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Live Zydeco and Cajun bands, food and cold beer are highlighted in this article.

Welcome to the Long Beach Bayou Festival!
A Junior JazzFest in Southern California

People have fun, Nawlens style, at the annual Bayou Festival

The bands play, the bodies dance and the Budweisers flow like the Mississippi along Decatur Street.

It's the bayou by the beach, a party on the Pacific.

It's not New Orleans, but on this weekend each year Long Beach, CA, sure seems like it. The 2011 festival is June 25-26.

The Zydeco and New Orleans music makes people get up and dance.

It's the annual Long Beach Bayou Festival and just like every day in the Big Easy, there's live Cajun and Zydeco music, plenty of cold beer, Nawlens-style food and people sitting in party chairs in the grass soaking up the sun, sounds and suds.

Call it a "junior JazzFest."

It is held the end of each June in Rainbow Lagoon parallel to Shoreline Drive. It's a sampling of what makes New Orleans such a desirable place to visit, bringing Cajun Country to people in Long Beach and throughout Los Angeles and Orange County without them having to get on a plane.

Just like JazzFest, music is a big part of the the Bayou Festival.

The "junior JazzFest" inspires dancing to the Zydeco.

To be sure, this is not JazzFest, New Orleans' venerable music festival. For one, people don't need a giant flagpole to mark their spot on the grass. But there are many similarities, New Orleans music lovers bring folding chairs and even tents to set up at the grass and one could shut their eyes upon hearing the music and imagine themselves at the Fais Do-Do stage.

Cold Budwesier beers are a must at any Cajun-type fesvial.

A cold Budweiser or other Anheuser-Busch beer is never far away (this is a major part of the JazzFest experience and is certainly a pleasure at the Bayou Festival).

Speaking of the beers, the selections are Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Amber-Bock, Bud Light Lime and Widmer Wheat. At $6, they are priced to move (tickets are required for purchase). There are two beer stations, each within easy earshot of the two stages.

Just like Nawlens, people sit on the lawn in their "party chairs."

Of course, it would not be a New Orleans-style event without food. About a dozen vendors sell crawfish, pralines, shrimp po-boys, jambalaya and red beans and rice. Prices range from $7-12.

Also, identical to JazzFest, trinket tents abound, selling clothes, jewelry, Mardi Gras masks, purses and hats.

Beads, hats and more are sold at the trinket tents.

After the festival – which runs from 11 a.m.-9 p.m., on Saturday, and until 8 p.m., on Sunday – there's no Bourbon Street in which to continue the party. But there is Pike Place, and the Mai Tai bar and Auld Dubliner are the top stops.

In short, the event is a fun day fer sure!

Admission to the Long Beach Bayou Festival is $35.

Why "mask" the fun at the festival? Because it's New Orleans!

Not even JazzFest has a lagoon for romantic moments for couples.

Festival food includes crawfish.

Some like to kick back, have af ew Buds and enjoy the music.

The smaller stage is also a popular place to drink beer and hear music.

The main draw is the music on the two stages.

Related Article: Long Beach & Nightlife