ABOUT THE EPISODE
Guest Dawn Wheat, the organizer for SWLA Pride Fest, joins host Brady and guest co-host Devan on Louisiana’s Playground to discuss the upcoming SWLA Pride Fest celebration. The all-day festival is packed with activities celebrating freedom, authenticity, and culture.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Dawn Wheat is the driving force behind SWLA Pride Fest, leading sponsorships, branding and event vision to ensure the festival reflects the vibrancy of Lake Charles. Rooted in the LGBTQ+ community since birth, her lifelong commitment to inclusivity was shaped by her upbringing and decades of managing and owning gay bars beginning in the 1990s.
Dawn and her spouse, Lori, landed in Lake Charles in 2009, where they built Castaways in Big Lake, the birthplace of SWLA Pride Fest. In 2021, the two partnered with friend Kat Godsey to launch the first festival, and what began as a spark has grown into a signature celebration of love, dentity and Southwest Louisiana pride.
ENVIE EATS
Lazy K Meat Co. in Iowa sits on Highway 397 and operates as both a custom butcher market and a casual lunch stop, with a cooler full of fresh roasts, steaks, smoked sausage, and boudin alongside a daily plate lunch menu that might include smoked pork chops, shrimp fettuccine, or gumbo. The cheeseburger has become a local favorite, and the deer burritos, sold vacuum-sealed by the batch, move fast enough that regulars plan around them. It's the kind of stop that captures how Southwest Louisiana eats.