If you turned into a frog, you'd want to be in Rayne when it happened. Nowhere else are they revered so highly, or indeed dressed so prettily. The annual frog festival shows exactly how.
Frogs and Rayne have a relatively long history that dates back to the 1880s, when a gourmet chef started selling juicy bullfrogs to New Orleans restaurants. Word of Rayne's frog delicacies spread like wildfire and soon attracted the Weill Brothers from France, who started a lucrative export business. For years, world-renowned restaurants like Sardi's in New York boasted of offering frog legs from Rayne, Louisiana.
The success of the frog export business helped put Rayne on the map as the Frog Capital of the World. In 1946, its reputation was furthered when the International Rice Festival invited Rayne to host the first Frog Derby, an event where the prettiest women in town dressed frogs up in jockey uniforms and raced them. This event now forms part of the annual Frog Festival.
Other events at the festival include frog racing and jumping contests, pretty girls vying for the Queen's title, the lovely Frog Jockeys, the Diaper Derby and the competitive but formal frog-eating contest. Contestants in this race are judged on both speed and table manners, since Rayne's frogs must be regarded with respect.
Event details can change. Please check with the organisers that the event is happening before making travel arrangements.
