Frogs
Frog City
Page 4 of 6

Interview with mayor continued:

Mural
  Rayne's classic "five-and-dime" sports two murals, including this ad for Hoyt's German Cologne -- promoted by a toad! Claire Lacroix from the Rayne Beautification Board actually met her future husband while painting this one with artist Pat Brignac. [ Click for a larger image.]
     

[ Where is Rayne?]

"We are in the heart of Acadia. The Acadians were run out of Nova Scotia and a lot of them went to Louisiana, so we have a heavy French heritage down here. You know my last name is Petitjean; that's as French as it gets. There are also people named Commeaux, Beudreaux, Tibadeaux, all those "eaux" endings. A vast majority of our elderly can speak French fluently -- the Cajun French, not the European French."

Mural

[Why is Rayne the Frog Capital of the World?]

"We got the moniker because of Jacques, Gontran, and Edmond Weil. These brothers started a frog export business in Rayne. They took frogs out of the agricultural fields and shipped them throughout the United States, which put Rayne on the map."

  This copy of an old advertisement for throat lozenges is one of several painted by local artist Pat Brignac. [ Click for a larger image.]  

   
Mural Another commissioned mural, this quintet of tree frogs was painted by artist Robert Dafford. [ Click for a larger image.]

   

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