FESTIVAL FEATURES MUSIC, FOOD OF THE BAYOU.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

A bit of the bayou came to Simi Valley's backyard this weekend, giving people a taste of the infectious beat of Cajun/zydeco music and spicy Louisiana cooking, including two kinds of tasty gator.

Organizers of the eighth annual Cajun Creole Music Festival measured success of the charity fund-raiser in many ways, from ticket sales to the pounding the dance floor took.

``As a matter of fact, we had to go put the dance floor back together a few times (Saturday) after the seams came apart,'' said festival chairman Steve Smith.

Dancers of all ages jammed until closing time as the live accordion and fiddle-driven Cajun/zydeco music weaved a bluesy spell on the estimated 4,000 people who turned out Saturday and Sunday.

The highlight each day came when a Mardi Gras-style parade snaked through the 61 crafts booths and 19 food vendors.

Wearing beads and masks, some with faces painted and umbrellas raised high, a procession of festivalgoers turned the front lawn of Dataproducts on Los Angeles Avenue into a down-home Louisiana party.

The Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise throws the annual festival to raise money for a number of community and charity groups such as the Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley, the YMCA and Feed the Homeless.

In eight years, it has grown from a small clambake to a bluegrass festival to the Cajun Creole Music Festival, Rotary President Richard Kunz said.

``It's probably the most family-oriented event in the city,'' said Kunz, who attributed rising attendance figures to people telling their family, friends and neighbors about the festivities.

That was the case for Ken Doyle, 34, of Oxnard who, based largely on favorable reviews from relatives, came to the festival Sunday with his wife Pam and 11-month-old daughter Katelyn.

``It's a chance to get (Katelyn) out in the sun and a chance for us to get a break too,'' Ken Doyle said.

After several, back-to-back 12-hour days working at the roller rink he owns in Oxnard, Doyle said it was time to relax in his former hometown of Simi Valley.

``I grew up here and remember when Los Angeles Avenue was a dirt road,'' Doyle said. ``It's still a very wonderful town to come out to and I still have a lot of friends here.''

Of all the traditional food being served, including jambalaya, crawfish and sweet potato pie, no dish drew quite as much curiosity as the alligator offered by two vendors.

One served the imported Louisiana white meat grilled, ``blackened'' with peppers and spices. The other deep-fried the gator, which was flown in from Florida.

Although not cheap at $5 a serving, customers lined up throughout the weekend to sample the exotic fare.

``It's terrific,'' said 35-year-old Craig Foster of Simi Valley. ``I hate to coin a phrase, but it tastes like chicken.''

One cook, who insisted the taste of his deep-fried gator ``can't really be compared to anything else,'' said he'd served 100 pounds of the ferocious reptile on Saturday alone.

Vernon Simien, a 66-year-old member of the Louisiana family famed for its accordion players, said the festival captured the spirit of the Cajun lifestyle, which draws a sharp line between weekday work and weekend revelry.

``During the week it's about hard work and then on Friday night you party until it's time to go back to work on Monday morning,'' Simien said. ``Party, party, party.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Decked out for Mardi Gras, Marvo Moore dances to the beat at the Cajun Creole Music Festival in Simi Valley.

(2--color in SIMI edition only) Keith and Veronica Poitier stand in front of a mural of New Orleans' Bourbon Street at Sunday's festival.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News