Abbeville — The Giant Omelette Capital

Frère Sigur, a Capuchin priest, founded Abbeville in 1843 and laid it out around a public square modeled after those in France. The courthouse square and twin churches give the town a European town-center geometry rare in Louisiana. That geometry matters because this is Acadiana — historically French Louisiana, settled by French-speaking Acadian refugees expelled from Canada after the Seven Years' War. The Acadians who intermarried here traced their ancestry to approximately fifty families from Port Royal, and they built a Francophone region that the Louisiana State Legislature officially recognized in 1971 for its strong French Acadian cultural aspects. Frère Sigur's square gave that culture a physical center. Every November, the Giant Omelette Celebration cooks a 5,000-egg omelette in a 12-foot pan on the public square. The tradition traces to Napoleon's soldiers demanding eggs from farmers in Mons, France — the townsfolk cooked them all into one giant omelette. Abbeville is one of seven cities worldwide affiliated with the Giant Omelette Celebration, including Mons, Belgium, Malmedy, and Granby. The Confrérie de la Gigantesque Omelette de l'Amitié runs the ceremony in full costume. The omelette is free to all. The rest of the year, Abbeville is the seat of Vermilion Parish, its economy built on shrimping, oil, and agriculture. The Vermilion River drawbridge still lifts for shrimp boats moving through downtown. Twenty miles south of Lafayette on Highway 167, the parish courthouse faces the square Frère Sigur drew. Once a year five thousand eggs break open in a single pan on that square.