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“You can hear Cajun and zydeco music and dance anywhere, but nowhere else do you do it in a zoo,” says Sarah Burnette. That might be an odd endorsement—there are many things we rarely do near caged animals—but Burnette gets giddy when she describes the dancers as they form a circle in front of the Capital One Stage at Audubon Zoo during Swamp Fest, which takes place November 1 and 2 this year. “Everyone is so into it.”

The Louisiana Swamp Fest is in its 24th year, and has grown substantially from humble origins in the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit. It was a natural extension of the zoo’s recreation of the swamp environment to present the music that emerged from it. Swamp Fest now presents music on three stages, but one remains in the Swamp Exhibit, where the tables have been cleared away to make space for a dance floor while outside, there are alligators, nutria, and a porchful of indigenous artisans and craftspeople showing their wares.

Swamp Fest caught on quickly, and in a few years grew to its current size and configuration, with the Louisiana Heritage Stage inside the gates, the Capital One Stage that has also presented shows by Bob Dylan, the Bangles and countless others, and the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit Stage in the back of the zoo where the festival began. On a nice day, it can bump zoo attendance up from 6,000 or so visitors to the neighborhood of 10,000 or more. It has become a way to enjoy the fall weather, see the zoo and introduce children to the rural culture of south Louisiana. “The zoo is the best place to take a four- or five-year-old child,” says Burnette, the Public Relations Director for the Audubon Zoo.

The lineup is certainly kid-friendly, including young Guyland Leday, the 11-year-old accordion prodigy. He returns to the Louisiana Heritage Stage Sunday at 12:30, after having wowed Oprah Winfrey and her audience when he appeared on her show earlier this year. He appears with his Family and Friends Band, but he’s not the only family act performing Sunday. Fiddler Hadley J. Castille’s Sharecropper Band includes his son Blake, and it features his granddaughter, Sarah Jayde, with whom he recently recorded the album Cajun and Texas Swing. They’ll play Swamp Fest’s Capital One Stage at 11:55 a.m. Sunday morning.

This year’s lineup also includes three Grammy nominees and two winners. This year was the first year that a Grammy was awarded for the Best Cajun/Zydeco Album, and winner Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience plays Saturday while runner-up Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars close the Capital One Stage Sunday afternoon. BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 1998, and they perform Sunday at 1:35 p.m.

“I think it’s great that we get to see these Grammy Award-winning musicians here at the zoo,” Burnette says.

The success of Swamp Fest could in part be attributed to New Orleanians’ eagerness to enjoy fall weather, but it’s also due to the resurgent interest in South Louisiana culture, particularly Cajun and Zydeco music. Last month, Lafayette hosted Festival Acadiens et Creoles and the Blackpot Festival, and there was the Swamp Pop Festival in Bourg. This month, Cajun and zydeco music are featured—along with a cracklin cook-off—at the Port Barre Cracklin Festival November 13-16.

This year’s Swamp Fest broadens its horizons a bit, including country in the mix with Christian Serpas and Ghost Town, and Gal Holiday and her Honky Tonk Revue. The zoo plans to remain true to its premise, though, and continue to bring Cajun and zydeco culture to the heart of Uptown. According to Sarah Burnette, “We try to stay pretty true to form.”

Saturday, November 1

Louisiana Heritage Stage

10-11:30 a.m. Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue

12:30- 2 p.m. Big Red and the Zydeco Playmakers

2:30-4 p.m. Bayou DeVille

Louisiana Swamp Exhibit Stage

12-2 p.m. Lee Benoit & Clyde Thompson

2-4 p.m. Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band

Capital One Stage

10:15-11:30 a.m. Horace Trahan & the Doucet Band

11:55-1:10 p.m. Jeremy and the Zydeco Hot Boyz

1:35-2:50 p.m. Magnolia Sisters

3:15-4:45 p.m. Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience

Sunday, November 2

Louisiana Heritage Stage

10-11:30 a.m. Kayla Woodson & Louisiana Lightning

12:30-2 p.m. Guyland Leday with Family and Friends Band

2:30-4 p.m. Christian Serpas & Ghost Town

Louisiana Swamp Exhibit Stage

12-2 p.m. Tout Les Soirs

2:10-4 p.m. Lafourche Cajun Band

Capital One Stage

10:15-11:30 a.m. Sean Ardoin & R.O.G.K. (Reflection of God’s Kingdom)

11:55-1:10 p.m. Hadley J. Castille and his Sharecropper Band feat. Sarah Jayde

1:35-2:50 p.m. BeauSoleil Avec Michael Doucet

3:15-4:45 p.m. Roddie Romero and the Hub City All Stars