• Congrès to end on sweet note de resistance
• Cajun roots celebrated in southern Louisiana
• Guilbeaux pray, play
• Catching the Cajun Flavor
• Simon family took route through France to reach Louisiana
• Melancons gather in Opelousas
• St. Martinville hosts Congres activities 
• Acadian festivities unite scholars 

          "Pierre and Charles arrived in Nova Scotia in 1657 and married Acadian girls there
          and that was the beginning of the Melancon family in North America," Linwood
          Melancon of Breaux Bridge, an organizer of the reunion said.

          "We're trying to create a family tree to bring everybody back to the two original
          Melancon brothers," Melancon said.
         
          In the genealogy room set up at the Yambilee Building, organizers had deportation
          documentation and Cajun roots on computer screens, videos about the exile of the
          Acadians from Nova Scotia and records, including an Acadian census from 1671 to
          1752, for interested Melancons to peruse and study.

          Caroline Turner Ogle, president of the "Les Famille de Melançon, Melanson," helped
          people, with the aid of a computer program, to position themselves in the Melancon
          family tree.

          "We're putting a book together that will be an extended version of one already put
          out in Canada on the Melancon family," Ogle said.

          With what Melancon estimated as about 20 Canadians and people from Texas,
          Florida, South Caroline, Illinois, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and other areas of the
          country, the reunion approached the goal of being a "world family reunion."

          "We tried to invite Melancons from all over to come and visit to show people their
          family roots," Melancon said. "We also want to promote the Cajun culture since so
          much of it gets lost. If we have things like this, we hope to keep it alive."

          Melancon estimated about 500 people had attended the reunion as of 1 p.m. 

          One of those was Charles Melancon Jr. from Covington who said he had taken a
          tour of Nova Scotia last year and was fascinated by meeting other Melancons there.

          "We're all related to the two original brothers," Charles Melancon Jr. said. "I'm here
          just to see my cousins."

          Linwood Melancon said that this was the first year they had attempted a reunion and
          hopes to continue the practice in the future and perhaps get even more Melancons
          together.