The Ville Platte Rotary Club today (Tuesday) heard from guest speaker Pat Derouselle, the president of the Louisiana Cotton Festival Association. He was the invited guest of Rotarian Brent Coreil. Coreil reminisced of his memories of the Cotton Festival when it was on Main Street and later was moved to Court Street with the carnival rides and street dance in front of the Courthouse. Derousselle said this is the 66th year the Cotton Festival has operated in Ville Platte. He reported that traditional events like the Contredanse has shown a new burst of enthusiasm with a new group of young dancers. He said there will be 37 dancers participating in the traditional Cajun square dancing. He announced that the Cotton Festival is one of the oldest festivals still active in the state with some 22 festivals that have disbanded during the past few years. Derousselle announced that he will be stepping down as President after this festival after serving for many years with the organization in various capacities. He will continue to serve in an advisory capacity. This year the festival will be dedicated to the late Peggy Ritter who died earlier this year. She served for many years on the board. The coronation will take place Saturday at 5;30pm at the Ville Platte where Queen Cotton 65 Abigail Fruge will crown her successor from 7 contestants. In other rotary business, it was announced that the Rotary Club is teaming up with Ville Platte High School to form a new Interact student club with Virginia Shiver as club sponsor. Both Virginia Shiver and Ville Platte High Principal Melanie Moore attended the meeting Tuesday. The rotary club already has an active Interact club at Sacred Heart High School.