse Farm and visit its century-old live oaks after enjoying the Saturday morning Farmers’ Market.
    Sip wine, view artwork and listen to the Cajun jam session at the Second Saturday ArtWalk throughout downtown Lafayette.
    Dance in the San Souci water fountain, which is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day!
    Bike the Attakapas-Ishak Multi-Use Trail from downtown Lafayette to Beaver Park.
    Take a hike through the Acadiana Park Nature Station.
    Learn about solar energy and sustainable living at the UL-Lafayette BeauSoleil House and then feed the ducks in nearby Girard Park.

University Art Museum

    At noon on Wednesdays meet Planetarium Director David Hostetter at the Lafayette Science Museum and use his telescope to view sunspots.
    Play in the rain (unless it’s lightning). It usually happens every afternoon during the summer.
    Step inside the giant egg, also known as the LITE Center (Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise).

San Souci Fountain

    Listen to experts discuss art at the Paul & Lulu University Art Museum.
    Practice your French at one of the many French Tables held throughout Acadiana.
    Travel back in time to learn how Cajuns and Creoles lived at Acadian Village.
    Take thee out to a ballgame — the Acadiana Cane Cutters play baseball at Fabacher Field at Southside Regional Park in Youngsville.
    Canoe the Vermilion — guided canoe trips are offered at Vermilionville and a put-in spot is now available at the Acadiana Park Nature Station.

    Visit the office of Downtown Development District and pick up a walking brochure of downtown, then enjoy gelato and espresso at Carpe Diem Gelato & Espresso Bar.
    Try to sample as many of the EatLafayette restaurants as you can until Sept. 2, when the campaign ends.
    Eat a snow cone.
    Wow, we could go on forever. What’s on your bucket list?

A fun-filled Fourth scheduled for downtown Lafayette!

    In Lafayette, the Fourth of July celebration happens all day July 4, 2013, and includes a variety of fun-filled activities on three stages downtown.
    Grammy nominee Corey Ledet & His Zydeco Band performs at 5 p.m. on the Freedom Fest Stage and continues with Lafayette’s Bayou Boys at 7 p.m.
    Families can enjoy the Conservatory KidZone in Parc Sans Souci with interactive children’s music every hour beginning at 5:15 p.m., an instrument petting zoo, face painting, patriotic arts and crafts, balloon animals, and more!
    The Acadiana Symphony Orchestra & Conservatory of Music presents Red, White & BOOM! with Grammy winner Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band (above right) headlining the celebration at 6:30 p.m. in Parc International. Chubby Carrier, dubbed as “The World’s Premier Zydeco Showman,” will perform with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra for the annual patriotic concert following Chubby’s opening act.
    The Grand Finale Fireworks show concludes the day, beginning at 9:15 p.m.
    Gates open and festivities begin at 5 p.m. Admission is $5 per person with access to all three stages.

    The Acadiana Symphony has partnered with FoodNet and offers one free concession ticket in exchange for five non-perishable food items. FoodNet’s most needed food items are boxed cornbread, canned tuna and peas. 
    Food and beverages will be sold on site, and please, no ice chests. Proceeds from Red, White and BOOM! support the Conservatory’s early childhood music education programs.
    For more information, call (337) 232-4277, Ext. 1, visit www.acadianasymphony.org, or the Symphony’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/acadianasymphony.

EatLafayette celebrates city’s unique restaurants

    EatLafayette is a summer campaign that celebrates the city’s unique locally owned restaurants. When it began nine years ago the campaign lasted two weeks and included 18 restaurants. This year, the campaign has been extended from June 17 to Sept 2, 2013, and now includes 72 locally owned restaurants!

    Being able to spotlight so many fabulous restaurants in an 11-week span is quite an accomplishment for a small city such as Lafayette. But that’s the beauty of this hub of Cajun and Creole country and why Lafayette was named “Best for Food” by Rand McNally’s 2011 “Best of the Road” contest and the 2012 “Tastiest Town in the South” by Southern Living magazine.
    The styles of participating restaurants run the gamut in tastes. In addition to its longstanding restaurants that have made Lafayette famous are new innovative ones that feature nouveau cuisine and farm-to-table fare.
    “We have a whole new generation of young foodies and restaurants,” said Julie Calzone of Calzone & Associates, the marketing arm of the campaign.
    EatLafayette not only offers special discounts at participating restaurants throughout the summer but gives visitors a guide to those Lafayette establishments that are locally owned, offer local products and provide a guide to different types of cuisines.   
    “It answers the questions, ‘Where do we go to eat?’ ‘What is local?’” Calzone said.    
    Are you ready to eat Lafayette?
    Visit the EatLafayette site for a list of participating restaurants, specials and more at http://www.eatlafayette.com or "like" the EatLafayette Facebook page and follow along on Twitter. Visit Lafayette Travel’s “Taste Lafayette” page for more information on Lafayette’s hot culinary scene and recipes at https://www.lafayettetravel.com/taste.