WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) – It’s more than 1,500 miles from New Orleans to Rhode Island, and visitors are unlikely to mistake Main Street here for Bourbon Street, but each year, this former mill town celebrates its French-Canadian roots with its own Mardi Gras.

In its heyday in the 1950s, Woonsocket’s Mardi Gras drew up to 150,000 people. It was revived in 1995, and Woonsocket celebrates the holiday on Saturday.

The festivities Saturday night had a distinctly Louisiana feel, with dinner at four locations that includes dishes such as jumbalaya and blackened catfish and dancing to Zydeco music, a blend of French dance melodies with Caribbean music and blues.

But paired with the gumbo was Woonsocket’s own version of French-influenced cuisine: meat pies, ragout and similar fare, favorites among the region’s older French-Canadian population.

The event is one of many echoes of a time when Woonsocket was so heavily French Canadian that it thought of itself as the most French city in America.

The influence still lingers in street names around the city, and in a French-language radio show that airs locally. It also persists in the memories of the descendants of the immigrants, like Mardi Gras committee chairwoman Susan Tessier MacKenzie, who recall being raised speaking French at home.

Tessier MacKenzie says much of her knowledge of the language has slipped away, but as a child, if she wanted something, she had better know how to ask for it in French.

Today, she sees Mardi Gras as part of the community’s effort to hang on to its immigrant roots.

“They’re struggling” to retain it, she said.

Mardi Gras is a smaller affair now, but it still resonates in the French-Canadian community, Tessier MacKenzie said.

Each year, some 800 to 1,000 people attend the event.

Tessier MacKenzie said the older French Canadians are particular fans of “King Jace,” the mysterious member of the Mardi Gras’ royal court, and a holdover from the 1950s celebrations. Leading up to the event, residents try to guess his identity as Jace appears at events in a fake beard. He is unmasked during the festivities.

Even for those without French-Canadian heritage, Mardi Gras is a chance to celebrate the culture.

“For those of us who can’t really make it to Mardi Gras, it’s the best we can do,” said Sheila Delacona, who attends each year with a group, many of whose members go line-dancing together.

This year, she said, her group numbers 24.

She said Mardi Gras has special meaning in Woonsocket.

“The food is a big deal, the music is a big deal and the dancing,” she said. “The French-Canadian culture is very strong in this community.”

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On the Net:

Museum of Work and Culture: http://www.rihs.org/Museum%20Work%20Culture.htm

AP-ES-02-04-05 1556EST