Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Mamou, LA

Mamou is an incorporated town in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, in the heart of the state's Cajun country.

Mamou bills itself as "The Cajun Music Capital of the World."

The 2020 census counted 2,936 people in Mamou, living in 1,128 households and 615 families.

The town site of Mamou was platted in 1907 by Curley C. Duson of Eunice, whose Mamou Town Site Company sold lots for $50 apiece at weekly auctions, and Mamou was incorporated on January 11, 1911.

The name comes from Mamou Prairie, a vast grassland known by that name since the 18th century; Anglo settlers first called it "Mammouth Prairie" for its immense size, and the French shortened it to Mamou.

Cotton was the prairie's first cash crop and Mamou had four cotton gins by 1915, but rice later replaced cotton as the major crop of the area.

Mamou is home to the world-famous Fred's Lounge, a small bar that hosts live Cajun music every Saturday morning and draws visitors from around the world.

Each year Mamou holds a traditional Courir de Mardi Gras, the rural Cajun Mardi Gras run in which costumed riders tour the countryside.

Mamou is celebrated in Cajun song titles such as "Mamou Two-Step," "'Tit Galop Pour Mamou," and "Valse de Grand Mamou," and it is the home base of the band Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys.

Mamou covers about 1.41 square miles in south-central Evangeline Parish, with Louisiana Highway 13 along its western edge; the parish seat of Ville Platte is about 12 miles northeast and Eunice is about 10 miles south.