Hold on to your britches, festival season is about to begin. So instead of pulling a book from our shelf, Scott highlights a publication of a different kind.

Here in Louisiana, there are celebrations all year round — festivals, second lines, concerts, and parades. We always find a reason to pass a good time.

2019 brings the return of Huli’s Louisiana Festivals and Events Calendar. This incredibly comprehensive wall calendar is the most complete listing to festivals for the entire state, complete with 2019 dates, locations, and phone numbers for each event. It also includes an index for easy reference of festivals and events.

Huli Publishing first published the Huli’s Louisiana Festivals and Events Calendar in 1997. After taking a break for the last few years, Julie Posner excitedly brought back her calendar with the philosophy that our festivals define our great state. They celebrate our music, our food, our traditions and our lifestyle.

Throughout the year, music, food, history, and holidays inspire more than 500 Louisiana festivals and events of all sizes occurring throughout the state, and each one is an opportunity to enjoy the music, food, culture, and family fun that is so unique to the South.

Louisiana festivals serve and celebrate crawfish, alligators, poboys, king cakes, jambalaya, gumbo, frogs, creole tomatoes, catfish, oysters, boudin, cracklins, cochon de lait, strawberries, pecans, sweet potatoes, tamales, and more.

At our festivals, we dance to zydeco, jazz, blues, R&B, swamp pop, gospel, bluegrass, and more. Locals celebrate Cajuns, Greeks, Carnival royalty, festival queens, Congo Square, Los Islenos, Tennessee Williams, Italians, Vietnamese, shrimp boats, Bonnie and Clyde, French culture, cocktails, tarpon, and of course, Louis Armstrong.

With more than 500 festivals and events, this is the most complete listing of Louisiana celebrations available.Each event is placed on the monthly grid indicating its exact dates for 2019.At a glance, the reader can see which festivals are going on each weekend.

The next step is to find the festival listed alphabetically on the left side of each page to learn itslocation, phone number, and website. You’ll be able to choose from among hundreds of historical commemorations, food, and music festivals, perhaps many of them previously unknown to you.

The top of each month contains a montage of color photographs of the actual festivals with fun and detailed captions.All-new color photographs are found throughout the calendar, offering glimpses of such happenings as the Bonnie and Clyde Festival in Gibsland, the Blind Fold Pirogue Races in Jean Lafitte and the Second Lines in New Orleans.

Find quirky festivals you didn’t know existed:The Fur and Wildlife Festival, the Jim Bowie Festival, or the Egg Knocking Contests.There’s information about Civil War Reenactments, Mardi Gras, St. Joseph Day Altars, and a multitude of Christmas Extravaganzas.

Of course, it also includes 2019 dates for the popular large events — the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Festival Acadians, Festival International, the Red River Revel, and the Pirate Festival.

The large format wall calendar folds out to 22 inches by 14 inches, with plenty of space to write on daily squares.The simple Louisiana map lets you locate the general area of the less familiar towns— because not everyone can pinpoint the communities of Zwolle or Parks.

Calendars are available at Louisiana shops and bookstores, or by going online to louisianafestivalcalendar.com.

Scott Campbell is publisher and founder of River Road Press, a local boutique publisher of local and regional authors.