D.L. Menard Tops Cajun Fest Lineup : The artist and his Louisiana Aces will be one of six acts to perform at the Long Beach event, which is returning despite a financial loss in 1993.

D.L. Menard, “the Cajun Hank Williams,” will headline the 1994 Southern California Cajun & Zydeco Festival June 4 and 5 at the Rainbow Lagoon, next to the Long Beach Convention Center.

Singer-guitarist-songwriter Menard and his band, the Louisiana Aces, top a six-act lineup that includes Walter Mouton & the Scott Playboys who, according to the festival promoter, have played only one Saturday night concert outside their home town of Scott, La., since the ‘50s.

Also from Louisiana, accordionist Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas will be making return appearances. The Poullard Brothers, from Texas, and Joe Simien, a Los Angeles transplant, round out the bill.

Promoter Franklin Zawacki said he is going ahead with the eighth annual festival even though he lost about $40,000 last year because of heavy rain and competition from a Troubadours of Folk festival held at UCLA that same weekend.

“We set a record,” Zawacki said by phone Wednesday from his office in San Francisco. “In 100 years of recorded history, in the whole month of June, the most rainfall Long Beach (ever) had was one-twentieth of an inch. We got 1 1/2 inches that first day.”

While the odds are against a repeat of last year’s unseasonable downpour, the Cajun & Zydeco festival will coincide again with the other festival, which has been renamed Troubadours of Music and Crafts Festival.

Troubadour fest promoter Jim Rissmiller said Wednesday that he decided against changing the dates of his festival because he wants to establish it in fans’ minds. He also said, “I don’t know if in a city this size you could do any event on a weekend and not have some competition.”

“My own feeling,” Zawacki responded, is that “with the name change, we won’t have that same tug of war with our audience.” He also noted that Rissmiller’s co-promoter last year, Rhino Records, brought in certain bands that previously had performed at Zawacki’s festivals, creating “an unfortunate pull for patrons.” Rhino is no longer involved with Rissmiller.

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Zawacki is especially excited about this year’s appearance at his festival by Mouton. “It took me six years of visiting Mouton in Scott to persuade him” to play out of town on a Saturday night, Zawacki said.

“I kept trying to coax him to come to Rhode Island” for the Cajun & Zydeco festival that Zawacki presents there, in the village of Escoheag. “He did that this year, and now he’s agreed to come to California.” Mouton’s band typifies the “prairie-sound” wing of Cajun music, which incorporates such elements of country music as steel guitar.

In addition to the music, the festival will feature food booths plus dance, music and cultural workshops from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Ticket prices have not been announced. Information is available from Comprehensive Child Development in Long Beach, which helps organize events and receives some proceeds from the festival: (310) 427-3713.