BATON ROUGE - The annual Fête-Dieu du Têche is moving from the Bayou Teche to the Mississippi River for the first time in its 10-year history.

"We started this ten years ago on Bayou Teche for the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians and feast of Assumption. We've been doing this every year but because of the big national eucharistic congress we decided to do a one-time on the river missionary type of venture," Reverend Michael Champagne with Community of Jesus Crucified said.

The 130-mile spiritual journey along the river to New Orleans started Wednesday morning at St. Joseph's Cathedral in downtown Baton Rouge.

"First of all to me, it's exciting because it shows the vitality of our faith. It brings our faith into the streets and into the very state of Louisiana. We don't hide our light in a bush we let it shine for the world and what better sign than the eucharist for us to shine Christ's presence in the world," Bishop of the Diocese of Baton Rouge Michael Duca said.

Event planners say they expanded the tradition this year in response to the national Eucharistic revival currently taking place in the country.

"It's our heart. It's our Catholic heart. Even our Louisiana flag, the Eucharist, the pelican wounding itself to feed its young. So it's in our hearts to evangelize from the Eucharist to the Eucharist," Champagne said.

The trek is two days long and participants will be making stops along the way in Convent, Luling, and more.