Country Roads Magazine "Hearth & Home" December 2021

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Contents

DECEMBER 2021

Events

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MAGIC MOMENTS Santa sightings, winter festivals, and plenty of excuses to shop local.

REFLECTIONS Home Base

by James Fox-Smith

NEWS & NOTEWORTHIES

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Features

28 32 34

The heart of Grand Coteau looks to a new century.

by Ashley Hinson

THE RED STICK’S OPEN ARMS Two Midwesterners find a home in Baton Rouge, for a time.

by Kristina Pepelko

Under Matt Conn’s hand, the wild returns.

by Ashley Hinson

39 40 4

Exciting new restaurants in New Orleans

by Alexandra Kennon

BLACK-EYED BEAUTIES The secret to prosperity in 2022

by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

ON THE RISE Breadmaking with Bryan Ford

by Swathi Reddy

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44 45

John Wesley Fairley’s made his mark in Hattiesburg.

by William Browning

HOLIDAY REMINISCENCES Recalling long-lost memories with long-lost friends

by Ed Cullen

FOR THE READER’S WISHLIST 5 books to read before the new year

by Chris Turner-Neal

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Kourtney Zimmerman

Contributors:

Cover Artist

Lucie Monk Carter

Perhaps the thing the Country Roads team misses most about having former Managing Editor Lucie Monk Carter on staff is her mastery of sourdough.

Longed for are the days when the aroma of her craft wafted up the stairway, promising a distinct delight to come later in the afternoon.

I can only say this because we are still fortunate enough to occasionally utilize and enjoy Lucie’s other talents in writing and photography in these pages (find her work in the Cuisine and Escapes section this month). When I found myself searching for the perfect imagery to accompany Swathi Reddy’s profile on the artisan baker Bryan Ford (page 40), I wasted no time in enlisting Country Roads’ most gifted breadmaking, photo-taking friend.

Enriched by her expert understanding of sourdough’s unique properties, Lucie’s photos also capture a quality of breadmaking that is at the heart of Ford’s mantra: its capacity to create moments shared, memories treasured.

Ford’s verve for baking germinated in his mother’s kitchen in Honduras, where he learned to make tortillas and pan de coco. It isn’t hard to imagine Lucie’s daughter’s tiny hand, a bit larger, kneading dough someday, somewhere—recalling that November day her family gathered in the kitchen to make challah.

—Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

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Arts & Entertainment Editor

William Browning, Ed Cullen, Ashley Hinson, Lucie Monk Carter, Kristina Pepelko, Olivia Perillo, Swathi Reddy, Chris Turner-Neal

Cover image by Lucie Monk Carter

IF THE FOOTPRINT FITS

Managing Editor

Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Creative Director

“CHALLAH WITH CHILD”

CUISINE STILL REIGNS IN THE CRESCENT CITY

Associate Publisher

Alexandra Kennon

A WETLAND, AGAIN

Culture

James Fox-Smith Ashley Fox-Smith

On the Cover

Cuisine

Publisher

200 YEARS AT THE ACADEMY

Escapes

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MAISON STÉPHANIE A new age for the Arnaudville estate

by Lucie Monk Carter

PERSPECTIVES Emma Fick sees the patterns, and she reimagines them.

by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Advertising

SALES@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

Sales Team

Heather Gammill & Heather Gibbons

Custom Content Coordinator

Lauren Heffker

Advertising Coordinator

Laci Felker

President

Dorcas Woods Brown

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Copyrighted. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Country Roads magazine are those of the authors or columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products or services herein. Country Roads magazine retains the right to refuse any advertisement.

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Reflections FROM THE PUBLISHER

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’ve never thought of myself as a sentimental person, but this leg of the parenting journey is forcing a bit of soul-searching. I’m writing this on the Sunday before Thanksgiving—my favorite holiday on account of (a) the gluttony that one is more or less expected to engage in; and (b) because beyond a dessert, side dish, or bottle of wine, the price of admission includes very little gift-giving. Christmas is another good excuse for gluttony of course, but for me, the experience is made fraught by the necessity of coming up with appropriately-chosen gifts for everyone.

Gift-giving has made me anxious since one Christmas early in our marriage, when I made the rookie mistake of taking literally my wife’s declaration that we “should keep Christmas simple this year” by not buying extravagant gifts. Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning, when she and everyone else in the extended family that I had just married into, turned up bearing generous armfuls of thoughtfully-chosen gifts. In that context, the novelty toothbrush that was the only thing I had gotten her didn’t go

down terribly well. But on Thanksgiving there is no such pressure. Give me a stocked bar, a Volkswagen-sized turkey to roast, and a dozen friends and family members to feed, and I’m on familiar turf.

Even better, this Thanksgiving represents the first time our daughter’s been home since August, when she started college a thousand miles away. We’ve missed her, and the prospect of having her back in the fold—surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of the only place she’d ever lived until her college adventure began—has gotten me thinking about how the concept of “home” changes once your kids grow up and leave. And what “home” needs to be for them when they come back to visit, too.

Before we were married, my future wife and I spent a couple of years working our way around Central and Western Europe. Following the same playbook as generations of twenty-something backpackers before us, we shuttled between summer and winter resort towns, supporting ourselves in each location with a few months’ menial work in some restaurant kitchen or beach bar until the season ran its course and the time came to move on.

Between seasons, with our Louisiana

Photo by Raegan Labat

and Australia homes beyond the reach of our meager resources, we fell into the habit of going to England, back to the big, old, seaside house where my grandmother lived, which had been a constant if rarely-visited presence in my life since earliest childhood. After months spent living in whatever dingy, seasonal worker accommodation we’d been holed up in, the pleasure of settling back into that lovely, familiar old home for a week or two—where every sight and smell evoked rose-colored childhood memories and each creaking stair felt like an old friend—seemed the very epitome of belonging. During those years, the “home base” that was my grandmother’s house represented security—a redoubt to which we could retreat to get our feet back under us and make sense of all the new experiences we were having. It was

probably what enabled us to travel so far and for so long. We could play at being grownups, abroad in the world pretending at independence, all the while secure in the knowledge that should anything really go pear-shaped with our rather precarious lifestyle, refuge was never very far away.

Now it’s our turn to do the same for our own kids, and what better place to begin than Thanksgiving? As a result, preparations have been out of all proportion to the size of the crowd we’ll be feeding, with all the turkey procurement, side dish preparation, and Sister Schubert Roll-stockpiling that has been going on for days. Our daughter will be here, of course—joined by a new college friend from a country with no Thanksgiving tradition to travel home for—so there’ll be more than enough to give thanks for.

Of course, by the time you read this, Thanksgiving will be behind us and it’ll be time to run the Christmas gift-giving gauntlet once again. But that’s okay, because having both our almost-grown, proto-adults back home to help us reflect on the rich journey that’s brought us to this point, will be all the gift we’ll ever need. Happy holidays to all.

—James Fox-Smith, publisher james@countryroadsmag.com

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A Special Advertising Feature from Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

Crocheting for a Cause For more than fifty years, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center has provided compassionate cancer care and support for patients and their families before, during, and after treatment. From cancer patients turned survivors looking to give back, Sondra Wells is one example of just how far a good deed can go.

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hen Northshore resident Sondra Wells won her battle with breast cancer in 2018, she knew she wanted to find a way to give back to the people who helped her become healthy again— Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

Sondra had a routine of getting an annual mammogram, but when she went in for her yearly check-up in December 2017 doctors found she had an aggressive form of breast cancer. Her care team at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center got started on treatment right away—just weeks after her diagnosis, Sondra had a partial mastectomy of her right breast. After that, she received 29 radiation treatments before being declared cancer free.

“I love the people at Mary Bird Perkins,” she says. “They have been like a family to me.”

So, when Sondra decided she wanted to give back, she began crocheting caps for other cancer patients who had lost their hair due to chemotherapy. “I stopped counting when I got to four hundred,” the 71-year-old says.

After three years of making caps and sourcing the materials herself, Sondra decided to try the neighborhood social networking app, Nextdoor, to call for scrap yarn donations in July 2021. “I made a promise to God that if I became cancer free, I would find a way to pay it back,” her original post reads.

The response blew her away. Sondra received an outpouring of support from her community—not only did people bring her extra yarn to use, they also brought brand new yarn to donate to the project.

But that turned out to be just the beginning. Far exceeding her expectations, Sondra says she started receiving messages from people wanting to provide financial support for materials, as well as more volunteers looking to join and help by giving their time.

Then, in September Sondra fell and broke her wrist. When she found that her injury meant she could no longer crochet for the time being, Crystal Bardwell and a group of local women offered to keep the project going while Sondra recovered.

Now, they’re not just crocheting enough caps for Mary Bird Perkins patients; the group is also crafting caps for residents in nursing homes, and looking to soon extend their efforts to the local VA hospital, along with area homeless shelters, Sondra says.

Sondra’s simple call for spare yarn spurred a chain reaction, showing that sometimes, all it takes to make a difference is a single person with a desire to help.

Photo by Abby Photo

Learn more about preventative breast cancer care at Marybird.org. To learn more about all the ways you can support Mary Bird Perkins, go to marybird.org/giving.

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Noteworthy

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N E W S , T I M E LY F A C T S , A N D O T H E R

CURIOSITIES

LO O K C LO S E R

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Introducing: Brass by Circa 1857 GARRETT KEMP AND LUKE LOGNION OEPN UP THEIR NEWEST VENTURE, A LOCALLY-SOURCED GIFT SHOP, DOWNTOWN BATON ROUGE

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he only supply chain issue we’ll face is if there is a wreck on the bridge,” said Luke Lognion, co-owner with his husband Garrett Kemp of Downtown Baton Rouge’s newest treasure-trove, Brass by Circa 1857. “That’s the great thing about sourcing everything locally.”

Owners of the Mid City antique mecca The Market at Circa 1857, Lognion and Kemp signed the lease on the former Big Squeezy space on North Boulevard in October and have been busy getting the new gift shop up and running in time for the holidays.

Kemp explained that while some of the eclectic furniture and décor signature of Circa 1857 will be featured in the Downtown space, “Brass is going to focus mostly on locally-made gifts and souvenirs for tourists and residents alike.”

Some of the featured products include

mixed media pieces for the home by Denise Cone of Meraki Handmade Goods, pottery by Therese Knowles, and mixed media collages by Jessica Roy of madeNEW studio.

Influential figures in Mid City’s creative community as hosts of the monthly Mid City Makers Market, Lognion and Kemp are eager to offer a permanent space for local artists to feature their work, especially in a part of town that is lacking in retail options.

“We felt that there was a hole in the market Downtown that we could fill,” said Kemp. “We are pretty excited to branch out, and also to try and bridge the two communities and have some overlap there.” Lognion noted that while the couple is new to business in the downtown area, they actually live in Spanish Town.

“So, we are familiar with the area, and we are excited to finally have a business there as well.”

Photo courtesy of Garrett Kemp and Luke Lognion.

With an official opening date of December 1, Brass will also celebrate a grand opening celebration on Saturday, December 4—as well as a “soft open-

ing” in conjunction with the downtown Festival of Lights on December 3. circa1857br.com —Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

DepARTures

BATON ROUGE GALLERY PARTNERS WITH THE BATON ROUGE METROPOLITAN AIRPORT AND VISIT BATON ROUGE TO DISPLAY LOCAL ART IN THE CONCOURSES

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here’s no denying that beyond the food and the people, Louisiana’s art—music, visual, and beyond—plays a vital role in drawing tourism. Now, visitors who fly into Baton Rouge will have a chance to take in local art and culture before even stepping outside of the air-

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Photo courtesy of Baton Rouge Gallery.

port. This is thanks to a new partnership between Baton Rouge Gallery and the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport sponsored by Visit Baton Rouge, which is snappily named “BRG@BTR”.

“BRG@BTR is a celebration of art in Louisiana and a recognition of the vital role culture plays in tourism for our city

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and our state,” explained President/CEO of Baton Rouge Gallery Jason Andreasen at a ribbon cutting for the new airport gallery spaces on November 16. “It is our hope that this program introduces visitors to the wealth of creative talent in our area while reminding locals using the airport of how much artists bring to the community.”

Artworks by around two dozen visual artists are already on display, with plans in store to rotate the displays out regularly with art in a variety of mediums from Baton Rouge Gallery’s roster of more than seventy local artists. The hope is that the rotation will allow repeat visitors to continually enjoy the exhibitions, and thereby deepen their appreciation for the art and culture of Baton Rouge. In addition to viewing the artwork, travelers will be provided with information on the artists, and how to purchase the works featured in the program.

As of now, the artists whose work is

slated for inclusion are John Alleyne, Jamie Baldridge, Danielle Burns, Mary Ann Caffery, Rob Carpenter, Samuel J. Corso, Mary Lee Eggart, Leslie Elliottsmith, James Flynn, Rosemary Goodell, Randell Henry, Theresa Herrera, Michael W. Howes, Kathryn Hunter, Ross Jahnke, Brad Jensen, Kelli Scott Kelley, Brian Kelly, Eleanor Owen Kerr, Leslie Koptcho, Phyllis Lear, Kathleen Lemoine, Matt Morris, Kelly A. Mueller, Thomas Neff, Nonney Oddlokken, Isoko Onodera, Jacqueline Dee Parker, and Van Wade-Day. “It’s been an honor to work alongside the Baton Rouge Metro Airport and Visit Baton Rouge—not to mention our incredible team at BRG—to bring this special project to life inside the state’s second largest airport,” Andreasen said. batonrougegallery.org.

—Alexandra Kennon

In Memoriam: Murrell Butler, 1937-2021

REMEMBERING THE GENTLE ARTIST, NATURALIST, AND PRESERVATIONIST; AND THE WEST FELICIANA BIRD OASIS HE LEAVES BEHIND

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n addition to the many humans who will surely miss Murrell Butler’s presence on this earth, the talented painter and naturalist will no doubt be sorely missed by countless birds.

Much of his gentle life was spent not only documenting them in exquisitely-detailed paintings, but also in feeding and caring for them on his 350-acre property in Saint Francisville, which was largely curated with his feathered muses in mind. “It’s a beautiful place,” said Murrell’s cousin Anne Butler. “It’s like an oasis that he built in the middle of a cow pasture, and it’s got wonderful plantings all around it, and outdoor aviary fountains, and wonderful patios and places to sit.” Murrell’s little slice of West Feliciana Parish was an ideal place for bird walks, Anne explained, because of the varied habitat it made between the sandy beaches of Bayou Sara, a large spring-fed lake, plus thick stands of the upland hardwood forest that blankets this part of the Tunica Hills.

Between the lush environment and Murrell’s attentive feeding, Murrell cultivated a massive population of migra-

tory as well as resident birds. If a human visitor was fortunate enough to go on a bird walk with Murrell, they experienced an intimate glimpse into nature. “People loved to go on bird walks with him, because he was just so calm and casual, you know, but just knew everything, and where to see all the nests, and he fed billions of birds,” Anne explained, noting that Murrell not only filled bird feeders, but regularly scattered corn by the lakes.

“I’ve been down there when he would have two hundred Canadian geese come in to spend the night. And then they’d all go off to wherever they lived, but they would always come to his lake to spend the night.”

To the people who knew him, he is remembered fondly as an “old-school gentleman,” humble, polite, generous, and kind. While he curated his own bird sanctuary at home, during the course of his life he also found joy in traveling to locales like Spain, Africa, South and Central America, as well as elsewhere within the United States on birding trips with colleagues who shared his passion.

Murrell’s deep love of nature and gentleness toward animals goes back to his

Explore

childhood. While he was born into a family of hunters, he was more influenced by his grandmother, a horticulturist who operated a plant nursery during the Depression; and his mother, who was an artist and fashion illustrator. “They were surrounding him with fine art and wonderful books and paintings and everything, and so he was a little different from the hunters,” Anne said. “He just had such an appreciation for everything in nature.”

And yes, she means everything: when Murrell was a child, he had a pet buzzard who would follow him out to catch the school bus every morning. When he was in his eighties, Murrell built buzzard nesting boxes for them to roost. “So, nothing escaped his attention. The only thing he didn’t like was cats,” Anne recalled with a chuckle. “He didn’t like cats around his house, because they would kill the birds.”

While Audubon, as prolific as he was––and as profoundly as Murrell respected him––had an assistant paint his backgrounds, Murrell always painted every detail himself. “Every plant and every habitat and every feather, it was

all just perfect. You know, and he really spent a lot of time studying and walking in the woods, and was just was so knowledgeable about everything in the natural world,” Anne said. “He loved everything about it.”

This profound love of nature has culminated in Murrell bequeathing his estate—the bird-dotted 350-acre property, and the two-story log house filled with art old and new by himself and other artists—to the National Audubon Society, with the intent that it will someday become a museum and birding study center for migratory and resident birds.

During the course of his life, Murrell also donated to countless environmental, birding, and animal welfare organizations, and left funding to the West Feliciana Animal Humane Society upon his passing. Those wishing to honor his legacy may donate to the West Feliciana Animal Humane Society, The National Audubon Society, or another nonprofit dedicated to preserving the natural world Murrell so loved and devoted his life to.

—Alexandra Kennon

Brighten up your holidays in Bonfire Country In Louisiana’s River Parishes we do the holidays a little differently. Join us as we light the way for Papa Noel in this unique local tradition.

All along the levees of the Mississippi River, massive wooden structures are carefully assembled during the weeks leading up to the holiday season. On Christmas Eve, these creations are set ablaze at once welcoming Papa Noel to deliver toys to the children.

Learn why we laissez les bon temps bruler at

ExploreBonfireCountry.com

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Celebrate with

Livingston Parish

Your holiday shopping destination!

Holiday Events 12.2.2021 Chef's Evening & Wine Tasting 12.2.2021 Night of Hope 12.4.2021 Chri Christmas Alive Nativity 12.4.2021 Amite River Christmas boat Parade 12.9.2021 Kiwanis Christmas Tree Lighting 12.11.2021 Kiwanis Christmas Parade 12 12.11.2021 Baton Rouge Orchestra

Enjoy the holiday cheer at the

Denham Springs Antique District

North Range Avenue • Denham Springs, LA www.denhamspringsantiquedistrict.net

www.livingstontourism.com

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SANTA’S

R E A L LY C O V E R I N G

Events SOME GROUND THIS

LIGHTINGS, ART MARKETS, PARADES, AND OTHER

C H E E R S TO C H E E R

MONTH. CATCH

HIM

AT TREE

HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES.

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DISCOVER MORE SEARCH OUR ONLINE CALENDAR OF EVENTS

for more fun than we can t in these pages

New Orleans’ Running of the Santas might be the most Christmas “spirited” workout in the South—so join more than four thousand festively-costumed participants for this dash from North to South Poles in the Warehouse District on December 11. See listing on page 19. Photo courtesy of Running of the Santas.

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HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA Central Louisiana

With major stops along the Holiday Trail of Lights, Central Louisiana hosts a flurry of exciting holiday events not to be missed, including the Natchitoches Festival of Lights and Alex Winter Fête.

Until January 6: Natchitches Christmas Festival: The holiday spirit is in full swing in Natchitoches this time of year, when over 300,000 holiday lights flicker on every evening for six weeks straight. Saturdays bring vendors, live music, fireworks, and kids activities to the riverbank area and require armbands for anyone older than six. $10. natchitocheschristmas.com.

Friday–Sunday November 6–December 19; December 22–23, 26–29: Holiday Light Safari: One of CENLA’s favorite holiday traditions, the Alexandria Zoo’s Holiday Light Safari features thousands of whimsical lighted animal figures, a merry trainride with holiday music, and a chance to share your wish list with Santa.

5:30 pm–9 pm (last entry at 8 pm). $8.

Details at the Alexandria Zoological Park Facebook Page.

December 1–31: Christmas Light Show Spectacular: Experience the magic of the holidays at this annual light show at Journey Church in Alexandria. Park and walk or drive-thru an eighty foot dancing Christmas light tunnel, displays of dancing candy canes, and more. Open every night in December, and featuring special weekend nights with a hot chocolate bar, food trucks, and a live nativity. 6 pm– 9 pm. Free. Details at the Journey Church Facebook Page.

December 3–4: Rudolph!: Get to the Pointe Ballet Academy presents their production of Rudolph!, which incorporates classical ballet with original choreography

by Sarah Lavana Ochs. 7 pm both nights, with an additional 2 pm performance on Saturday. At the Hearn Stage at Kress Theatre. $12.50. Details at the Get to the Pointe Ballet Academy’s Facebook Page.

December 4: Christmas in the Park: Find music, shopping, food trucks, and Santa Claus himself at Ward 8 Ballpark in Pollock this Saturday, all to celebrate the

annual Christmas Parade, rolling from Town Hall and ending at the Ballpark starting at 11 am. Details at the Town of Pollock’s Facebook Page.

December 9–11, 16–18: Christmas Tour of Homes: Hosted by the Natchitoches Historic Foundation, these tours take you into some of the historic district’s most fascinating homes, all decked out for the season. Docents will lead commentaries on the history of each property, as well as their unique holiday decorations. $25. natchitocheshf.com.

December 9–12: Alex Winter Fête: This family-friendly festival returns to Alexandria with a slate of exciting cozy activities for all. Try a twirl on the outdoor skating rink, watch in wonder at the fireworks over the Red River, explore the multicultural village and Jolly Junction, and interact with talented stilt walkers, fire breathers, live bands, and more. It all begins with the traditional lighting of the tree and Santa’s arrival at Santa’s Village at the Alexander Fulton Mini Park downtown. Other must-see events include the Ugly Sweater 5K on Saturday and the Alexandria Mardi Gras Association

COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM/CALENDAR

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Events

Holiday events in CenLA and the Northshore

Christmas Parade downtown at 2 pm on Sunday. alexwinterfete.com.

December 11: The Alexandria Garden District Holiday Tour of Homes: Explore some of the historic Garden District’s most beautiful homes for this year’s holiday tour, which showcases the history, architecture, and gracious living in some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. Tickets and maps available at Southern Chic or through Evenbrite, as well as on the day-of at First United Methodist Church. 4 pm–7 pm. $25. alexandriapinevillela.com.

December 11: Natchitoches Lighted Boat Parade: Watch as decked-out vessels make their way down the river in Downtown Natchitoches, heightening the already spirited environs of the ongoing Natchitoches Christmas Festival.

5 pm–6 pm. natchitocheschristmas.com.

December 17–18: Ol’ Mel’s Merry Christmas Farm: Explore the Farm-turnedChristmas Village at 50 Chevalliar Road in Deville, where you can shop vendors, sweets and treats, take photo ops with Santa, ride a horse, frolic in a snow area, roast marshmallows, sing carols, and more.

5 pm–10 pm. $5; some activities have

additional costs. Details at the Ol’ Mel’s Merry Christmas Farm event on Facebook.

UNTIL

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HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS ON THE NORTHSHORE The Louisiana Northshore

December 3: Christmas at TerraBella: Join the folks of TerraBella Village for a special community event kicking off the holidays, featuring an appearance from Mr. Claus, live holiday music, Christmas crafts, and the tree lighting. There will also be a coat drive to benefit the local homeless population.

6 pm–9 pm. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 3: Abita Springs Christmas Tree Lighting & Fête de Noël Night Market: Shop, drink, and be merry at the Abita Springs Trailhead, with live music from the Abita Springs Children’s Academie, and market vendors with food, crafts, and festive holiday drinks. 6 pm. Free. facebook.com/townofabitasprings.

December 3: Sips of the Season Stroll: One of the most anticipated culinary events of the season, this Girod Street stroll is marked by a beautiful Covington evening,

brightly-decorated shops and restaurants, delicious holiday-themed craft cocktails, and plenty of snacks, too. 5 pm–9 pm in Old Mandeville. (985) 727-7778.

December 3–5: Christmas Extravaganza Arts & Crafts Expo: Steinhauer Productions returns to the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds for one of the largest arts and crafts expos in the South. 9 am–5 pm each day. steinhauerproductions.com.

December 3 & 5: O Wondrous Night: The Northlake Performing Arts Society Chorus will perform a special holiday concert at the Hosanna Lutheran Church in Mandeville for two shows only. 7:30 pm Friday; 3 pm Sunday. $15. npassingers.org.

Friday–Saturday December 3–12: Christmas Under the Stars in Griffith Park: Twinkling lights, festive decorations, and life-sized Christmas Cottages come together for a magical night in Slidell.

6 pm–9 pm. Free. Details on the City of Slidell Facebook Page.

Fridays–Sundays December 3-12: Babes in Toyland: A special holiday production directed by Jen Harageones at Playmakers, Inc. Community Theatre. 7 pm Fridays and Saturdays; 2 pm Sundays. $20. playmakersinc.com.

Fridays–Sundays December 3–12: A Very Merry Christmas Spectacular: 30 by Ninety Theatre presents a holiday extravaganza featuring singing, dancing, comedy,

and more by local performers of all ages.

8 pm on Friday and Saturday; 2:30 pm Sunday. $29; $27 for seniors; $24 for students; $21 for children younger than twelve. 30byninety.com.

Fridays–Saturdays December 3–12: This Christmas: The kids in the Cutting Edge Theater “Acting Up” program have prepared a holiday play. 8 pm. $27–$45. cuttingedgetheater.com.

Fridays–Sundays December 3–19: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical: This humorous Christmas production by Slidell Little Theatre is a long-time favorite, taking place at 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays; 2 pm Sundays. $28; $22 for students and seniors. slidelllittletheatre.org.

Fridays–Sundays December 3–25: Mandeville Holiday of Lights: This year presented as a drive-thru event, the annual lights display will enlighten the St. Tammany Parish Administrative Complex grounds once again. From dark until 8:30 pm. Free.

(985) 867-9490.

December 4: Deck the Rails at the Covington Trailhead: Enjoy Christmas Caroling by the Northlake Performing Arts Society chorale, Christmas craft activities, a visit from Mr. Claus, and holiday treats.

4 pm–6 pm. Free. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 4: Holiday Festival of Art: Head to Lee Lane in Covington to grab artful gifts for the folks left on your list while sup-

Childhood comes and goes in a blink.

We’re here through the stages of your life, with the strength of the cross, the protection of the shield. The Right Card. The Right Care.

01MK7641 11/21

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porting local businesses. 10 am–2 pm. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 4: A Joyful Noise Unto the Lord: The annual performance by Dancescape Studio held at the Fuhrmann Auditorium is a one-time only performance of Rosemerry Furhmann Hanian’s original Christmas program, returning for the fifty-fifth year. 6 pm–7 pm. $10. dancescapestudio.com.

December 4: Your Santa Breakfast: Learn more about Youth Service Bureau at this cozy holiday event featuring hot breakfast, Christmas crafts, kiddie train rides, face painting, a special Christmas movie, and a visit with the big man himself. All at Lakeview Regional Medical Center (95 Judge Tanner Blvd., Covington); seating available for fifteen-minute intervals from 9 am–noon. $20, $5 for a Santa Hot Breakfast. ysbworks.com/santa.

December 4: Winter on the Water: This fun family event brings the magic of the holidays to the Mandeville Lakefront, featuring live entertainment, face painting, photos with Santa and the Grinch, and more at the Lakefront Gazebo. Santa’s Walking Parade begins at noon at Lakeshore Drive and Jackson Street, and ends at the gazebo. Free. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 5: Olde Towne Slidell Community Christmas Parade: Greet Santa on his trek through Olde Towne, starting at City Hall and moving down to Griffith Park, where

he will lead the annual lighting of the Christmas trees. 5 pm–7 pm. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 5: Ugly Sweater Charity Gala: Slidell’s Mayor and First Lady host the fourth annual gala, which features live music by Rhythm Chaser, an ugly sweater competition, a table decor competition, the Grinch’s Giving Tree, a 50/50 raffle, and a silent auction. Proceeds benefit Peggy’s Playground, adding inclusive playground equipment for children with differing abilities. 6 pm. $25, $50 VIP. eventbrite.com.

December 5: Merry Madisonville: Ring in the holidays at the Madisonville Park & Playground for a day of family fun featuring Santa Claus, a parade, caroling, and kids’ activities. The parade kicks off at the Lake Pontchartrain Maritime Museum and ends at St. Louis. 2 pm–8 pm. louisiananorthshore.com December 5: Covington Heritage Foundation’s History and Holly Home Tour: Tour five festively-adorned homes along a pedestrian-friendly walking route during this Northshore holiday tradition, which starts at Fuhrmann Auditorium.

2 pm–5 pm. $20 at bontempstix.com.

December 5, 12, 19: Nutcracker Christmas Tea: The English Tea Room presents its twentieth annual Christmas Tea, featuring ballerinas and traditional holiday music, complete with a lavish High Tea with

assorted sandwiches, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, holiday desserts, their famous English scones with housemade lemon curd, clotted cream, and strawberry jam, and pots of premium holiday teas. Seatings 11 am–1 pm and 2:30 pm–4:30 pm. $48 per person, includes tip and tax. englishtearoom.com.

December 11: Krewe of Dionysus Christmas Party & Toy Drive: No better reason to party than giving to a good cause. The Krewe is inviting all to donate toys of a value of at least $10 while enjoying a rager featuring live music by Bag of Donuts, food, and an open bar. Dress is casual, “Dirty Santa,” or “Tacky Sweater”. $50. (504) 512-1039.

December 10: Candlelight Caroling at the Covington Trailhead: A magical night of sing-alongs awaits at the trailhead, featuring carols performed by the Northlake Performing Arts Society chorale. 7 pm–8:30 pm. Free. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 11: Folsom Horse & Wagon Christmas Parade: Santa trades the sleigh for a horse-drawn wagon at this old-fashioned parade, which includes an antique tractor show, “best dressed horse and rider” contest, and “most original wagon” competition. Starts on Hwy 40 right outside of Folsom at 1 pm. Free. facebook.com/folsomchristmasparade.

December 10–12: The Nutcracker: Experience Ballet Apetrei’s rendition of the dazzling holiday favorite at one of their four performances at the Fuhrmann Auditorium this season. 7 pm Friday and Saturday; 2 pm Saturday and Sunday. $10–$35. Tickets available at KFortier Studios (829 Asbury Drive Ste. 2, Mandeville). balletapetrei.net.

December 10–January 6: Covington’s 12 Days of Christmas Lighted Displays: Wander through the historic district this season seeking out the twelve lighted silhouettes depicting the larger-than-life images from the traditional Old English Chistmas Carol—from the four calling birds to the partridge in a pear tree. The displays will be lighted seven days a week from dusk to dawn through January 6. louisiananorthshore.com

December 11: Breakfast with Santa: Pelican Park hosts their annual breakfast event at the Castine Center, featuring delicious food, holiday crafts, and photos with Santa. $5 for adults and children older than 10. 9 am–11 am. pelicanpark.com.

December 11: Q50 Races Santa on Trails 5k Run/Walk: Don your Santa suit and bring a toy for the children of the New Orleans Mission shelter for the most festive of 5ks along Lake Pontchartrain in Fountainebleu State Park. 9 am. $45 to race. ultrasignup.com.

December 17–19: Slidell’s Bayou Christmas: This annual fundraiser for the Slidell Boys & Girls Club is hosted all weekend

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Holiday events in Natchez, NorLA & Acadiana

long in the evenings at Heritage Park.

6 pm–9 pm. Free. louisiananorthshore.com.

December 19: Holiday Concert: Enjoy a special holiday concert presented by the Northshore Community Orchestra at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium. 7 pm–9 pm.

Free. northshoreorchestra.org.

December 19: Christmas Brass Spectacular: The Louisiana Brass, led by Erik Morales, will perform a selection of favorite contemporary and traditional holiday music at Christ Episcopal Church in Covington as part of the Third Sunday Concert Series. Free. 5 pm–6 pm. christchurchcovington.com/concert_series.

UNTIL

DEC 23rd

HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS IN NATCHEZ Natchez, Mississippi

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, the Bluff City packs in sleigh-loads of holiday events, collectively known as “Christmas in Natchez.”

December 3: A Hollywood Christmas: Christmas Cabaret presented by the Natchez Festival of Music. 6:30 pm–9 pm. $35 at the Natchez Community Center, 215

Franklin St. natchezfestivalofmusic.com.

December 4: Natchez Christmas Parade: Themed “A Hallmark Christmas”.

6 pm–7:30 pm. visitnatchez.org.

December 11: Annual Christmas Tea at the Magnolia Cottage B&B: a high tea featuring vintage and traditional Christmas decor in the historic parlor of the Magnolia Cottage, with several blends of tea accompanied by sweet confections, tea sandwiches, quiche, and more. Door prizes, too! Noon–3 pm at 35 Homochitto Street. $35 at eventbrite.com.

December 18: Christmas Tea at Sunnyside: One of Natchez’s most celebrated hostesses invites all to high tea, featuring tea sandwiches, seasonal fruits, pastries, and desserts. 2 pm–4 pm. $45. (601) 807-1148.

December 18: Lady B Christmas Spectacular: A performance of holiday glamor by internationally-acclaimed soprano Victoria Baker at Natchez City Auditorium. 6:30 pm. $29 (get 20% off by entering the code COUNTRYROADS at checkout). ladybchristmas.com.

December 23: Caroling in the Park: At Memorial Park, led by Mayor Dan Gibson.

5:30 pm–6:30 pm. visitnatchez.org. k

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Natchez

MonmouthHistoricInn.com 601-442-5852

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DEC 25th

HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS IN NORTH LOUISIANA North Louisiana

North Louisiana is more likely to get snow than the rest of us, and the colder weather means they’ve got plenty of Christmas cheer to go around. Here are a few spirited outings to catch up there: Until December 19: Christmas in Roseland: The American Rose Center in Shreveport transforms into a winter wonderland with twinkling lights, giant Christmas cards, and other holiday displays. 5:30 pm–10 pm. $5, $20 per car. rose.org.

Until December 23: Believe! Lights the Night: The Shreveport Aquarium gets a holiday makeover for this magical, interactive Christmas journey. $30.

5:15 pm–9:30 pm. shreveportaquarium.com.

Reindeer: The Musical: The cherished seasonal classic, live on stage at the Strand Theatre. Tickets start at $45. 7 pm. thestrandtheatre.com.

December 22: Christmas Coca Cola Truck: The season’s most photogenic vehicle is making a stop in Monroe at the Biedenharn, as are the Christmas Train, the Coca Cola Polar Bear, and yummy food trucks.

5 pm–8 pm. bmuseum.org. k

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DEC 31st

HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS IN ACADIANA Acadiana, Louisiana

Most of us in Louisiana have read the children’s book Cajun Night Before Christmas, and the folks in Acadiana are living it all season long with parades, nativities, craft fairs, and more to spur that Cajun Christmas spirit.

December 11: Grinched! A Christmas Tale in Dance: An original production based on the Dr. Seuss classic at the Strand Theatre. Tickets start at $25. 4 pm. thestrandtheatre.com.

Saturdays and Sundays, plus December 20–23: McGee’s Swamp Tours’ Atchafalaya Christmas: Join Papa Noel on the Basin for these incredible one-of-a-kind Cajun holiday experiences. After each tour, guests can take photos with Santa, create their own memento ornament, and enjoy hot chocolate, cookies, and candy canes. $25; $20 for children ages two through twelve; prices double for night tours. See tour times at mcgeesswamptours.com.

December 15: Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Until December 31: Traditional Idlewild

December 2–4: Biedenharn Christmas Open House: Live music, photo ops with Santa, a Christmas Train, and more festive fa-la-las. 5 pm–8 pm. bmuseum.org.

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Plantation Christmas Lighting: Take a winding cruise through the lights from 5 pm–9 pm Sunday through Thursday and 5 pm–10 pm Friday and Saturday at Kemper Williams Park in Patterson, $2 per car. cajuncoast.com.

Until December 31: Victorian Christmas at Rip Van Winkle Gardens: The character Rip Van Winkle was beloved by the children in his village for telling them stories and giving them toys. Sound like anyone we know? What better way to celebrate the season than to enjoy a Victorian Christmas at the Joseph Jefferson Home at Rip Van Winkle Gardens. The twenty-five acre paradise will twinkle with Christmas cheer and the Jefferson Home, decorated for the holidays, will be open for tours from 9 am–4 pm. ripvanwinklegardens.com.

Until December 31: Victorian Christmas at the Grevemberg House and Shadowlawn: Admire the home bedecked with a Victorian style tree and seasonal greenery.

Closed Christmas Eve and Day, 10 am–4 pm in Franklin, $12, $10 for seniors, $8 for children. cajuncoast.com.

December 1–January 2: Downtown Lafayette’s Christmas Tree Extravaganza: Bringing together dozens of businesses, families, and nonprofits to spark holiday joy this season, Downtown Lafayette challenges everyone to bring out their tree-decorating chops. Over sixty premium spruce trees will be contenders in this monthlong competition, where the public can vote on their favorite tree—all of which will be activated in Parc International throughout December.

The tree that receives the most votes throughout the month will receive a $500 donation to the nonprofit of their choice.

Winners will be announced on December 18. downtownlafayette.org.

December 2–4: Christmas at Coteau: This seasonal celebration is a shopping, dining, and holiday event on the lovely grounds of Grand Coteau’s Academy of the Sacred Heart. Christmas at Coteau offers a holiday market featuring more than seventy-five unique vendors, gourmet seated lunches on Wednesday (11 am & 1 pm), a Thursday evening preview party (6 pm–10 pm), and a gumbo cook-off on Saturday. At the market, expect to find antiques, estate jewelry, Christmas accessories, objets d’art, children’s apparel, and home and garden accessories. $12 for the holiday market; $65 for the luncheon. All proceeds benefit Schools of the Sacred Heart at Grand Coteau. 10 am–4 pm on Friday; 10 am–3 pm Saturday. sshcoteau. org. (Read more about Grand Coteau’s Academy of the Sacred Heart in Ashley Hinson’s feature story on page 28.)

December 3–19: An Acadiana Christmas Carol: Cité des Arts brings Ebenezer St. Grouge to the Louisiana stage with a live play adapted from the beloved Christmas story, set in contemporary

south Louisiana. The opening night gala is Friday, December 3. $45. The show runs December 4–19. Various times. General Admission, $20. citedesarts.org.

December 3–23: Noël Acadien au Village: LARC’s Acadian Village will host its annual Christmas festival fundraiser to benefit persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Noël Acadien au Village will feature half a million lights, themed Acadian home porches, lighted holiday displays, live entertainment, carnival rides, local cuisine, photos with Santa, holiday shopping, and more. Open nightly from 5:30 pm–9 pm (weather permitting). 200 Greenleaf Drive. $10.

Children ages two and younger, as well as active military, are free. acadianvillage.org.

December 4: Carencro Country Christmas: A day of Christmas cheer, and a whole lot of it: think choirs, arts and crafts, holiday treats, and an opportunity to donate toys to those less fortunate. 9 am–3 pm at the Carencro Community Center. Free. carencro.org.

December 4: Jingle Bell Market: An artful shopping event from the Hilliard, bringing options for local art and other goodies to your holiday gift list this year. Featuring hot chocolate, family photo opportunities, Christmas movies, creative gifts, and appearances from Lafayette Ballet Theater characters from The Nutcracker.

10 am–5 pm. hillliardmuseum.org.

December 4: Christmas in the Village: Small town Christmas and all its charm epitomized in downtown Loreauville, where the lighting of the town Christmas tree will draw out local food and craft vendors, special surprises, and—yes, Santa himself. 5 pm–10 pm. Free. Details at the Iberia Travel Facebook Page.

December 4: Lighting of the Tree Concert: Don’t miss the annual Lighting of the Tree Concert in Parc International in Downtown Lafayette, featuring performances by Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band on the main stage. Look forward to photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, holiday crafts with the Children’s Museum of Acadiana, and snacks provided by Funnel Cake Factory and Cravinboudin. 5 pm. Free. downtownlafayette.org.

December 4: Holiday Ride: Deck your bike out for the season and prepare for a festive ride, starting at Morey Park in Patterson at 6 pm. Free. cajuncoast.com.

December 4: City of Franklin Christmas Golf Cart Parade and Lamplighter Ceremony: At the corner of Jackson and Main Streets and ending at the Courthouse Square. 6 pm. Free. cajuncoast.com.

December 5: Brunch with Santa: Start your Sunday off on the nice list, by enjoying Social Southern Table and Bar’s holiday brunch, featuring the big // D E C 2 1

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Holiday events in Acadiana

man himself. 11 am–2 pm. Reservations required. socialsouthern.com.

December 5: Sonic Christmas Parade and After Party: Welcome Santa to Lafayette this season and meet him on the parade route, which runs from Jefferson through Downtown all the way to the Oil Center.

Afterwards, keep the fun going at the official after party in Parc International, featuring cookie decorating, arts and crafts, inflatables, food, beverages, and much more. Parade starts at 1 pm. Free. downtownlafayette.org.

December 5: A Christmas Home Tour at Le Triomphe: Sip sparkles while listening to your favorite Christmas songs, performed by the Acadiana Symphony Youth Orchestra for its fundraiser Christmas home tours. Step inside some of the most beautiful homes in Acadiana at Le Triomphe Golf and Country Club. Cookie decorating will keep the kids occupied, and Santa will be available for photos. 5 pm–8 pm. $45. acadianasymphony.org.

December 5: Christmas Teddy Bear Tea: Finger foods, tea, mimosas, and story time and pictures with Santa himself. 3190 1st Street, Berwick. 4:30–6:30 pm. $30 for kids, $50 for adults. eventbrite.com.

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December 7: Marine Corps Band New Orleans Toys for Tots Christmas Concert: Donate a new and unwrapped toy sit back and enjoy the music at the Municipal Auditorium in Morgan City. ‘Tis the season, after all. Free. 7 pm.

December 9: Opelousas Children’s Christmas Parade: Any joyous occasion in Louisiana calls for a parade, and Christmas is no exception. This one, with kids in mind, includes entertainment, music, marching bands, lighted floats, and most importantly: Santa and his buddies. The parade starts at Academy and Landry Streets, and rolls through downtown Opelousas to the Yambilee Grounds. (337) 948-6263.

December 9–10: Eunice Community Band & Choir Christmas Concert: An evening of Christmas cheer presented by local musicians at the First Baptist Church in Eunice. 7 pm. $5; $2 for children younger than twelve. eccbc.org.

December 11: Pancakes and PJs with Santa: Families are invited to bring their blankets to the Steamboat Pavillion in New Iberia for a pancakes and sausage picnic with Santa and Mrs. Claus, plus holiday face painting, story time with Mrs. Claus, and photo opportunities

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Small towns along the Cajun Coast, from Berwick, to Frankin, to Morgan City, and beyond crank out the holiday festivities this month, with parades by land and boat, and lights as far as the eye can see.

with Santa. 8 am–11 am. $10–$15, and riding the “All Aboard Holiday Train” is $3. Find the event on Facebook for more information.

Candlelight: Take in the historic street all

December 11: Christmas Home Tour in Patterson: Tour beautifully-decorated homes including Idlewild, Melancon, Kyle, Rentrop, Gil, Gowan, and the Wedell-Williams Cypress-Sawmill Museum. (985) 395-5205 for pricing and more information. 11 am–4 pm.

December 11: Christmas Extravaganza:

December 11: Bernice Street Christmas by

more information.

a-twinkle with the warmth of candlelight.

5:30 pm–9 pm. (985) 384-8180 for more information.

Come to the Morgan City Auditorium for a festive dance recital with holiday shopping and Christmas photos.

10 am–4 pm, with the recital starting at 1 pm. Find the event on Facebook or email csdchristmas@yahoo.com for

December 11: Lower Atchafalaya Christmas Boat Parade in Patterson: Head to Morey Park for a celebration for the season on water. 6 pm. Free.

(985) 395-5205 for more information.

December 11: A Very Berry Christmas Quest: Grab your family and set out on an adventure across New Iberia, completing a list of kid-friendly tasks with stops inside all of your favorite local businesses. Each task completed earns a sticker, and once participants have earned seven stickers, they can drop off their completed activity card at the Landscape Ranch. Every family that turns in a completed card will be entered to win prizes, including a gift certificate to Armentor’s Jewelry.

All registered children will also receive a complimentary kids meal from Raising Canes. 9 am–4 pm. $10 for children ages four to seventeen; $5 for adults ages eighteen and older. iberiachamber.org.

December 11: Shadows Christmas Craft Market: The Shadows-on-the-Teche invites all to a special holiday craft market, perfect to mark all those hard-to-gifters off your list. Vendors from the region will display original work on the beautiful grounds of the recently-reopened property. 9 am–3 pm. $5; $3 for children ages six to seventeen. shadowsontheteche.org.

December 11: Queen City Christmas Parade: A festive parade will meander down New Iberia’s historic Main Street, directly followed by a boat parade on Bayou Teche, and a grand finale of fireworks. The street parade will include the Berry Queens, the Bunk Johnson Brazz Band, Bayou Lit Bikes, visiting royalty, and the man in red (that would be Santa) himself. Following the street parade, Santa will be available for photos in his workshop in the Bouligny Plaza Gazebo. For the boat parade, head bayou-side to take in the Christmas lights and holiday-bedecked boats parade down the Teche. Street parade begins at 5:30 pm, boat parade begins at 6 pm at Bayou Landing (Lewis Street Bridge). bayoutraditions.com.

December 11: Delcambre Christmas Boat Parade: In Louisiana, we’ve got two kinds of parades—mainland and boat.

Aficionados of the boat parade genre, Delcambre residents will be celebrating the season with the town’s annual Christmas Boat Parade, starting at 6 pm at the Delcambre dock and featuring lighted boats of all sizes as they cruise Bayou Carlin to the tune of your favorite carols.

1-800-884-6120 ext. 7.

December 11–12: The Nutcracker: An Acadiana tradition sets the stage again with the full-length, classical ballet, The Nutcracker, performed by the Lafayette Ballet Theatre professional company dancers. Don’t miss this timeless tale by E.T.A. Hoffman set to Tchaikovsky’s famous score, presented at the Heymann

Performing Arts Center. 7 pm Saturday; 2 pm Sunday. Tickets start at $30. lafayetteballettheatre.org.

December 12: City of Patterson Annual Christmas Street Parade: Catch it on Main Street at 2 pm. cajuncoast.com.

December 12: 4-Legged Friends Christmas Parade: Dogs meet Christmas cheer for a serotonin-enducing spectacular. Main Street in Patterson at 12 pm. (985) 3954422 for more information.

December 12: Delcambre Main Street Christmas Parade: Santa joins local marching bands and dance groups to deck the streets in Delcambre. 2 pm–4 pm.

(337) 519-2541.

December 12: Christmas Tree Festival: Admire a slew of decorated trees at the Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum at Kemper Williams Park in Patterson. Free admission and refreshments. 5:30 pm–7 pm. (985) 3991268 for more information.

December 15: Candelight Christmas: Head to Parc International in Downtown Lafayette for a special narration of the Bethlehem story, enriched by singing of traditional Christmas carols led by local choir members. Hot chocolate and other treats will be available for purchase.

5:30 pm. Free. downtownlafayette.org.

December 16: A Sleigh Ride Together: This musical celebration presented by the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra features beloved holiday tunes, including selections from The Nutcracker, L. Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, and more. 7 pm at the Heymann Performing Arts Center. $100. acadianasymphony.org.

December 16–29: Moncus Park Christmas Concerts: Twelve consecutive nights of Christmas cheer, excluding Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This entails live music by artists like Wayne Toups, The Good Dudes, and Rebirth Brass Band, a wide range of food and drink for sale, kids’ activities, photos with Santa, an Elf movie night, and a holiday market to finish out your Christmas shopping with an assortment of local vendors.

5 pm–10 pm. $9.99, or $55 for a family pack at moncuspark.org/christmas.

December 17–19: Christmas at the Bayou: This annual Christmas Concert put on by The Bayou Church captures the essence of Christmas in Acadiana, bringing together musical performances by some of the area’s most beloved musicians. 7 pm Friday; 3 pm and 5 pm Saturday; 11 am, 3 pm, and 5 pm on Sunday. Sunday evening’s performance will also be streamed on Facebook Live. Free. thebayouchurch.org.

December 18: Home for the Holidays: This spirited Christmas Gala will be held at the Teche Theatre for the Performing Arts in Franklin, 8 pm. (337) 828-2787. // D E C 2 1

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Holiday events in Acadiana & New Orleans December 18: Caroling at Shadowlawn: Be among the first to start the tradition. Song sheets and candles will be provided. 906 Main Street. 6 pm. cajuncoast.com.

December 23: Reading from Louisiana Swamp Adventures of Frankie and Larry: Christmas on the Bayou: Join local author Jill Pitre as she gives a reading at the Choctaw Branch Library of her newly-released book.

Free. 1 pm. lafourche.org. k

UNTIL JAN 6th HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS IN THE CRESCENT CITY New Orleans, Louisiana

From hotel hopping, to teddy bear teas, to Christmas Eve bonfires—here’s everything you need to know about celebrating the holiday season in New Orleans.

Until January 2: Celebration in the Oaks: ​​For this magical winter spectacle, City Park’s famous oaks are swathed in hundreds of thousands of twinkling lights across its twenty-five acres, including the Botanical Garden, Storyland, and Carousel Gardens. Experience it via driving tour ($39.99–$225), by bike on Monday nights

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from 5 pm–6 pm ($5), or at the Carousel Garden Amusement Park, featuring eighteen rides, a festive outdoor bar, and more. $35, or $25 combined with a driving tour pass.

Closed Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. neworleanscitypark.com/celebration-inthe-oaks.

Until January 6: Hotel Hopping for the Holidays: Stop at some of the most magical spots in the Crescent City, taking advantage of NOLA DMC’s hotel tours this year. With various transportation options (prices from $50 per person to $95 per person), the three-hour tours will deliver you to the most festive hotel lobbies in the city, where you can enjoy a specialty cocktail and support locally-owned businesses. Enhancement options include a professional tour guide, visits from Santa, cookies and cocoa, and more. A portion of all sales will be donated to the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation. noladmc.com.

Saturdays and Sundays until December 19, December 22–24: Teddy Bear Tea: This delightful New Orleans tradition has enchanted young ones and adults alike for generations. At the gorgeously-decorated Roosevelt New Orleans, Santa and Mrs. Claus will welcome all to a presentation

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of holiday delights, specialty teas, tasty pastries, and mimosas for Mom and Dad. Two to three seatings each day. $82 for those older than eleven; $62 for ages three to ten. localhotelsite.therooseveltneworleans.com.

December 1, 5, 6, 13, 15: Jackson Square Concert Series: This holiday tradition brings a mythical aura to the experience of holiday carols, setting local musicians, church choirs, and singers of all genres against the Gothic splendor of the historic St. Louis Cathedral and the Basilica. Free and open to the public. 6 pm–7 pm. See the schedule below: December 1: Susan Cowsill December 5: The Zion Harmonizers December 6: Wanda Rouzan & Friends December 13: Original Tuxedo Jazz Band December 15: Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots holiday.neworleans.com.

December 1–January 2: WinterJam: For its second holiday season, JAMNOLA is upping the ante, featuring new additions to their exhibitions and a holiday flair (including a six-foot tall Nutracker installation). Santa or his elves will be in attendance Wednesdays–Fridays each week. $29; $20 for children under twelve. jamnola.com.

December 3–5, 10–12: The New Orleans Jazz Nutcracker: The Marigny Opera Ballet, resident dance company of the

Marigny Opera House, will break its eighteen-month hiatus and open its eighth season with the world premiere of The Nutcracker, New-Orleans style. Set in Jackson Square on Christmas Eve, the fulllength ballet is set against a commissioned score by jazz artist Larry Sieberth and live accompaniment by his ten piece jazz ensemble. 7 pm. Tickets start at $35. marignyoperaballet.org.

December 4: Algiers Bonfire and Concert: The city’s official kick-off to the holiday season includes local musical talent, food, drink, and of course a bonfire, which will light Santa’s way down the Mississippi. The NOLA Burners (the New Orleans group that builds Burning Man-style sculptures every year) will once again have Brennan Steele create a unique bonfire sculpture.

5 pm–8:30 pm at the Algiers Ferry Landing, 200 Morgan Street. neworleans.com.

December 4: Alpine Dreams on Krampus Lane: The Krewe of Krampus presents a drive-thru experience with the theme of Alpine Dreams. Guests will drive down Krampus Lane to discover performers who have fallen asleep after a long night to fall into the bizarre sides of their mind, where dance krewes become Dance of the Edelweiss and a brass band starts playing polkas. And watch out for the Barbegazi— you don’t want to start an avalanche.

7 pm–9 pm, with entry taking place every thirty minutes. $20 per vehicle of up to

eight passengers; $40 includes a bag with fun throws (including a lump of coal). kreweofkrampus.com.

December 4, 11, 18: St. Augustine Catholic Church Concert Series: Into the beautiful space of the oldest African-American congregation in the United States comes a holiday concert series beloved to the Tremé neighborhood and beyond. Featuring free concerts in genres ranging from jazz to soul. 4 pm–5 pm. See the schedule below: December 4: Louis Ford & His New Orleans Flairs December 11: Vivaz Trio December 18: Betty Winn and One A Chord holiday.neworleans.com.

December 7: The Elf on the Shelf: The Musical: If your Elf on the Shelf has gone AWOL, you might want to check the Mahalia Jackson Theatre stage.

This catchy new live musical tells of one particular Scout Elf whose new human family has suffered a loss. Can Christmas cheer save the day? 6 pm. $29.50–$79.50. saengernola.com.

December 7–22, 25–30: NOLA Christmasfest: Like pelicans blown way off course, thousands of Louisianans descend on the Ernest Morial Convention Center, drawn by the vision of carving graceful arcs into the ice skating rink at the center of NOLA Christmasfest’s festivities.

In any case, the event promises to heal bruised prides (and bottoms) with holiday characters, amusement rides, themed inflatables, arts & crafts, sixty decorated Christmas trees, and a gingerbread house exhibition. There will be two timed entries per day from 11 am–3 pm and 5 pm–9 pm, and space will be limited to maintain social distancing. $20 weekdays; $25 weekends; children two and younger free. nolachristmasfest.com.

December 10: Paradigm Gardens Holiday Concert: Sit in the garden and be serenaded by internationally-touring artist Nayo Jones, accompanied by a full band to play tranquil holiday Jazz classics. Food and drinks will be available from Lufu Indian Cuisine. $35. 6 pm–7:30 pm. paradigmgardensnola.com.

December 11: Running of the Santas: With the return of this NOLA-favorite event, thousands of jolly, be-jingled joggers will descend on New Orleans’ Warehouse District at 3 pm, starting at the South Pole (aka Manning’s at 519 Fulton Street).

At 6 pm, the Santas set off through the five-block fun run at speeds that would turn Rudolph’s nose green, heading for the North Pole (aka Generations Hall, 310 Andrew Higgins Drive). Event organizers are expecting more than four thousand costumed participants this year donned as Santa, Mrs. Claus, Scrooge, Jingle Bells, Jack Frost, Old Man Winter, and so many

more; and a raucous costume contest to choose the best one. A portion of proceeds benefit the “That Others May Live” Foundation. runningofthesantas.com.

December 11: Lights on the Lake: Take in the Holiday Boat Parade from the best vantage point on the lake, the New Canal Lighthouse, with the Pontchartrain Conservancy. In addition to the great view, they promise a stellar live music line-up, delicious local food trucks, hot toddies and other seasonal refreshments, kids’ educational activities and crafts, and pictures with Santa. 4 pm–8 pm. $5. scienceforourcoast.org/lights.

December 11–12: Preservation Resource Center Holiday Home Tours: This year offered in two formats, the home tours will feature, first, a special presentation of video tours, launching on December 6. These will showcase the homes of four famous New Orleanians, guided by Executive Director Danielle Del Sol. Then, the PRC is also hosting an in-person Holiday Art & Garden Tour at 10 am on December 11 and 12, for which it will collaborate with some of the city’s most talented landscape artists and architects to transform private yards and secret gardens into winter wonderlands. And finally, settle in for a festive Making Spirits Bright Happy Hour on December 11 from 5 pm–7 pm with holiday-inspired drinks against the backdrop of these special installations.

Video only tickets are $25; Video and Art & Garden Tour tickets are $40; full package (including happy hour) tickets are $85. prcno.org.

December 18–19: The Nutcracker: Join Louisiana’s largest resident, professional dance company, the Delta Festival Ballet, for their New Orleans rendition of the sweet, sweet classic, which features accompaniment performed by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. 2 pm both days at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

Tickets start at $35. saengernola.com.

December 19: French Quarter Holiday Home Tour: The Patio Planters of the Vieux Carré once again present iconic Quarter homes dressed up for the season. The tour includes details about architectural styles and home furnishings, as well as Christmas decor collections. Self-guided walking tours take place between 1 pm–4 pm; $20. patioplanters.net.

December 19: Caroling in Jackson Square: This free community singalong has illuminated the Square by candlelight since 1946, filling the air with holiday favorites.

Complimentary songbooks and candles will be provided. 7 pm. The event will be presented virtually on WLAE or via livestreaming on patioplanters.net.

December 21: Sarah Brightman: A Christmas Symphony: The Saenger is bringing last year’s biggest-selling soprano // D E C 2 1

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Events

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Holiday events in New Orleans & Baton Rouge Sarah Brightman to start a new Christmas tradition with her A Christmas Symphony Tour. Accompanied by orchestra and a choir, Sarah will deck the halls with her renditions of Christmas classics and greatest hits. 8 pm. $49.50–$149.50. saengernola.com.

December 21: Caroling Under the Oaks: The Liederkranz Choir (The Song Circle) will lead a performance of German and English carols at the Deutsches Haus under the oaks. Gluhwein and hot chocolate will be available, and food and drink service as well. 7 pm. Free.

Deutscheshaus.org.

December 22: Home for the Holidays Concert at the House of Blues: Join the family of Daniel Price and the NOCCA Foundation for this special concert and auction benefiting the Daniel Price Memorial Fund for Aspiring Artists, which supports the Student Success Program for NOCCA students. Enjoy performances

by NOCCA alumni as well as by Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty, John Boutte, Preservation Hall, Kermit Ruffins, Sasha Masakowski, and many more. 6 pm. $60. noccafoundation.org.

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December 23: Manheim Steamroller Christmas: The high-octane neoclassical group brings their holiday concert to the Saenger. 8 pm. Tickets start at $49.50 at saengernola.com.

December 24: Christmas Eve Bonfire Tours: Explore the unique tradition of the community-built bonfires along the Mississippi, set up to light the way for Papa Noel. The Gray Line New Orleans provides a special tour journeying to see the best and brightest of them all, with an option to include a plantation home tour and country dinner (2:30 pm), or express transportation (4:45 pm). Some walking is necessary.

Advance reservations required. Visit glno.com for rates.

December 24: Christmas Eve Dinner Jazz Cruise: No better place to catch a glimpse of Santa on his way than f loating on the Mississippi River.

Enjoy holiday-decorated dining on the newly-renovated riverboat from the New Orleans Steamboat Company.

6 pm–9 pm. Call for pricing and reservations (504) 569-1401. steamboatnatchez.com. k

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JAN 10th

HOLIDAY CHEER CHRISTMAS IN GREATER BATON ROUGE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

From light displays, to photos with Santa, to visions of sugar plums dancing in performances of The Nutcracker, The Capital City melds holiday cheer with Southern hospitality this time of year.

Until December 30: Zoolights: Generations of Capital City families have built a holiday tradition around a visit to BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo to see ZooLights. This year the zoo steps up with another milelong trail around the grounds, featuring more than fifty illuminated display sculptures of animals and traditional holiday displays; larger-than-life displays of flamingos, giraffes, lions, tigers, gorillas, and more; and a range of festive family activities that lights up the night all month long. Many high-wattage, computer-controlled displays are animated to add extra pizazz. 5:30 pm–8 pm nightly. $5 adults; $4 seniors; $3 ages two through twelve. Closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. brzoo.org.

December 1–2: George Bell and Friends: An Evening of Holiday Jazz: After a twoyear hiatus, George Bell’s return to the Manship is much-anticipated. Don’t miss this ninth-annual Holiday Jazz performance,

featuring Herman Jackson, Harry Anderson, Andy Bourgeois, Ray Mouton, Greg Ward, Betsy Braud, and Hilda Trenise Gautier, amd Quiana Lynell—plus a few other surprises. 7:30 pm. $45. manshiptheatre.org.

December 3: Festival of Lights: Held at North Boulevard Square, includes the lighting of the grand thirty five-foot tree and fireworks, free ice skating, ten tons of “real” snow to play in, and Santa himself. Free.

4 pm–8 pm. downtownbatonrouge.org.

December 3: Holiday Brass: The South Baton Rouge Church of Christ invites all to get into the holiday spirit with a performance of holiday favorites and custom arrangements. 7 pm. Free. sbrcc.org.

December 3: Holiday Shopping Event: For the seventeenth year, the LSU MOA invites all to shop unique holiday gifts, local artwork, and more with a special deal of twenty percent off any one item, plus free gift wrap and raffle prizes. Noon–8 pm. lsumoa.org.

December 3: Reindeer Ride: Eight miles to kick off the holidays? Experience Baton Rouge a little bit differently, and catch the Downtown Christmas Festival of Lights while you’re at it. Ride up the levee from Farr Park all the way downtown, and be sure to dress the part. Ages eight and older.

6 pm–8 pm. $5 bike rental. brec.org.

December 3–5: Christmas in the Country: St. Francisville comes alive with

Christmas cheer each first weekend in December, including a wreath sale, festive musical performances, an artist market in Parker Park, holiday home “Peep Tours,” a Christmas parade, and more. stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

December 3–5, 10–11: Christmasville Spectacular: A curated experience of all things Christmas, designed for fanatics especially craving those warm fuzzy feelings of the holidays. From a presentation of Welcome to Christmasville, featuring caroling and other performances, to the Café in the courtyard where you’ll enjoy hot cocoa and sweet Christmas treats, to the Christmasville Village Fair, a petting zoo, and the Bayou Express Train.

Free. eventbrite.com.

December 4: Broadmoor Christmas Parade: A beloved tradition in Baton Rouge’s Broadmoor neighborhood, this parade features local school groups, antique cars, nonprofit organizations, and Santa Claus himself. Kicks off at noon, starting from the Broadmoor High School. broadmoor-br.org.

December 4: Very Merry Museum: The Louisiana Art & Science Museum is dedicating a day to all things Christmas, featuring holiday-themed planetarium shows, engaging activities like scavenger hunts, and festive fun for visitors of every age. 10 am–5 pm. lasm.org.

December 4: Christmas in Central Parade: Don’t miss this festive celebration down Joor Road in the community of Central. 11 am. members.cityofcentralchamber.com.

December 4: A Jane Austen Christmas: Experience a Regency period holiday at Audubon State Historic Site—reminiscing on the years in which Jane Austen wrote.

During tours of a candlelit Oakley House, each room will interpret the last days of Spanish West Florida and social life at the time. Visitors may brush up on social etiquette at a tea or enjoy wassail and chestnuts by the fire; and later, enjoy a period dance as 1810-style Christmas music fills the air. 10 am–4 pm. (225) 635-3739.

December 4 & 11: Holiday Strings at the Library: Talented local musician Karlina Nurkala-Persyn will perform Christmas carols on the cello, violin, and viola at the Denham Springs–Walker Branch Library.

Free. Registration is required. mylpl.info.

December 5: West Baton Rouge Museum’s Holiday Open House: Celebrate the season with traditional activities, art, music, and storytelling. 2 pm–4 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.com.

December 5: A Rural Life Christmas: LSU’s Rural Life Museum’s old-fashioned Louisiana Christmas celebration conjures up a century and a half of reminiscences on the grounds of the acclaimed museum.

Candle-lit historic buildings decorated

Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre brings the long-standing Capital City holiday tradition, The Nutcracker: A Tale From the Bayou, back to the River Center Ballroom December 18–19. See listing on page 22.

Image courtesy of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre.

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Events

Events in Baton Rouge & Beyond

CHRISTMAS PARADE & EVENTS Christmas on the Square Avoyelles Parish Courthouse Thursday, December 02, 2021 (5:30pm) Bunkie Train Depot Tree Lighting Friday, December 03, 2021 (5:30pm) Bunkie Christmas Parade Saturday, December 04, 2021 (4:30pm) Satu Fireworks After Parade Village of Moreauville Christmas Parade Sunday, December 05, 2021 (2:00pm) Booths open at 12:00 Noon Fireworks at 6:00pm Village of Plaucheville Christmas Parade S unday, December 05, 2021 (4:30pm) Fireworks After Parade Town of Hessmer Christmas Parade Sunday, December 12, 2021 (1:00pm) New Year’s Eve with The Chee-Weez Paragon Casino Resort December 31, 2021 (9:00pm) www.paragoncasinoresort.com ww

8592 Hwy 1, Mansura, LA 800.833.4195 travelavoyelles.com 22

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with freshly cut greenery serve as an atmospheric backdrop for costumed re-enactors recreating the Christmas festivities of the nineteenth century. Around them, distinguished artisans will perform living history demonstrations, such as blacksmithing, doll making, candle dipping, and rosary making. The day’s festivities will conclude with a procession to a traditional Louisiana bonfire to await the appearance of Papa Noël. 8 am–6 pm. $10; children ten and younger free. (225) 765–2437 or lsu.edu/rurallife.

December 5: Baton Rouge Concert Band Christmas Concert: Catch the Baton Rouge Concert Band performing a medley of traditional Christmas music the likes of Adeste Fidelis and Ave Maria, as well as selections from Polar Express and Henry Mancini’s music. 3 pm. Free. brcb.org.

December 5: Baton Rouge Symphony Christmas Brass Concert: With a backdrop of the Houmas House Plantation and Gardens grounds, the Baton Rouge Symphony presents a special brass and percussion concert featuring holiday favorites and custom arrangements. 4:30 pm–6:30 pm. Tickets start at $30. A $100 ticket includes a buffet dinner in the pavilion; $150 ticket includes a seated dinner at Latil’s Landing. houmashouse.com.

December 8: Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Musical: Santa’s helpers will take center stage at the Raisin’ Canes River Center in this family holiday favorite national touring production. 6 pm. $29.99. raisingcanesrivercenter.com.

December 10–January 10: Holiday Wreath Contest: Submit your most festive wreath to the Ascension Parish Library by December 10, and vote for your favorites between December 11–17. Enjoy the display until January 10. (225) 647-3955.

December 11: Let It Sneaux: Santa is coming to BREC’s Perkins Road Community Park, and he is bringing all the goodies with him. Gingerbread house making, s’mores, hot chocolate, sneaux, and much more. 1 pm–5 pm. Free. brec.org.

December 11: Denham Springs Christmas Parade: Use the holidays as the perfect excuse to practice for Mardi Gras, and head to Denham for this special local tradition—themed for superheroes this year. Rolls at 2 pm, ending off Veterans in Denham Springs. denhamspringsmainstreet.org.

December 11: Cortana Kiwanis Christmas Parade: A favorite of downtown Baton Rouge residents (since 1948!), this parade put on by the Cortana Kiwanis Club and the Kiwanis Club of Cortana Baton Rouge

Foundation, Inc. celebrates community as the holidays descend, spotlighting local marching bands, celebrities, dance troupes, nonprofits, and businesses. 4 pm. christmasinbr.com.

December 11: Crystal Gale’s Holiday Show: Come see Grammy and Academy Award winner Crystal Gayle, who was also named one of the top one hundred greatest country artists of all time, at the Manship.

7:30 pm. $75. manshiptheatre.org.

December 11–12: The Nutcracker: Livingston’s local Tri–Parish Ballet again presents The Nutcracker, enchanting audiences with dancing dolls, toy soldiers, waltzing flowers and a number of new surprises for returning audiences. Since Saturday’s (7 pm) performance serves as a benefit for the Livingston Parish Food Bank, admission is a non-perishable food item. On Sunday at 2 pm, admission to the full-length performance is $20. Both performances will be in the LSU Student Union Theatre. lsuuniontheater.universitytickets.com.

December 12: Screening of The Grinch (2018): You already know the story of the Whos, the disgruntled Green fella, and his sweet pup Max. See the 2018 animated version at the Manship. 2 pm. $9.50. manshiptheatre.org.

December 12: Home for the Holidays Concert: The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra will fill Istrouma Baptist Church with holiday music from favorites like The Polar Express, The Nutcracker, and Home Alone, and invite the audience to carol and sing along. $19–$65. 7:30 pm–9:30 pm. brso.org.

December 17–January 3: Ice Skating On the River: Bundle up and get out on the ice this holiday season. The Raising Cane’s River Center is offering ice skating on a winter wonderland-themed rink until January 3.

Slipping and sliding is a possibility... but inventive winter recreation is guaranteed.

Admission includes seventy-five minutes of skating. $12–$14. Times vary daily.

Closed on Christmas Day. raisingcanesrivercenter.com.

December 18: Celebrate Christmas with Opéra Louisiane: Enjoy variations from The Nutcracker and the holiday opera Amahl and the Night Visitor, with photo opportunities and hot chocolate to follow. $5–$30. 7 pm. operalouisiane.com.

December 18: Legends of Christmas: This twelve-act, narrated circus presented by Circus Louisiana follows the story of two children who escape the evil Krampus’ Nightmare Town. At the Manship Theatre at 2 pm and 7 pm. $30 at manshiptheatre.org.

December 18–19: The Nutcracker: A Tale from the Bayou: The “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” melody is intertwined with the holiday season. And in this part of the world, so is the long-running Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre production of The Nutcracker.

Each year for generations, local and national dancers of all ages have flitted and fluttered across the stage of the River Center, breathing hyper-local life into Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece to the tune of Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra accompaniment and a stage set that invokes Baton Rouge landmarks like the Old State Capitol and Oak Alley. World-class dancers, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, and over three hundred local children participate in this city-wide artistic act of holiday love. 2 pm and 6 pm each day at the River Center Ballroom. $30–$65. Ticketmaster, (225) 766-8379, or at the River Center Box Office. batonrougeballet.org.

December 19: Screening of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): Catch this Christmas classic at the Manship. 2 pm. $9.50. manshiptheatre.org.

December 28: Home for the Holidays Concert: Join Louisiana singer-songwriters for this beloved tradition, returning for the eleventh year in a row. Pursuing their careers near and far, local musicians return to the Capital Region for the holidays for this special night of music and storytelling at the Manship Theatre. manshiptheatre.org. k

Beyond the holidays:

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DEC 31st

ART EXHIBITIONS ELIZABETHAN GALLERY ANNUAL FALL ART SHOW Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The show features works by Carol Hallock and Heather Connole Ricard, among others. Free. (225) 924-6437. k

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JAN 1st

ART & CULTURE EXHIBITIONS GATHER HERE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Artist-in-Residence at Yes We Cannibal Laura Curry’s project calls on neighborhood participants to collaborate to create a room-sized cartography, grown from the narratives of themselves, Indigenous Peoples of the region, and memory; weaving geography together with landscape and language. yeswecannibal.org. k

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PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITS THE YELLOW BOOK: OLD SOUTH BATON ROUGE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Part of photographer Johanna Warwick’s project documenting all 104 cities

included in the 1955 government publication called The Yellow Book, which showed proposed interstate routes—this special exhibition at the Capitol Park Museum focuses on Old South Baton Rouge. Through a series of photographs that use the elevated interstate as a framework, Warwick explores how Interstates 10 and 110, built in the 1960s, divided the neighborhood in two, displacing people and businesses and rupturing its sense of community. louisianastatemuseum.org. k

DEC

2nd

HISTORY TALKS WWII GIVES BIRTH TO THE LONG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elizabethan Gallery More than just a frame shop.

Frame a Memory or Give the Gift of Art The Gifts That Last a Lifetime!

Sportsmen’s Paradise, Acrylic on Canvas

by Kay Lusk

Fish Dreaming 1, Acrylic and Collage on Linen by Krista Ann Roche

Bar Flies, Oil by Diego Larguia

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Dr. Kodi Roberts will present a lecture on the experiences of Black Americans at home and overseas during WWII, and how they provided a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. 5:30 pm. Free. louisianaoldstatecapitol.org. k

DEC

Spring Road, Oil by Carol Hallock

3rd

ART & MUSIC ART AND JAZZ IN THE VILLAGE Folsom, Louisiana

Head to the Giddy Up for an art show at Far Horizons Art Gallery and a concert

by Dr. Ben Redwine & Company for a night of community and culture. Art show 5 pm–8 pm, concert 6 pm. Free. giddyupfolsom.com. k

DEC

WE FRAME UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE! No deadline

O N E DAY F R A M I N G AVA I L A B L E 680 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge, LA 70806 225-924-6437

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CONCERTS RAY WYLIE HUBBARD AT THE MANSHIP Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Songwriting legend Ray Wylie Hubbard, who has recently collaborated with Ringo Starr and Joe Walsh, among others, is gracing the stage at the Manship for Red Dragon’s Songwriters Series. $49.95– $69.95. 7:30 pm. manshiptheatre.org. k

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LOCAL FESTIVALS ORANGE FESTIVAL

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Buras-Triumph, Louisiana

Orange you glad there’s something to celebrate besides Christmas? The Plaquemines Parish Fair and Orange Festival returns to the magnificent grounds of historic Fort Jackson in Buras.

The three-day event celebrates a century of citrus farming with live music, family activities, local foods, carnival and helicopter rides—and lots of cooking and eating contests, including pie eating, orange eating, orange peeling, duck calling, shrimp peeling, catfish skinning, catfish de-heading, and oyster shucking. Fort Jackson is off

© Cheryl Gerber

BE MERRY on the LOUISIANA NORTHSHORE We celebrate everything in St. Tammany Parish, one hour from Baton Rouge. Mark your calendar and plan a weekend getaway for these exciting upcoming events.

Dec. 3-5 Christmas Extravaganza Arts & Crafts Expo at the St. Tammany Fair Grounds, Covington Dec. 3-11 Christmas Under the Stars at Griffith Park, Slidell Dec. 10 Candlelight Caroling at the Covington Trailhead Dec. 11 Folsom Horse & Wagon Christmas Parade Dec. 11 Old Mandeville Shop Local Saturday Dec. 11 Q50 Races Santa on Trails at Fontainebleau State Park Dec. 10-12 Ballet Apetrei’s The Nutcracker at the Fuhrman Auditorium Fri.-Sun., A Very Merry Dec. 3-12 Christmas Spectacular at 30 by Ninety Theatre Fri.-Sun., The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Dec. 3-19 at Slidell Little Theatre Fri.- Sun., 22nd Annual Holiday of Lights Dec. 3-25 in Mandeville

1-800-634-9443 • LouisianaNort hshore.com/cr // D E C 2 1

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Events

Beginning December 3rd - December 28th

Highway 23. Friday is focused on the carnival, but the events begin on Saturday. orangefestival.com. k

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LIVE MUSIC CONCERTS AT CHORUM HALL Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Chorum Hall continues to welcome some of the most innovative and exciting instrumental acts to its stage this month.

Concerts are as follows: December 3: Extended Trio December 17: Simon Lott’s Clouds December 31: Seth Finch 7:30 pm. $20–$30 at bontempstix.com. k

DEC 4th

COMMUNITY CHORUS ONE VOICE FESTIVAL OF SONG Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Baton Rouge Chorus of Sweet Adelines is overjoyed to be reunited and singing together again, and are now inviting the larger community of Baton Rouge women to join them in harmony for choral festival. The day will entail singing, music education, fellowship,

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and other fun that all culminates in an afternoon performance. All women from middle school-age up are invited to harmonize with the Sweet Adelines at Ingleside United Methodist Church; no experience necessary. Bring a bag lunch, and drinks and desserts will be provided.

9 am–3 pm. $10, and the afternoon performance is free. Sign up at forms.gle/umzC1cp2RZbrp7M97. k

DEC

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FUN FUNDRAISERS IMPROVISATIONS GALA New Orleans, Louisiana

An exclusive Patron Party kicks off the night, with performances from Trumpet Mafia, accompanied by the N’Awlins D’Awlins Baby Dolls and the Original Wild Tchoupitoulas Indians led by Big Queen Mary K. Stevenson. Beam Suntory has cocktails covered, along with passed hors d’ouevres. At 8 pm, the main party sprawls through the Jazz Museum’s galleries and campus with cuisine from local restaurants, a silent auction and live painting, and a live music lineup including local favorites that include George Porter, Jr. & Runnin Pardners;

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Charmaine Neville Band; Bo Dollis, Jr. & The Wild Magnolias; and many, many more. 7 pm–11 pm. Tickets begin at $150 at nolajazzmuseum.org. k

DEC

4th

GOOD EATS LOUISIANA FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL 2021 Slidell, Louisiana

DEC

4th

GREAT OUTDOORS DAY AT THE CHAMPION TREE Saint Francisville, Louisiana

The awe-inspiring Champion Tree at Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge towers impressively at ninety-six feet tall, with a circumference of fifty-six feet. Previously this incredible natural attraction was difficult to get to, but The Friends of Cat Island in partnership with West Feliciana Parish and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have made significant improvements to the Refuge and Creek Road, making visiting the sight much easier than it was in the past. This day will provide an ideal opportunity for the public to visit the tree, with volunteers stationed at the trailhead to hand out information, answer questions, and help visitors find their way. There will also be a volunteer stationed in the Burger King parking lot on Hwy 61 to lead a caravan to the Refuge for those unfamiliar with the route at 9 am. 9 am–1 pm. Free. For questions, contact William Daniel at (225) 721-0090 or epewhd@icloud.com. k

Round up your friends and and head to the Harbor Center to be overwhelmed with tasty options on wheels; plus live music, vendors, and more at this outdoor festival. 11 am–3 pm. Free. harborcenter.org. k

DEC 4th - DEC 18th LIVE MUSIC JAZZ & HERITAGE CONCERT SERIES: New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation presents a concert series throughout the year, housed in the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center, highlighting local and visiting artists. Here are this month’s concerts: December 4: New Orleans Jazz Vipers December 11: Gabrielle Cavassa December 18: Heritage School of Music All Stars, featuring Derek Douget, Don Vappie, Ricky Sebastian, Peter Harris, and others.

Doors at 7 pm, concert at 8 pm. $5. jazzandheritage.org. k

DEC

8th - DEC 12th

PHOTO FEST PHOTONOLA

New Orleans, Louisiana

The annual PhotoNOLA takes place over four days with broad ranging photography exhibitions on display throughout the month.

The lineup includes a virtual photobook fair, portfolio reviews, workshops, lectures, book signings and the PhotoGALA. Many events are free. photonola.org. k

DEC

9th

FUN FUNDRAISERS THE PELICAN BALL Lafayette, Louisiana

Experience the first ever Pelican Ball to celebrate those who have helped shape Acadiana through their artistic works. Set to be a night of dancing, food, and music by Little Freddie King and Chas Justus & the Jury. Black tie optional. 6:30 pm. Tickets start at $125. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

FUN & GAMES MEGA TRIVIA GAME NIGHT Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Prepare yourself for an evening of fastpaced trivia and plenty of fun, all while raising money for the Teche Center for the Arts. Tasty food, entertainment, a photo booth, and a silent auction will all round out the night. Must be age twenty-one or older to enter. Individual “virtual” tickets are available upon online registration. techecenterforthearts.com k

DEC

11th

CONCERTS CLAY PARKER & JODI JAMES AT TEMPLE SINAI Saint Francisville, Louisiana

MUSICAL THEATRE CATS New Orleans, Louisiana

T.S. Eliot’s poems inspired this enduring Webber musical. 7:30 pm Tuesday– Thursday; 8 pm Friday; 2 pm and 8 pm Saturday; 1 pm and 6:30 pm Sunday.

Tickets start at $65. saengernola.com. k

DEC

18th

OPERA AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Renowned talent and holiday spirit will warm the stage when Opéra Louisiane presents Menotti’s classic one-act opera this Christmas season. 7 pm–8:30 pm. $5–$50 at bontempstix.com. operalouisiane.com. k

DEC

20th - DEC 23rd

KID STUFF ARTSPLOSION! ARTS AROUND THE WORLD Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Arts Council is inviting kiddos in grades K–5th to head to the Cary Saurage Center to explore their creativity in a variety of mediums and styles from around the world in this fun, educational camp–which includes everything from Asian art to Latin dance. 8 am–3:30 pm daily. artsbr.org. k

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CONCERTS MILK CARTON KIDS Lafayette, Louisiana

Americana, neo-traditional folk duo The

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DEC 28th - JAN 2nd MUSICAL THEATRE HADESTOWN New Orleans, Louisiana

Following the intertwining love stories of Orpheus and Eurydice and of King Hades and his wife Persephone, this Broadway musical (the first in over a decade written by a solo woman author) draws audiences into a new vision of the underworld. 7:30 pm Tuesday–Thursday; 6 pm Friday; 2 pm and 8 pm Saturday; 1 pm and 6:30 pm Sunday.

Tickets start at $37. saengernola.com. k

Temple Sinai, a former St. Francisville synagogue restored as a performance venue by the Julius Freyhan Foundation, will host Clay Parker and Jodi James for the first time in two years. 6:30 pm. $20-$25. bontempstix.com. k

DEC

A Tale From The Bayou

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This month, the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts instructor will display his collection of oils depicting water scenes and urban landscapes. Opening reception at 6 pm on December 4. gallery600julia.com. k

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New Orleans, Louisiana

T HE BATO N RO U G E B A L L E T T H E AT R E P R E S E N T S

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ART EXHIBITIONS DIEGO LARGUIA AT GALLERY 600 JULIA

Milk Carton Kids have been nominated for Grammys no fewer than three times, and are now finding themselves on stage in Acadiana. See them live at the James Devin Moncus Theatre. 7:30 pm–9:30 pm. Tickets start at $55. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

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To see our full list of regional events, including plenty of holiday happenings we couldn’t fit into print, point your phone camera here.

DECEMBER 18 & 19 2 & 6PM River Center Ballroom

225 766-8379 batonrougeballet.org Ticketmaster.com

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Features

DECEMBER 2021 28

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INSTITUTIONS

Two Hundred Years at the Academy GRAND COTEAU’S STORIED SCHOOL CONSIDERS ITS PAST AS IT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE Story by Ashley Hinson • Photos by Olivia Perillo

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little town steeped in rich history, Grand Coteau’s story can’t be told apart from its geographical and mythical center: The Academy of Sacred Heart (ASH). The idyllic all-girls Catholic school, which celebrates its bicentennial this year, is almost as old as St. Landry Parish itself and holds as many stories.

Over the past two hundred years, upon these 250 acres of oak-and-mossdraped grounds, girls who would become powerful women walked, as did the people their institution enslaved. During the Civil War, a Union general whose statue now overlooks the azalea garden ensured the school did not fall. And one year later, there was a miracle.

It was 1866, and the postulant Mary Wilson, who was from Canada, was not adjusting well to South Louisiana’s climate. Just before taking her final vows to join the Society of the Sacred Heart, she found herself on her deathbed. For forty days, feverish and vomiting, she refused food—subsisting only on coffee and tea, and things were looking grim.

“I endured the pangs of death,” Wilson wrote in her detailed account of the events. She prayed for the intercession of Blessed John Berchmans, the patron saint of students, and placed an image of him on her mouth. “I can say without scruple or fear of offending God: I heard a voice whisper, ‘Open your mouth.’ I did so as well as I could. I felt someone, as if they put their finger on my tongue, and immediately I was relieved…I closed my eyes and asked: ‘Is it Blessed Berchmans?’ He answered: ‘Yes, I come by the order of 28

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God. Your sufferings are over. Fear not!’” Wilson’s strength was instantly returned, confounding her doctor, who wrote in a sworn statement: “Not being able to discover any marks of convalescence, but an immediate return to health from a most severe and painful illness, I am unable to explain the transition by any ordinary natural laws.”

The site upon which Wilson was healed, which has been transformed into a chapel, is now open to visitors, and is considered one of Grand Coteau’s most spiritually significant spaces. Now called The Shrine of St. John Berchmans, it is just one of many places on the school’s property that remind you that ASH is in many ways a place outside of time.

A Woman’s Place

“I think [the school’s] being two hundred years old, we all feel the weight of those who came before us,” Aimee Cotter, an alumna from the ASH class of 1999, said. “We feel the pressure to hold ourselves to a higher standard and pursue lives that are meaningful. We want to make meaningful change in this world. Knowing that there are two hundred years of women behind us, that sets the expectation for us.”

This sense of a collective—of women feeling united by this place—is evident in the school’s tradition of return. Families’ enduring passion for the school is founded in faith, but also in the bonds forged there. Cotter is one of many alumnae on staff, and many of the current attendees are the daughters of former students. And every year, from all over the world, women return to celebrate their landmark reunions.

Acadiana has no shortage of private, Catholic schools, so what is it about ASH’s particular legacy that so prevails?

“The key difference is the deep level of independent thought,” Cotter said, describing the school’s long-held educational philosophy—which being independent from the diocese, is distinct in the region. “There’s never memorization or just regurgitation. You have a deep understanding of the relevance of the material. When you have the deepest understanding of why we are learning things, it creates a real, authentic faith for our students.”

Part of this distinction, Cotter posed, comes from the simple fact of the school being a women-only environment—a rare sort of space in today’s world that, when properly fostered, removes certain internalized pressures // D E C 2 1

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of our larger patriarchal society. “In all-girls environments, women are better able to find their voices,” she said, pointing out that seventy-five percent of ASH’s 2021 graduates went on to study in STEM fields. “In most co-ed schools, that’s a male-dominated area. I think it’s because they weren’t afraid to fail here.”

Empowering women to succeed through education is the foundation upon which ASH was built, from the very beginning. The academy was the first Catholic school in Acadiana, but its origins are straight from France. The first ASH girl, Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, founded the Schools of the Sacred Heart as a testament to her own education as a young woman of faith. During a time when Catholic schools and con-

vents were being shut down in France as a result of the French Revolution, Saint Madeleine received a secret education from her brother, who was a Jesuit priest.

“Women were displayed as property, not educated,” said Cotter. “It was in secret. She was just a real academic and felt so strongly that girls were worthy of education.”

In 1801, Saint Madeleine was one of three postulants who, along with Father Joseph Varin, founded the Society of the Sacred Heart, a religious congregation for women with a mission of providing education for girls. The Society opened schools across Europe, and in 1818, Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne opened the first of the Sacred Heart schools in the New World

in Saint Charles, Missouri. In the years to follow, the Society opened several schools across Missouri and Louisiana. Mothers Eugenie Aude and Sister Mary Layton founded Acadiana’s campus in 1821, and today it is the oldest of the Society’s houses in continuous existence.

Confronting the Sins of the Past

While holding fast to these values upon which the academy was built, ASH and the Society of the Sacred Heart have in recent years worked to confront and acknowledge the uglier parts of their history, too.

From its founding all the way to the Civil War, the Society enslaved hundreds of people at the Academy in Grand Coteau and other institutions across Louisiana and Missouri. In 2016, it created The Committee on Slavery, Accountability, and Reconciliation—an effort dedicated to: “recover[ing] the story of slavery in our early days in this country, to shar[ing] this historical fact as widely as needed, to assist[ing] in the attempt to

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locate the descendants of enslaved persons who lived on property owned by the Society of the Sacred Heart, and to tak[ing] appropriate steps to address this painful chapter in our history while also working to help transform racist attitudes and behaviors.”

At ASH, this work is ongoing, and includes plans for remodeling the property’s former slave quarters—which were previously used as storage—to reflect their original designs, and then opening them to the public as a museum. “It’s important to have an understanding of how this building came to be,” said Cotter. “It wasn’t the nuns [who built the school]. It was enslaved people.”

Thanks to genealogical research conducted by The Society—which used resources like sacramental records and sisters’ journals—many of the descendants of people enslaved at ASH have learned previously-unknown details about their ancestors’ lives. A plaque on the former quarters bears the names of the enslaved who resided there, at least the names that could be discovered. Many of these descendants are deeply involved in the former slave quarters’ restoration plans, Cotter said.

Beyond acknowledging its past, ASH is also making efforts to promote diversity and equity on its campus today. “The greater organization of nuns [The Society of the Sacred Heart] gave us $1 million to improve diversity on campus, specifically in the African American population,” Cotter said. “There are descendants of the enslaved who are students now, and the school community is so much richer.”

ASH Today and Tomorrow

As such an integral part of Grand Coteau’s history, ASH’s influence reverberates beyond the lives of its students and alumni to those of the school’s immediate surrounding community. Unlike most Catholic schools in Acadiana, because ASH is independently operated, funds don’t flow from the diocese, so the school hosts fundraisers that have become synonymous with the area, including Christmas at Coteau and the Gumbo Cook-off.

In an age where Catholic schools are losing students at record rates, the Academy continues to assess its relevancy in the modern world. Having those conversations, “helps to sharpen our tools and make sure we

are offering what a twenty-first century girl needs to be successful in life in who she is,” said Cotter.

“The school was founded in the principles of being cutting edge and pushing the envelope beyond our comfort levels,” she said. “At the core of all our missions are five goals: faith, academics, service, community, and character. It’s woven into everything we do … Saint Madeline started these schools for girls who wanted to learn and devote their lives to study and service. And that has remained true for two hundred years.” h

sshcoteau.org.

The Academy of the Sacred Heart is currently remodeling its former slave quarters to better reflect their original designs and to serve as a museum in the future, a firm acknowledgement of The Society of the Sacred Heart’s role in the Southern atrocity of slavery and an homage to the African men and women who lived and worked on the property for years.

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S O U T H E R N H O S P I TA L I T Y

A Home for a Time REVELING IN THE RED STICK’S OPEN ARMS

By Kristina Pepelko

Hunting for Veggie Eats

Photo courtesy of the author.

W

hen my husband David and I crossed over the Mississippi state line in the spring of 2019, we had no connections to Louisiana—no friend, family member, or acquaintance we could rely on as we settled in. This was back in the spring of 2019.

We were traveling from Michigan, the state where we were both born and raised. David secured a job in Baton Rouge and I was coming along for the ride. We also had little to no understanding of the local area and its culture—and whether we would be a good fit for it, or not.

Knowing nothing for certain, I did somehow feel confident telling my Michigan friends that Louisiana would not be a forever place. At that time, I couldn’t imagine our move being more than a brief stop-over. And 32

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work and David’s, coworkers turned into friends with plenty of good times shared over happy hours at Cocha, Happy’s Irish Pub, Hayride Scandal, and The Vintage.

We joined Forum 225, a young professionals’ organization, which provided ample opportunities to meet Baton Rouge natives and transplants like ourselves.

Near our apartment, BR Krav Maga became our gym, where we were warmly welcomed by owner Destin Thibodeaux and many fellow members. For me especially, BR Krav Maga proved to be a valuable place, as it set the cadence for a routine early on—one that I continued throughout our two years in the city, even as workouts went virtual during the early stages of the pandemic.

Soon after arriving in Baton Rouge, I also signed up as an Adoption Matchmaker Volunteer at Cat Haven, a no-kill cat shelter. The gig provided a sense of comfort and purpose in an unfamiliar place—where I could help locals discover their forever friends and find my own ease among the many furry companions.

Other spaces that became important during our newness were the local markets—especially MidCity Makers Market and Red Stick Farmers Market, operated

by Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance (BREADA). As I attended these events week after week, month after month, familiarity set in as some vendors started to greet me with a wave and a warm smile; I was proud to be recognized as a regular.

At MidCity Makers Market, I discovered a wonderful array of hard-working creatives, many of whose products now reside in my Michigan home, including: a handmade mug decorated with a gray cat sitting atop a camper from Ghada Henagan Ceramics; a colorful set of ceramic tumblers from Pollumination; an array of therapeutic, hand-poured candles with intentional names like “Awaken” and “Surrender” from a Sacred Space co.; and relaxing, all-natural bath salts from August.Sunshine Shop. At Red Stick Farmers Market, I fell in love with the amazing array of fresh produce on offer, including new-to-me foods like radish microgreens from Micro Pharms, Japanese eggplant from Fullness Farm, and zipper peas from Chenier Farms.

The Farmers Market in particular became a special haven for me during the early summer of 2020, as the most challenging days of the pandemic unfurled. The drive-thru market experience that BREADA created was a consistent bright spot. It provided me with the opportunity to get out safely, support my favorite farmers, and gather healthful, local produce and products to bring home, including a sweet treat or two from The Sugar Mill Confections.

indeed, on paper, that may be exactly what it looks like as I write this from Michigan, two years later.

But Louisiana was so much more. Our two years in the Pelican State were marked by the freedom to grow, explore, and flourish on our own terms. While I may not be able to pronounce most Creole-French words to save my life (I still say “lagniappe” as “la-gin-a-pay” in my head), Louisiana, for at least a little while, became home.

Embracing Local

To get acclimated to the area, we tried to get out as much as we could. I searched for a full-time local job, eventually landing one at Kids’ Orchestra, a nonprofit organization serving East Baton Rouge Parish. At my

Speaking of food, I’m a vegetarian—a challenge for a person living in a place like South Louisiana. As a newcomer, though, I enjoyed the chance to hunt for delicious veggie meals. Upon first moving and asking about plant-based options in the area, responses would range from “Good luck” to “So, you can have the chicken, right?” Over time, I learned to scour menus and made a list of places to try, which I checked off as we went and still keep on my phone for future visits.

For homemade vegan chocolate chips cookies, I’d look no farther than Plant Based Sweets by Lotus. For a hug in a bowl, try the June Noodles from Chow Yum Phat or Vegan Shoyu from Bōru Ramen. For amazing veggie-friendly pizza, go for the Margherita or Pesto from Rocca Pizzeria (make it vegan by subbing vegan cheese) and the Farmerita from Istrouma Brewing at

Sugar Farms (out in St. Gabriel). For brunch or lunch, check out MJ’s Café for a full vegan menu (I recommend any of the soups and salads, the French Toast, the Game Changer, the Black Bean Torta, and the Cauliflower Wrap). For twists on breakfast classics, enjoy the goat cheese-filled Skinny Omelette from Another Broken Egg Café or the fried green tomato benedict called One Tomato, Two Tomato from The Ruby Slipper Café.

For more eclectic eats, head over to BLDG 5 for the Veggie Plate and to Cocha for any number of dishes, from the Criollo with jackfruit to the veggie-forward risottos. For a taste of Southern, soulful cooking, be sure to pay a visit to Vegan Friendly Foods—their oyster mushroom poboy is a dream come true and their vegan mac and cheese is one of my favorites. And, of course, for a healthy dose of sugar, head over to The Vintage for beignet bites or to Coffee Call, a seasoned stand-by, for pillowy full-sized beignets and beignet fingers.

While Baton Rouge may look like a meat-and-seafood heaven on the surface, there are plenty of vegetarian eats waiting to be discovered across the city. Eating my way through Baton Rouge’s under-the-radar veggie scene was a way to get to know the city more intimately—and to feel like I was carving out a space where I belonged.

from a jumbled explanation toward a simplified version of just “Baton Rouge.” It was easier to conjure this up in a quick chat, but also felt closer to something with depth and meaning behind it. While we may no longer have regular visits to Red Stick Farmers Market or

happy hours downtown ahead of us, I know that there will always be a feeling of home waiting in Baton Rouge, thanks to all the wonderful, vibrant people and places we met along the way. h

Finding Home

During our first year in Baton Rouge, “Where are you from?” was a question we heard often—our accents and mannerisms being wholly Midwestern. Our answers were usually some version of “We live in Baton Rouge, but we’re from Michigan.” As we eased into our second year, this answer felt less solid. When we traveled outside the city, even to New Orleans, our answer moved away

Kristina, the author, exploring the swamps of South Louisiana. Courtesy of the author.

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R E S T O R AT I O N

Saving Native Spaces

MATT CONN HAS SPENT THE PAST TEN YEARS NURTURING HIS WETLAND BACK TO ITS NATURAL STATE. Story by Ashley Hinson • Photos by Olivia Perillo

S

ometimes, developing property can mean returning it to how it hused to be. On sixty-seven acres near Lydia in Iberia Parish, conservationist Matt Conn has spent the last decade undoing the effects of his fellow man’s impact on the wetlands.

The once-diverse marshland, thriving under the canopy of mature oaks, cypress, and tupelos, had all been cleared to the ground when Conn first came upon it, left fallow and overgrown with invasive species. Today, under his care, the dense, quiet stretch of property is once again home to a great diversity of ecosystems and colored by the beauty of Louisiana’s native plants: sunny goldenrod, kelly green brush, and burnt brown thicket. It yields to the seasons, as it’s made to.

Even the banes of Conn’s existence, the invasive Chinese tallow trees (more commonly known as “chicken trees”) that have filled the space, turn orange.

He can’t deny they’re pretty. But he’s taken most of them down by bush hog, machete, and helicopter.

“When I purchased the property, the first year, it was basically an invasive for-

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est—just tens of thousands of tallow trees,” said Conn. “We had to experiment. By far, helicopter spray killed the most—” ninety-five percent, in fact.

The first time Conn saw his future acreage was in print: as a work assignment for the company he was working for at the time. A self-professed bug, plant, and bird “geek” with a degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Renewable Resources and Environmental Sustainability—Conn’s expertise lies in understanding how various wetland systems function and identifying jurisdictional wetlands. “A byproduct of this is that we can locate, identify, and help anyone who intends to impact wetlands to get the proper permits and mitigate [that impact] properly,” he explained. “We also work on coastal restoration projects, private wetland restoration projects. We help locate, plan, permit, monitor, and manage many mitigation banks for clients.”

Today, Conn is the Director of Operations and owner of Schoeffler Energy Group Environmental, LLC. But in 2009, he was working as the supervisor of the ecological division for another

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large company when the MA Patout Sugar Mill hired him to restore the protected wetlands they had been planning to use for growing cane. Their practices of draining and clearing the land without permits had caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulators, and the owners were obligated to consult SEG for a restoration plan.

At some point, the mill owners decided to mitigate their financial losses, and put the land up for sale at a price that Conn couldn’t pass up. The hook, though, was that the massive restoration would now be his responsibility. “I knew what needed to be done because I was the consultant ... but I had to invest time, sweat, and labor into physically doing restoration myself.”

It was a commitment that would have to wait, though. Conn said he thinks there was a day and a half’s time between buying the property and leaving the country for his second deployment to Baghdad. “It was a year before I was back home and actually got to do anything to it,” he said.

Almost twelve years since he pur-

chased the property in January 2010 and eleven since he started restoring it, the Acadiana Native Plant Society dubbed Conn’s property a gold-level Louisiana Certified Habitat in 2021. The land is now home to more than 18,000 native trees among three distinct ecotypes: tidal fresh marsh, tidal flooded pothole bottomland hardwood, and coastal prairie.

On his blog, called “Turtle Boy and the Birds,” Conn catalogues every species he discovers, which as of 2021 include more than two hundred native plant species, 195 different kinds of native birds, ten species of frogs, nine of snakes, three of turtles, and much more. The creatures and plants that thrive there have fairytale names: sedge wrens, false foxglove, ironweed.

It’s all brush and thicket in the summer, or as Conn said, “a hot, thorny, overgrown, deer, fly, and mosquito-infested country,” but on first impression, the property’s appearance is deceptively dormant. Conn introduces new species every year; development is constantly taking place, just not in the ways we are accustomed to seeing.

Conn said the “heavy lifting” really

took place during the first five years of his restoration process, which benefitted in the later years from the assistance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, an initiative that assists private landowners with large-scale conservation projects. “Breaking the levee and replanting would have gotten it out of the violation,” he said.

“But I did a little extra. It just takes time to mature. I want to see a natural patch of woods without all those invasives.” In addition to clearing out the intruders, healing the land entailed planting seeds and seedlings, clearing walking trails, installing ponds, and waiting.

“The cool thing about native stuff is if you put them in the right place with the right species and habitat, that’s where it wants to go,” he said. “Going native, you’re helping the ecosystem as a whole.

You put native flowers in front flower beds, you’re hoping for native bees and butterflies and maybe birds. Flowers from Asia are really pretty but have no use to the animals. The animals have evolved here for the plants we have here. That’s the problem with lawn domestic plants for people’s yards. They look nice but

don’t do anything [beyond] aesthetic.”

While he will enthusiastically take a machete to the property’s invasives— which can choke out native plants, Conn keeps grooming to a minimum. Space is cleared for accessibility, but vines are meant to climb trees, and Conn lets them. Seeds get carried away by the wind, and the flora has its own design in mind. Animals crop up as well. Conn keeps poachers out, and the acreage is one of the few spots in Iberia Parish where deer don’t have to watch their backs. He balances tending to the land and letting it be—giving it space to heal.

“Conserving, preserving, and restoring native Louisiana habitat is paramount,” Conn said. “Saving natural resources for our children and their children has never been more important, and no effort is too small.” h

5713 Superior Drive, Suite B-1 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70816

Learn more about Conn’s work at turtleboyandthebirds. blogspot.com.

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Cuisine

DECEMBER 2021 36

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THAT TASTES BETTER

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IT LOOKS ON

New Food, New Orleans FIVE OF THE CRESCENT CITY’S NEWEST CHEF-DRIVEN DELIGHTS

By Alexandra Kennon

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t hardly needs to be said that opening a restaurant in New Orleans in 2021 was no easy feat. Despite obstacles in the form of a major hurricanes, the Delta variant, and staffing shortages, a handful of tenacious chefs were able to successfully found exciting new restaurants that firmly hold their own, even in a town with an overabundance of delicious options.

Ssam style Charmoula Octopus; Photo by Paprika Studios, courtesy of Mister Mao.

“Oh shit, what are we gonna do with our lives?”

It’s safe to say that Chef Sophina Uong and her husband and partner William “Wildcat” Greenwell are not the only people who had such a thought in the throes of the pandemic.

In their case, though, the moment of 36

existential weirdness and uncertainty is what led them to open Mister Mao, the “unapologetically inauthentic” “fun, spunky, tropical roadhouse” that opened on Tchoupitoulas Street in July 2021.

Diners who come into Mister Mao— which is not a Chinese restaurant, despite

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SECRET TO GOOD

LUCK IN

2022

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INSTAGRAM W

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Mister Mao

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the name’s implications (actually, it’s named for the couple’s cat)—are asked to approach the experience with an open mind.

“I felt for like the past two years we’ve just all been just kind of stuck inside, so it was just like, ‘Okay, if you want to come outside to see your girlfriends … come in this little loud place and have different flavors,” Uong said.

Originally from Long Beach, California, where her mom ran a chain of donut shops, Uong first experienced Louisiana years ago when she and her daughter took a Greyhound bus to spend a weekend in Lafayette with Runaway Boucherie: a group of young, up-and-coming talented chefs that included Ryan Trahan of Vestal. “I spent the weekend with them and met a bunch of folks out there and cooked for a couple of days and drank a lot of Jameson,” Uong remembered. “And then just learned the difference between what a roux does and a jambalaya.”

After she and Greenwell’s stint living in what she described as the “Polar Vortex” of Minnesota, the pair, “headed towards the sun,” and landed in New Orleans. They opened Mister Mao first as a popup and now as a brick-and-mortar in the building that formerly housed Dick & Jenny’s.

A self-proclaim eclectic, Uong furnished the space using items found in thrift and vintage stores. On a prominent wall in the dining room presides a mural by artist Margie Tillmam depicting two tigers, inspired by Greenwell (who runs the bar program’s) tongue-in-cheek nickname, “Wild Cat”.

The menu at Mister Mao reflects its chef’s widely-varied culinary background, which notably includes her claiming the Grand Champion title on the Food Network’s Chopped: Grill Masters Napa in 2016. While Uong draws flavor inspiration from all over the map, the cuisines she leans into most at Mister Mao are Southeast Asian, Mexican, and Indian. Uong is of Cambodian descent herself. “So I know all of those flavors, which is what I grew up with,” she explained, noting that Cambodian cuisine is more akin to Laotian or Thai food than the lighter, sweeter flavors of Vietnamese food that New Orleanians tend to be more familiar with. She picked up an affinity for Mexican ingredients and techniques while working at Oaxacan farm-to-table restaurant Calavera in Oakland, California. And, “Indian is all just through memory, and like taste

memories of what I’ve had,” Uong said, recalling that she had a friend back in California whose mom would teach her certain masalas, but withheld some details and ingredients. “Sometimes you learn from people, but they don’t tell you everything,” she said. “So, you have to figure it out.”

Some standouts from the unusual menu include: Escargot Wellington; Pineapple Hawaiian Rolls served with charred eggplant, mint, garlic confit, and balsamic; a version of the Indian street food panipuri with pickled blueberry and “fiery mint water” poured table side; Kashmiri Fried Chicken with Szechwan pepper and black salt lime cream; and a Dark Chocolate Tart with black garlic and peanut sesame brittle. The menu is divided into playful categories like “Drinking Snacks,” “Food We Love to Share,” “You Don’t Have to Share,” and “These Bring Us Joy & Hellfire Heartburn”.

Uong said that she markets her use of these various influences as “inauthentic” largely due to past experiences working in restaurants that were lambasted for being culturally appropriative—notably Lucky Cricket, Andrew Zimmern’s Chinese restaurant and Tiki Lounge, in Minnesota. “And so, part of me is a little bit traumatized by all of that, just, you know, when you have picketers in front of the fence,” Uong said, noting the particularly challenging climate for today’s chefs who are interested in incorporating international flavors they may not personally have a claim to. “I’m just really sensitive to the fact that I don’t want to feel like I’ve stolen anything, but I think cooking belongs to everybody.”

As for her own heritage, Uong has happily observed that South Asian guests have generally enjoyed the offerings at Mister Mao, “inauthentic” as they are.

“So that’s for me, that’s a personal victory, you know?” Uong said. “My mom, she’d be like, ‘That’s not Cambodian’ and I’m like, ‘I know.’”

Each influence on the menu is “mostly personal” for Uong and Greenwell. “We just like spicy stuff in general,” Uong said.

“And we do miss some of the Asian food that we could get on the West Coast, or through traveling to New York or something,” She also wanted to ensure that the price point was accessible enough for younger service industry employees to be able to afford a meal at Mister Mao. “I wanted to price things where it’s fairly affordable for people of our industry. You know, the

younger cooks and servers … we wanted to have a fun place, a celebratory place.

I mean, we are kind of loud and obnoxious I think for Uptown,” Uong laughed.

“But Uptown needs a little shaking up.” mistermaonola.com.

Saint John

“As weird as it sounds, it was almost like the accidental restaurant,” Chef Eric Cook, who opened local-favorite restaurant Gris-Gris in the Garden District in 2018, said of his newest venture, which opened in the French Quarter in October of 2021. “We didn’t seek out Saint John, Saint John kind of found us.”

The happy accident came about as many things do in New Orleans: via a cocktail of serendipity and personal connections. The sequence of events was sparked by a casual phone call about a property in the French Quarter that had been recently put up for sale by a friend of a friend of a friend of Cook’s. Even though he wasn’t particularly planning to open a new restaurant at the time, Cook and his wife Robyn went to scope out the storied old building at 1117 Decatur. “We said, ‘Yeah, sure, why not? We’ll take a road trip to the Quarter,’” Cook said.

Upon first arrival at the building that formerly housed a restaurant called Trinity, and before that Maximo’s, Cook and a chef friend he brought along headed straight for the kitchen. “We’re kicking equipment like tires in a used car lot,” he chuckled. As they scoped out the residu-

al kitchen appliances from the previous business, Robyn was already envisioning the restaurant that would become Saint John. “My wife was up front, and she saw the potential. She saw what it was gonna be long before any of us ever did,” Cook said. He teased her that day, saying: “Hey, did you name it?” “That was the first time we walked in the building,” Cook recalled. “And she was like, ‘Yeah, it’s Saint John.’”

The name came so easily because it’s close to the couple’s hearts. “That’s where our lives began as a couple, on Bayou Saint John in Mid-City,” Cook said.

“We walked on the Bayou every time we had a chance…Bayou St. John was very near to us for a multitude of reasons. It was super organic.”

Cook said he immediately knew the cuisine he would serve at Saint John would be “hardcore Creole”. “I mean, [I thought to myself,] we’re just gonna get down,” he said. “We’re gonna go old school.” Cook, born and raised in New Orleans with ancestry that traces back to city founder Bienville himself, knows a thing or countless about old-school Creole cuisine. And he knows that New Orleans’ indigenous cuisine is not about looking pretty, but about sustainability at its most delicious.

“Brown on brown is the new black,” he said. “That’s our move: let’s get the gravy going, let’s get the sauces going, let’s get the stock pots going,” Cook said. “The influence of all those different cultures

Court-Bouillon: Photo by Randy Schmidt, courtesy of Saint John.

and heritages coming in, you know, it wasn’t trying to be anything beautiful.

It was just sustainable. It was what was available in the woods and in the waters around them at that time, throughout the seasons… So we want to dive into that.”

This Creole-inspired philosophy does in fact manifest in more elegant dishes too, though—such as the first item that went on the menu, which came to Cook in a dream: Oysters Saint John. The appetizer entails oysters prepared three ways: poached in a cream sauce, fried crisp, and in oyster dressing embraced by a puff pastry. Other dishes are comforting favorites with contemporary updates,

like a Whole Fish Amandine, Shrimp Étouffée, Beef Daube, Gulf Fish CourtBoullion, or a side of Creole-Italian-inspired Macaroni Pie sitting in a classic red gravy. Yet, a couple of items stand out as new creations of Cook’s own—perhaps the most notable is a Bacon Fat Seared Duck Popper entrée, which includes root beer-braised pork belly to accompany crispy-seared duck breast and jalapeño Creole cream cheese with a satsuma glaze and fried duck skin.

Cook explained that amidst a trend of chefs trying to “out-menu” each other by creating ostentatious dishes featuring molecular gastronomy, classic Creole cuisine takes on new life. “To me, as a guy

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3-V Tourist Courts •1940’s Motor Hotel • Reservations: 225-721-7003 // D E C 2 1

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Mister Mao’s Gochujang Snapper and Herb Salad. Photo by Paprika Studios, courtesy of Mister Mao.

who has been banging around kitchens for thirty-plus years now, it’s brand new again, it’s exciting,” Cook said. Some of he and Saint John Chef de Cuisine Darren Porretto’s primary resources for menu inspiration were old cookbooks from Cook’s massive collection, including many of his grandmother’s. “It’s really cool to dig up old things out of a book that’s barely hanging on, you know, the ribs in the book, you’re turning it like you’re in a museum—because that was my grandmother’s book that she was flipping around in the sixties and the fifties and forties.”

While the atmosphere and cuisine at Saint John coincide for an elevated yet understated dining experience, Cook knew that there was no way around leaning a bit into the rowdy party culture of lower Decatur Street. “I said look, there’s going to be a separation of church and state in this building. We’re not going to turn our nose up to lower Decatur.”

Cook noted that dive bars on that stretch like The Abbey made up his former stomping grounds. “It’s the block that I ran around as a young teenager, a punk rock and roll guy…the red mohawk and the skateboard. That was me. I was that

kid.”

With such deep New Orleans roots of his own, Cook has a profound appreciation for the history of the building Saint John sits in, which Robyn’s extensive research indicates goes all the way back to 1726. Initially, stained glass windows were installed as a play on the name Saint John, before the couple realized the building actually housed a ministry at one point. At another moment in time, it was a head shop lambasted in local papers for encouraging hippie culture; later, it was home to a renowned Mardi Gras headdress maker. Cook, Robyn, Porretto, and their team are excited to write the building’s newest chapter, all while paying homage to its past and the local cultural and culinary heroes who contributed inspiration; in the form of the menu, the artwork, and design details.

“Everything came together. It felt right, it was the right time. And I really, really believe that it came to us, and for all the right reasons,” Cook emphasized.

“And we believe in that a lot. You know, the way we do things, we trust the universe…this was just our time to walk in that building. And bring it back to life.” saintjohnnola.com.

Other chef-driven New Orleans restaurants that opened in 2021 Lengua Madre

Spanish for “mother tongue,” Lengua Madre is an upscale, modern Mexican restaurant that opened in August. The ever-rotating five-course chef tasting menu is inspired by Chef Ana Castro’s childhood memories of cooking with her paternal grandmother in Mexico City, where she grew up. These experiences combine with her training at Le Cordon Bleu Mexico, and her culinary studies in India and throughout Europe to create a menu that was recently recognized in the New York Times as one of “The 50 Places in America we’re most excited about right now”. lenguamadrenola.com.

Seafood Sally’s

Seafood Sally’s is a second venture from CEO Caitlin Carney and her executive chef and partner Marcus Jacobs, whose flagship restaurant Margie’s Grill was named one of America’s Best New Restaurants in 2019 by Bon Appetit.

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Nestled comfortably in the Oak Street house that most recently housed La Casita, Seafood Sally’s is named for Jacobs’ grandmother and inspired by a trip down the East Coast; with a menu featuring a variety of boiled, fried, and blackened seafood, occasional wild-cards like Buffalo frog legs, plus a daily happy hour and all-you-can-eat crab on Wednesdays. seafoodsallys.com.

Miss River

At the new restaurant inside the Four Seasons Hotel, Alon Shaya deviates from his Israeli roots to focus on the cuisine of his current home, New Orleans. This manifests in the form of a dark roux duck and andouille gumbo served with potato salad, salt-crusted whole Gulf red snapper, and clay pot dirty rice with seared duck breast and a duck egg yolk; all of which guests can watch the chefs dramatically plate on an open “Food Stage”. missrivernola.com. h

A MAG ICAL FRU IT

Southern Fortune

THE NEW YEARS’ INGREDIENT PROMISING PROSPERITY

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

O

ne of the American South’s greatest underdog stories is that of the black-eyed pea.

The lowly bean’s (it is a bean, actually, not a pea) origins in the New World were violent ones. Packed onto the massive ships traveling the Middle Passage as a meager means to sustain the hundreds of captives aboard—the cheap, hardy, and nutritious black-eyed pea made its way from West Africa to the Americas.

On the grounds of the Southern plantations, in the shadows of the more opulent sugarcane and cotton, black-eyed peas grew tangled along the borders of the fields to control weeds, enrich the soil, and feed cattle. They also grew in the gardens of the enslaved Africans—a token, a taste, of a home they’d likely never see again.

According to legend, when the Civil War came and the Union troops raided the barons’ storied crops, they ignored the black-eyed peas.

They say the starving Southerners left behind survived on this former fodder of the livestock and the enslaved.

In truth, at that point black-eyed peas had already started to make their way into the culinary tapestry of the larger South, onto the tables of poor white people and plantation own-

ers alike. The enslaved Africans knew the value of this bean: its versatility, durability, proliferation, and flavor.

They recreated traditional West African dishes using the ingredients available to them here in the hostile American South. And like the enduring genius of the Blues, what they created—a dish once called “poor man’s meat”—seeped into the culture subtly, but with such mythic prominence as to become one of its defining features. It is the meal we Southerners elect as our first of the year, one steeped in hope and mysticism. Today, black-eyed peas are a symbol of wealth.

“Black-eyed peas are a physical representation of coins,” said Vince Hayward, the CEO and fourth generation owner of L.H. Hayward and Company, which packages Camellia Brand beans. “And it is interesting because they were really seen as peasant food, something people who don’t have means eat. Now, it’s kind of flipped the switch. It can be an elevated dish. And today, across class lines, it’s like you’re not a real Southerner if you’re not participating in the New Year’s Day tradition.”

This tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day takes on a handful of different forms but is universally believed to ensure good fortune for the coming year. The bean’s powers, according to local lore, come from a few symbolic properties: its prolificacy (representing fertility), its ability to swell when cooked (an increase in fortune), and its historical resemblance to coins. Some traditions mandate that to acquire the promised fortune of the new year, one must eat at least

365 peas. Others include adding a penny or dime to the pot just before serving; whoever receives the coin in their peas is ensured the best luck for the new year.

Hayward, who said that he looks forward to the January 1 meal as enthusiastically as he does Thanksgiving, cooks it in the crock pot.

“Generally, I’ll use some type of smoked meat, ham hock, or something like that. And a lot of onions and garlic, and that’s it. The bean itself has so much earthy, meaty flavor to it—it really doesn’t need a whole lot of extra seasoning.

It’s got its own intrinsic flavor.”

He prepares his New Years’ black-eyed peas as many in these parts do, with greens and cornbread—complementary symbols of paper money and gold, respectively. “It’s tremendous comfort food,” said Hayward. “And when you’re cooking it, you generally serve it in a big pot. The tradition is an opportunity to stop the daily routine and spend time with people you care about.”

The joy in gathering around food is a universal experience, shared especially poignantly in the South. There’s a connectivity, Hayward explained, in eating this meal all together on this day, in reaching for good fortune at the outset of a new year. h

Hardette Harris’s New Years’ Recipe A RECIPE FROM THE QUEEN OF SOUTHERN SOUL FOOD HERSELF, CRAFTED ESPECIALLY FOR THE NEW YEAR

By Chef Hardette Harris, from Us Up North Kitchen Serves 6–8

Instructions

Ingredients 1 large smoked ham hock, rinsed and patted dry 1 large smoked pork neck bone, rinsed and patted dry 1-2 pounds fresh black-eyed peas, rinsed (purple hull peas work nicely as well) ½ yellow onion, sliced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1-2 okra pods, whole or chopped to thicken 1 Tablespoon seasoned salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large stockpot, place ham hocks and neck bones; cover with water.

Cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hour or until meat easily comes off the bone. Remove meat from bones. Save liquid and strain if necessary to remove small bones.

Add peas, onion, garlic, okra, pepper, seasoned salt, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Return ham hocks to pot, and cook until peas are soft but not broken apart, about 20 minutes more.

Serve with cornbread, sliced yellow onion, and sliced tomato. Adjust seasonings.

Find more black-eyed peas recipes at countryroadsmag.com.

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BETTER THAN THE ROMANS

Photographer and sourdough maven Lucie Monk Carter tried her hand at Ford’s recipe for Challah in New World Sourdough, allowing her two daughters’ to help in the process.

The Art of Rising

CHEF BRYAN FORD CHALLENGES ALL WE KNOW ABOUT MODERN DAY BREADMAKING

Story by Swathi Reddy • Photos by Lucie Monk Carter

A

midst scenes of kneading dough and tossing it high up in the air, baker Bryan Ford lays down the gauntlet of his baking credo: “Let go of all your preconceived notions, I got Black skin but I make it better than the Romans.

Yeah I make sourdough but don’t be foolish, you already know that I could pull up with the poolish. You already know that I could throw dough down from the ground up, make it levitate and look ghoulish.”

Filmed in his hometown of New Orleans this summer, Ford and his partner (in life and business) Bridget Kenna released “Homeslice,” a music video in collaboration with New Orleans artist Kr3wcial, as the inaugural work of their newly formed production company Flaky Biscuit Media.

Playful, humorous, and celebratory, the video is a remix of Kr3wcial’s original song “Eat’n Pizza” and encapsulates the pure joy of breaking bread together—or, more specifically, of throwing a backyard pizza party with your best friends, sharing slices handcrafted by a master artisan.

These are the inclusive types of spaces the award-winning baker Ford inhabits: where improvisation is celebrated, boundaries are dissolved, heritage is embraced, and passion is a guiding force.

“Your environment dictates the bread you can create—and I’m not talking about climate and temperature,” he wrote in his debut cookbook New World Sourdough (2020). “I’m talking about how you feel and the emotional connection you have to your roots, upbringing, and city.”

Ford’s presence as a young American

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with Afro-Honduran roots, born in the Bronx and raised in Louisiana, is one not frequently seen in professional baking circles. The former accountant soared to nationwide prominence after the publication of his cookbook in the summer of 2020. In it, he pairs explanations of various baking techniques with generous doses of gentle guidance. This approach, also reflected on his Instagram @artisanbryan, serves as the foundational tool for home bakers to recreate the breads he champions from North, Central, and South America, as well as other parts of the globe.

Sourdough bread, in particular, is what Ford has become most closely associated with—a result of his efforts to redefine the breadth and scope of the naturally leavened bread in the public space.

In contrast to the visually iconic, crusty, boule-shaped loaves of San Francisco, he spotlights the sourdoughs of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where his mother is from, and beyond—focusing more on the term as a means to “make different kinds of bread rise in a healthier and more natural way,” as he writes in the introduction of his book. He goes on, “A dense loaf of pan de coco is no less ‘sourdough’ than a crunchy batard with an open, light crumb.”

What Ford has brought to the forefront is a question many of us had yet to ask: Why is bread, which has served as the bedrock of global cuisines for thousands of years, represented world-wide almost exclusively through a Euro-centric lens?

“Bread is a representation of life,” he said in a recent interview. “I think of bread almost like a movement, as opposed to just being a food item. It is

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something we have in every culture, and he said, as far as food was concerned; lunch at school would be red beans and it is present across every background.”

In his book, Ford imparts gems rice with cornbread, and his mother learned from baking in his mother’s would serve arroz con pollo for dinner. kitchen (“the Honduran secret weap- From helping his mother in the kitchen, on to a good tortilla is coconut milk”); he learned to cook meals for his youngshares recipes that evoke poignant epi- er sister after school, eventually preparsodes from his life—including semitas, ing meals for the entire family while his an after-school treat his father would parents and brother worked. While in bring home from the nearby Honduran college, he worked as a line cook (among bodega; his grandfather’s Jamaican hard other restaurant roles) in New Orleans, dough; and pão de queijo, a Portuguese which led to a deeper recognition of his cheese bread he came upon while living love for cooking, and especially, baking.

Ford spent a few years in in Miami. He also weaves in recipes inMiami, eventually offispired by Louisiana classics, like New cially trading in his Orleans-style French bread, bananas accounting books foster sourdough, and his “next-level” for a baker’s whole-grain pineapple cream beignets. apron. While Discarding the modern day focus on waiting to aesthetics, crumb structure, and hyhear about dration levels, Ford emphasizes breada potential making as something much more injob at a tuitive. He roots his own practice in bakery and memories of learning how to make mulling over cinnamon-raisin bread for his father the idea of and watching his mother’s hands knead tortilla masa.

For him, baking is rooted in the primal joy of nourishment, in feeding those one cherishes most: a labor of love.

Louisiana, where his parents moved after immigrating to New York in the 1980s from Honduras, was home to Ford for twenty-six years. He had the best of both worlds, Photo courtesy of Bryan Ford

opening his own, he started the blog, Artisan Bryan, which quickly gained significant readership from all over the world.

In 2020, he was approached by Quarry Books to write his first cookbook. “None of the writing was premeditated, but once it started, I realized how much people needed a new voice,” he said.

The platform has expanded, like a loaf in Ford’s oven, in ways he never could have predicted. Splitting his time between two of our country’s greatest food havens, Queens and the Crescent City, he and Kenna launched Flaky Biscuit Media in the spring of 2021 to herald diverse voices through storytelling and content creation including television productions, podcasts, and recipes, as well as community involvement out of New York and New Orleans.

And the journey continues: At the end of 2020, Ford joined Chef David Chang’s podcast Recipe Club as a regular guest, and in July 2021, he began hosting his first television show, The Artisan’s Kitchen on Magnolia Network, which he described as “an unbelievable experience.” He is also working on his next cookbook, centered around his interpretations of Latin American baking, from desserts to pastries and more. In September, he revealed his latest endeavor in that vein: PanaderX, a pop up experience in New York City that draws on the baking culture of Latin America.

For Ford, the principles he endorses in the art of breadmaking—creativity, inclusivity, exploration—are directly linked to his missions of advocacy and representation. He has built a diverse, dynamic community around the simple act of baking bread, of all kinds, while connecting us through something we all possess: our palate. h

Natchitoches Christmas Festival

Celebrating 95 Years!

Nov. 20, 2021 - Jan. 6, 2022

“Nack-A-Tish”

800-259-1714 • www.Natchitoches.com

1968: A FOLSOM REDEMPTION

Learn more about Ford at artisanbryan.com and find some of his recipes at countryroadsmag.com.

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Culture

DECEMBER 2021 42 THE

MYSTERY OF DOWNTOWN HATTIESBURG'S

WRITING

AN

E S S A Y // 4 5

FIVE BOOKS WORTH

STO R I E S TO T E L L

F O OT P R I N T S , S O LV E D

READING

BEFORE

THE

// 4 4

THE

NEW YEAR

NUMBER ONE

(AND

RULE

AFTER, TOO)

TO

W

HISTORY

A Small Step For a Man . . .

THE HISTORY OF JOHN WESLEY FAIRLEY, OWNER OF HATTIESBURG'S MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS

By William Browning

F

or as long as anyone can remember, a series of nine footprints encased in brass have been embedded along a busy stretch of sidewalk in downtown Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

They have been there so long locals sometimes use them as directional markers. “At the intersection by the footprints,” someone might say, instead of, “At the corner of Main and Front streets.” The local Post Office once received a piece of stamped mail addressed to, “the store across the street from the store with the brass feet,” and the mail carrier knew where to make the delivery—Owl Drug Store. Such is their prominence along the cityscape that in the early 1980s, when downtown sidewalks were being replaced, the crew tasked with removing the old walk-

ways preserved the footprints on direct orders from the mayor, Bobby Chain, who remembered playing on them as a child in the 1930s. Chain was not alone in having sentimental childhood memories of the prints, and when the new sidewalk was revealed, there they were, in the same place they had always been. The Hattiesburg (Miss.) American newspaper praised the preservation effort: “City fathers and work crews easily could have ripped right through the brass feet with their jackhammers, mortar mixers, and pebbly sidewalks,” an editorial from the time read. “But they didn’t. The jackhammer carefully traced the outline of the footprints, workmen carefully lifted them out, and they were neatly replaced in the new

walkway ... As time marches forward, it at least leaves its footprints in downtown Hattiesburg.”

It was around that time, during the summer of 1983, that the people of Hattiesburg realized that no one among them actually knew the history of these footprints. No one knew how they had come to be there, how long they had been there, whose feet had made them, or when they had been encased in brass. In a piece headlined, “Footprints mystery not solved yet,” the Hattiesburg (Miss.)

American bandied about several possible origin stories, but nothing definitive was ever established. So, the people of Hattiesburg moved on, doing what they had always done: Walking over a series of downtown footprints with an unknown history.

If the Footprint Fits

Who was John Wesley Fairley?

John Wesley Fairley was born enslaved by a man named Peter Fairley in Perry County, Mississippi, fifty or so miles north from the Gulf Coast, in 1840.

When the Civil War began, “Wes” Fairley, as he was known, went off and joined the Union Army, serving with the 74th Regiment United States Colored Troops. He was stationed on Ship Island, just off the Mississippi coastline, assigned to oversee Confederate prisoners of war.

According to legend, Fairley recognized one of the prisoners from before the war, a white man from South Mississippi named Lorenzo Nollie Dantzler. Fairley liked Dantzler and began sneaking him extra rations. For this, Dantzler always credited Fairley with saving his life, and, after acquiring a coastal sawmill in the 1870s, he hired 42

Fairley to float logs down Black Creek.

Fairley excelled at the job: Legend has it that he was a powerful man who weighed roughly 225 pounds and— depending on who you ask—stood either seven feet tall or almost seven feet tall. Fairley made his home in Stone County, near the Gulf Coast, and one historian dubbed him “The Paul Bunyan of Stone County.”

As the nineteenth century wore on, Fairley, because of his abilities as a “creek runner,” prospered, purchasing property across South Mississippi. He also built an inn near his home on the road between Hattiesburg and Gulfport, where travelers could lodge and rest their horses. In 1900, probably because of old age, Fairley stopped floating logs down Black Creek for Dantzler Lumber Company. He died

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Today, nearly forty years later, some questions remain, but the most important has been answered.

Thanks to the inquiries of local historians, we now know that the footprints were made by the Mississippi freedman John Wesley Fairley, whose extraordinary life story has, until now, gone largely untold.

Hattiesburg-area historian Lisa Foster aims to change that, starting with her current efforts to have a historical marker bearing Fairley’s name placed downtown near the intersection of Front and Main streets. While that will ensure that every passerby knows whose footprints adorn the sidewalk, for Foster, the need for a marker runs much deeper.

“Fairley’s history,” she said, “is the history of Hattiesburg.”

in 1918, at the age of seventy-eight.

He had married twice—one of his wives was a maid who worked for Dantzler—and had seven children, one of whom he named Dantzler. He is buried in a family cemetery in Stone County.

In the late 1930s, the Federal Writers’ Project began collecting narratives from former slaves who were still living. Fairley had been dead for roughly twenty years by then, but a white man named B.H. Breland wrote a brief history of his life to be included in the project because, as he said, “he is entitled to at least this small tribute to his memory.” “(He) enjoyed the respect and goodwill of the white people and the respect and fear of the colored,” the narrative states.

It was a Mississippi historian named Charles Sullivan who stumbled across the fact that Fairley’s footprints are on the Hattiesburg sidewalk. In 1984, Sullivan was conducting an oral history interview with Nollie Hickman, a seventy-two-year-old South Mississippi native who taught at the University of Louisiana-Monroe during the middle of the twentieth century.

Hickman, who died in 1987, was the dean of Mississippi timber industry historians and both his father and grandfather, like Wes Fairley, were creek runners for the Dantzler Lumber Company. In fact, Hickman was named after Lorenzo Nollie Dantzler.

Knowing this connection, Sullivan asked him about Fairley.

After sharing some of Fairley’s story,

Hickman said: “You can see his footsteps up on the streets of Hattiesburg ... they are in concrete.”

Sullivan asked why they were there.

“I’m not sure why they did it,” Hickman said. “I have been told all my life that they took the pattern for those steps from his feet.”

The fact that the footprints in the sidewalk are huge—roughly fourteen inches long—aligns with another legend: Because of the size of his feet, Fairley could never find shoes that fit him right. There are stories of him walking barefoot into the federal land office in Jackson and buying tracts of land.

After being tipped off by Hickman, Sullivan sought out Lucille Fairley, one of Wes Fairley’s granddaughters.

Lucille Fairley said she, too, had been told that her grandfather’s footprints were on a sidewalk in downtown Hattiesburg. Someone in Stone County, she said, told her that her grandfather was walking into a bank at the corner of Front and Main streets when a sidewalk had just been poured, and he walked right across the wet concrete. “[T]hat’s all I know about this,” Lucille, who died in 1994, said.

There is one problem with her story: There has never been a bank at the corner of Front and Main streets.

from

Following the Footprints Sullivan, a professor at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, is the one who told Lisa Foster whose footprints were on the Hattiesburg sidewalk. He did so about a decade ago, and since then, Foster has been working on unraveling the rest of the story. She has made progress, too.

The Carter Building stands at the corner of Front and Main streets. It was big news around Hattiesburg when the six-story structure first opened in 1907, when the city was flourishing from the success of the local timber industry.

Foster discovered a story in the October 24, 1907 edition of the Hattiesburg Daily News with the headline, “Giant Footprints Cause Discussion.”

The story began: “There is a great deal of discussion upon the streets as to the size shoe the brazen giant who entered the Carter building would require…”

Clearly written in jest, the piece goes on to suggest that the “giant” may “have been a cousin to the far-famed

Pearl Buttons

Cyclopse.” A follow-up story the next day stated that the “giant” was able to find shoes that fit him at Turner & Co., a local business, as well as a suit that fit him at Davidson & Co., another local store “It will be noted that the giant is a reader of the Daily News,” the story ended, “and through advertisements contained therein found where he could secure all that he wanted.”

From these “stories,” which obviously read like advertisements for local businesses, Foster surmises that the footprints were created as a sort of marketing ploy. Supporting this theory is the fact that Foster also found an advertisement in the Hattiesburg Daily News for a business, not far from the Carter Building, that made brass castings. That discovery suggests that Fairley never actually walked across wet concrete but, instead, agreed to have brass castings of his feet made and placed along the sidewalk in front of the new Carter Building.

Bethlehem 9814 Royal St. St. Francisville, LA 225-635-4107 OPEN 7 DAYS

WWW.GRANDMOTHERSBUTTONS.COM

Remembering Fairley in Hattiesburg Thanks, in part, to Sullivan’s advocacy, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History placed a historical marker in Stone County honoring John Wesley Fairley in 2018.

One reason Lisa Foster believes a similar marker is warranted in downtown Hattiesburg is because, by relaying Fairley’s story, it will offer a more complete version of South Mississippi history. Only a few blocks from the footprints, Foster noted, a Confederate monument stands on the grounds of the Forrest County Courthouse. A marker honoring Fairley would add the story of the

freedman Fairley to Hattiesburg's historical narrative.

It is worth noting that the Confederate monument was unveiled in the fall of 1910. On the day of its dedication, Foster said, a procession of former Confederate soldiers and dignitaries walked through downtown to the courthouse. The path they took would have taken them along the sidewalk at the corner of Front and Main streets where, like people before them and so many people since, they unknowingly passed over the footprints of a South Mississippi freedman. h

The Hattiesburg Historic Conservation Commission will have to sign off on any historical marker being erected in downtown Hattiesburg. Foster submitted an application for the marker to the commission in October.

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E S S AY

Holiday Reminiscences RECALLING LONG LOST CONVERSATIONS WITH LONG LOST FRIENDS

By Ed Cullen

A

note to new writers: It’s not a good practice to make things up when writing essays.

At first, making stuff up seems the easy way to flood the rice paddies of the mind with impressive images and really neat things that didn’t happen to you. But as time goes on, inflation seeps in, and you’ll find yourself using most of your creativity trying to top your last lie.

Eventually, there’ll be a we-need-totalk phone call from your teacher or editor: “Uh, yes, in one of your previous essays, you wrote that your father’s death was an awakening for you. Your latest says each fishing trip with your father is a ‘new awakening’ for you.”

So, dad dead or just smells of fish?

My father is long dead, but he figured in a long ago essay about how we antic-

ipate Christmas. The essay asked, “Does anticipation diminish with age or only the belief that anticipation will amount to anything?”

Mind, we’re talking about writing non-fiction. If you must tell mostly untrue stories about your father, write short stories or novels. Write for television. Put dad in a movie. If you’re good, you’ll be better known and richer than the average essay scribbler.

Writing essays for newspapers, magazines, and NPR, I’ve never made up anything—though I might remember things differently from the way other people remember them. That’s what’s so wonderful about late night porch conversations. It’s also what’s sad about losing the only people with whom we share certain stories.

When my friend Harry disappeared and was presumed dead years ago, I lost a whole book of stories from our high school and college years. We laughed until tears came at how stupid we’d been and how lucky we were to have survived profound dumbness. We could talk about first loves. Brilliant successes and spectacular failures were grist for our late night telephone calls.

In college, Harry spit-shined his shoes for R.O.T.C. He polished brass belt buckles and buttons in our dorm room as I looked on.

“You do know R.O.T.C. is a feeder school for the Army?” I’d say. “You will

Calendar of

EVENTS December 4 | Market on the Avenue December 5 | Gonzales Gun & Knife Show December 11 | Helen Brett Holiday Market December 12 | Gonzales Christmas Parade

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almost certainly go to Vietnam where you may be killed or have body parts blown off.”

Care to guess who went to Vietnam while the other never served a day in the military after college? Irony figured in a lot of our chats.

If the phone rang tonight and it was Harry saying he’d been hit over the head at the time of his disappearance and just woken up in Anchorage, Alaska, working as an Arctic guide, I’d be so happy.

We’d talk about all the things we always talked about, guiding each other back to what actually happened in “the real” version of our stories.

The conversation would turn to home and Christmas before we hung up the phones. Harry had many homes, moving around as an oil company geologist. He spent Christmases in some mighty bleak places. The worst was on an oil rig off the coast of South America. He was the only English speaker.

“I came close to losing my mind. Really,” he said.

My two Vietnam tours in the Gulf of Tonkin included two blah Christmases.

The second one, I came on watch in the main radio room of an aircraft carrier, to see a Christmas tree hung with unmentionable “ornaments.” I put away any Christmas thoughts until I took leave in July to find the family tree still up in the living room.

If I talked to Harry tonight, I’d say shopping by computer isn’t what both-

ers me about Christmas. I’d say Christmas lost much of its anticipation and fun when my children stopped believing in You-Know-Who. If I go to church on Christmas Eve, it’s hard to watch the altar and listen to the priest for watching the children who are as distracted as I. Their earthly faith will be proven in a few hours.

What I miss about old Christmas is the women store clerks in their red vests and festive hair. I miss bumping into people I’ve known a long time. I miss another friend, Milford, with whom I’d Christmas shop for an hour or two before settling onto a bar stool to talk about the other Christmases we’d shopped for an hour or two before finding stools in a favorite bar.

We didn’t drink to the point of drunkenness though the police were never consulted to verify our state of holiday cheer. We played at Christmas shopping because that was our tradition, for a few years.

Writers, I leave you with this: Don’t drink or ingest anything illegal before driving. Shop online as I know you will, but make it a point to go to a store with a door to buy a gift for someone. Breathe deeply the smell of the place, taking special note of the sales staff’s cologne or perfume.

Wish them a Merry Christmas before they wish you one. Or “Happy Holidays”. That works, too. h

L I T E R AT U R E

For the Readers' Wishlist FIVE BOOKS TO CLOSE OUT 2021

By Chris Turner-Neal

Black Under Ashanti Anderson, Black Lawrence Press For much of my life, I didn’t feel like I really “got” poetry. I wanted people to put their ideas in orderly sentences— show off, sure, but within the rules.

This past spring, I took a short online poetry class during a spasm of particularly twitchy isolation boredom.

While the poems I produced were, at best, middling (the most nearly good were about loquats and St. Mary of Egypt), the exercise was good for me.

I started seeing how poetry worked, like someone had taken out the gears and put them back in front of me. I’m thankful I had this experience before I found Ashanti Anderson’s award-winning chapbook Black Under. It’s a short collection, but it punches way above its weight. By turns punny (“my too-weak notice”) and sledgehammer-effective (“i would tie my own throat in a bow if only our oppressors would lick these flames”), Anderson’s poetry deals with Blackness and the suffering it can be subject to, but her lines will hit you wherever you live, like this title: “Sister, Pick Which Battle to Win When You Choose to Lose the War.” Anyone creative will be envy-stricken and inspired by this little book. blacklawrencepress.com.

Friendship and Devotion, or Three Months in Louisiana

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Camille LeBrun, translated by E. Joe Johnson and Robin Anita White, University Press of Mississippi Camille LeBrun was one of the several pen names of Pauline Guyot, a music and language teacher and prolific writer in nineteenth-century Paris. Though she published widely in her lifetime, LeBrun is poorly remembered today, haven largely fallen out of print and rarely seeing translations. Much of her work was for children, or what we now call “young adults,” and generally had an explicitly moral lesson (the current volume includes permission to publish from the Bishop of Quimper). If I had been a French teenager in 1849, I would have loved Friendship and Devotion.

The story follows two teenage orphan girls, both beautiful, kind, and rich, one lazy, as they return to Louisiana to claim

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their inheritances after having been educated in Paris. Because LeBrun knows how to get a story going, they arrive during a yellow fever outbreak, and the adventures continue apace. The talk is a little preachy—there’s significant mention of the sins of pride and sloth, and one minor character actually dies of moral cowardice—but it’s also an adventure, replete with descriptions of the exotic foods, plants, animals, and customs LeBrun heavily researched. For a book from its era, it’s more racially sensible than most, if by no means ideal: LeBrun correctly identifies racism as a sin, and several Black characters win their interactions with whites, whether the contest is manners or arson. The heavy footnotes reveal the translators’ pleasure in their work; they are delighted, for example, that LeBrun used the then-common Louisiana French term kongo for a water moccasin. Often, I place the books I review into little free libraries so they can go out into the world and do good, but I’m keeping this one.

The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You: Stories Maurice Carlos Ruffin, One World The last party I went to before you-know-what was at Maurice Ruffin’s house. (He didn’t invite me, I tagged along, but he was a very gracious host.) Had I known then what I know now, I would have found a chance to rifle through his office and try to sneak out with a manuscript. Ruffin’s show-off strength in this collection is his command of voice, shifting from the heavily-accented internal monologue of a poor teenage sex worker to the prim, orderly self-justification of a highly educated thief. The result is an almost kaleidoscopic array of compelling character studies and slices of life: you may never have been a transgender teenager intent on being photographed on a horse, but if you read this book, you’ll be much closer to understanding how you’d act if you were. This is also the first fiction I’ve read to address the pandemic matter-of-factly, as a background to the lives of the characters: yes, we have on face shields, now help me get on this damn horse. The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You hangs together well as a collection, too; longer pieces are interspersed with page-or-two textual amuse-bouches that at their best hit as hard as their longer neighbors. Fiction readers especially compelled by strong voice will eat this one right up.

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Dark and Shallow Lies Ginny Myers Sain, Razorbill Even if I hadn’t enjoyed this book— which I did—the author would deserve credit for one of the best elevator pitches in recent memory: La Cachette, population 106 if they find her alive, is a fictional rural Louisiana town with the highest per capita population of mind readers in the world. “Her” is the missing Elora, best friend of narrator Grey, who returns from Arkansas to this village of psychic shops on stilts to join the search. One of the town’s few daughters without clairvoyance, she will have to investigate the old-fashioned way. Grey provides a wry and thoughtful point-of-view, with her internal monologue providing a light salt of humor that makes the fantasy more relatable.

(Maybe once, at the dawn of time, there was a teenager who was never a smartass, but we live in a world without such wonders.) As an added treat, Sain includes an alligator named Willie Nelson, and a dachshund named Sweet-n’-Low. Give this book to someone who needs an escape.

Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood Fatima Shaik, The Historic New Orleans Collection

With a fiction writer’s verve for detail and a historian’s gusto for the whole story, Fatima Shaik presents a meaty and very readable history of a mutual aid association that thrived among New Orleans’ Black Creole population from before the Civil War until Shaik’s own childhood. While the presence and influence of free people of color in New Orleans has long been acknowledged, Shaik points out that segregated access to archives meant that generations of would-be Black historians couldn’t access the materials that would allow their descendants to research their stories. One of these stories, that of Economy Hall, survives in records long held by Shaik’s father, himself a scholar who pursued a doctorate during summers in Canada to avoid racism at home. Shaik’s childhood infatuation with the records, written in French on fancy paper she would secretly stroke, blossomed into an adult writer’s urge to present what they held to a wider audience. As a novelist, Shaik understands how to move action forward, while keeping her writing grounded in fact; she has the knack for building characters out of archival documents that marks the successful writer of popular history. History buffs will adore it. h

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Escapes

DECEMBER 2021

48

AFTER

225 YEARS, MAISON

STEPHANIE

ENTERS

A

NEW ERA

I F T H E S E WA L L S C O U L D TA L K

Stéphanie Says

IN ARNAUDVILLE, A RESTORED HOME ECHOES WITH CENTURIES’ WORTH OF STORIES

Story and photos by Lucie Monk Carter

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W

THE ELEVENTH AGE

W

ho gave this French Creole estate her name? Ken Douet, co-owner and conscientious renovator of the ca. 1796 Maison Stéphanie, along Bushville Highway between Cecilia and Arnaudville, tells me that Stéphanie was nobody to original homeowner Martin Milony Duralde: not a wife (that’s Marie, mother of six) or a mistress (Sally, an enslaved woman, and mother to the six other Duraldes). Stéphanie is an idea, and an old one. In ancient Greek, stephanos— Στέφανος—is literally a wreath and symbolically a reward.

Duralde’s reward was 1,450 acres, deeded by the Spanish government, who appointed him commandant of the Opelousas Post. Ten owners later, over 225 years, the property has shrunk as heirs took their parcels, and time has gnawed and nudged at

odon,” according to Douet—and he compiled vocabularies of the Chitimacha and the Attakapas, peoples with a more current claim to the earth than the mastodon had.

In his last will and testament, executed by his son Martin Duralde Jr. and sons-in-law William C.C. Claiborne (Louisiana’s first non-colonial governor) and John Clay (brother of Secretary of State Henry Clay), Duralde wrote a rigid account of his household goods, including the eighty people he enslaved and his descriptions of their skills, along with prices he was determined to fetch, even after his death in 1822.

Two hundred years later, Duralde’s will is a helpful document, but not the last word as Douet and Howes have transformed the house into a bed-and-breakfast and venue. The pair worked with Waycaster & Associates Architect, a Natchez, Missis-

“I ROLLED MARBLES ON THESE STAIRS. I’M THAT LITTLE GIRL AGAIN, RUNNING UP TO PLAY IN THE UNUSED BEDROOMS.” the cypress beams and brick walls.

“We gutted the house and saw the bones,” said Douet, who purchased the home with his spouse Richard Howes in 2019. “Some of those bones were not very good.”

From old newspapers, oil paintings, and translated correspondence, Douet has been able to build a picture of Stephanie’s beginning. Louisiana ground was staked with new flags at the dawn of the nineteenth century, and Duralde catalogued his home along the Bayou Teche, a relatively exotic place, in letters that would be read by Thomas Jefferson.

Duralde wrote of fossils from a creature he imagined to be an elephant—“but was probably a mast-

sippi firm specializing in historic renovations, and have a master plan for the property’s future from Lafayette firm Land Architecture. Douet himself served as contractor after receiving daunting quotes from other companies. “I had never done it before,” he said, “but if I could save $180,000 by learning how…”

The house’s five bedrooms now each have a bathroom and a name connected with the house’s history: three Duralde women—Marie, Clarisse, and Julie—are honored on the second floor, while the two topfloor bedrooms are The Lastrapes, for the second family to own the home, and The Dubuisson. The latter’s namesake is Edward Dubuisson,

The Lastrapes Room is named for the second family to own Maison Stephanie, and features a fireplace painted black, a remnant of post-Civil War decor used to save money.

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an Opelousas lawyer, active member of the local theatre community, and a common relative of the Duraldes.

Most importantly, he was a friend to Douet and Howes. He passed away in 2019. The bedroom furniture from his estate fills the room, along with a framed playbill and one of the columns he penned for the Opelousas newspaper. The paint color, “nearly a Prussian blue,” was chosen by Douet and Howes, who’d studied colors when building their own home in Lafayette. For this renovation, “I read four Ph.D. papers on colors from the 1760s,” said Douet. (He admitted his research can run off in different directions. “I”ll see a mention of how blood oranges were brought from the Philippines, then I go reading more on that before stopping myself. I have to say, ‘No, it’s not blood oranges I’m researching!’”)

In Duralde’s time, Prussian blue evoked royalty. In The Lastrapes room, a deep red on the walls is similarly imperial. But it’s another oncered touch on the bedroom floor that will cling to the memory: bootprints from Confederate soldiers soaked into the unfinished cypress when the room was used as a hospital during the Civil War. Douet and Howes have left other warts, if that’s how you choose to view them. One fireplace is painted black, a cheap choice many South-

ern families made after the Civil War. Axe marks are seen in cypress beams along one stairwell wall, along with an original paint color, “a shade above Pepto Bismol” that the couple modified into a dusky rose on the ground level.

The first flight of stairs was rebuilt to code, but the upper set remains steep and narrow. A grandchild of the Halphen family, the house’s eighth owners, toured the house last fall with Douet. She burst into tears walking up the old cypress stairwell.

“I rolled marbles on these stairs. I’m that little girl again, running up to play in the unused bedrooms.”

The bedrooms are filling up now, with more options in the backyard, including the cottage (“Sally”) and the carriage house (two rooms, “Martin” and “Valmont”). Relocated from nearby Arnaudville, two Acadian cottages wait in pieces to be rebuilt.

“Douet points to the woods back by the pond where he hopes they’ll build a new structure soon.” Shrouded by trees, “it will be totally different from everything,” said Douet.

“Mostly glass, so that when you’re looking out into the woods, your exterior is your interior. That will be our home.”

In the months ahead, Maison Stéphanie has a calendar full of weddings, festivals, Christmas parties, and poetry nights for high school

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French students. Kayaks will come up the bayou and walking trails are planned through the woods, from Maison Stéphanie through to Atelier de la Nature, the preserve run by artist Brandon Ballengée and his wife Aurore.

Douet shows off the newly built backyard kitchen—named “Evelyn” for the home’s most recent owner, and an avid cook, the late Evelyn Kidder. 2017’s Queen of Louisiana Seafood Bonnie Breaux is among the guest chefs who will cook up breakfasts, teach cooking classes, and cater events, like the Festival des Arts, which is a few weeks away when I visit but already a clear vision in Douet’s head: thirty artists and craftspeople in the front yard, beneath the live oaks.

But Douet’s fondest memory so far comes from a night before any work had been done. “We had a Christmas party in 2019, right after we bought the house. We had 250 people here, including the Attakapas chief and his daughter from Lake Charles,” he said. “All of us were there together, Indigenous people, Black people, Cajuns—in this land that was called Attakapas, with the bricks that were put in by enslaved people. We were there for a rebirth.”

maison-stephanie.com

On page 50: In the Lastrapes Room at Maison Stephanie, you can still see bloody bootprints soaked into the cypress floors. Page 51, Left: Ken Douet, pictured in front of Maison Stephanie. Right: Maison Stephanie’s original owner Martin Milony Duralde left an account of everything he owned, which current owners have used to better understand the house’s history.

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P E R S P E C T I V E S : I M A G E S O F O U R S TAT E

Emma Fick

GUIDED BY CURIOSITY, THE COVINGTON ARTIST’S WORK IS A WITNESS TO, AND EVOCATION OF, LIFE’S PATTERNS

A

rtist Emma Fick attributes her affinity for patterns to her literary eye.

Wherever she looks, she sees them: the repetition of motifs, how symbols communicate with one another, weaving across cultures to create new meaning.

Traveling across Thailand in 2018, she noticed the niches: a pattern of containment practiced in the homes and temples she entered—a tendency to place treasured objects, or “amulets,” in some sort of enclosure. “I am drawn to this notion that each object you hold dear has its own small home, its little landing place, its niche,” she writes on her website, explaining the concept for her “Amulet Chest” watercolors (patterns in and of themselves)—which depict Louisiana-specific objects of nature, including sixteen Mamou seeds or Magnolia pods, each in its own tiny niche encased in a larger “amulet box”.

“Anytime you see a niche, or something enclosed or elevated, it is because someone has deemed it holy,” Fick explained. It’s a historical tidbit she learned as part of her research process, which is guided by curiosity at its heart. “I just observe, and things that pique my interest, I delve into,” she said. “And like on a beginner’s level. I check out books from the library if I can, or will just Wikipedia, see where that takes me. I really like guiding my continued learning, and I don’t take it too seriously, just letting my interests guide me.”

The Covington native’s interests range from ancient Byzantine religious art to Louisiana floral hybrids, from Russian folklore to the female form. With degrees in English Literature and Art History from the University of Alabama, Fick describes her work as, at its core, a symbiosis of the literary and the visual.

In her first book Snippets of Serbia— conceived while she was teaching English there on a Fulbright scholarship in 2015—her series of illustrated observations interact with written commentary on the idiosyncrasies of Serbian life. A departure from her plans to pursue a master’s degree in literature, the success of these watercolor illustrations set her on 54

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot the first steps towards her “accidental” career as a full-time artist.

She replicated the concept—illustrating the minute details of worlds both familiar and strange—once she returned to the United States, publishing Snippets of New Orleans in 2017. Shortly thereafter, her work shifted into the realm of fine

and selfhood. Some of these motifs— such as the niches, or magnolia pods— reappear in new bodies of work, patterns of intrigue resurfacing to connect the old to the new, building on Fick’s investigations of the world around her.

Her “Entwined” collection, for example, is a series of works in which various

Emma Fick, “Entwined 7”. This piece draws together several of Fick’s motifs: vessels, niches, red thread, and an amulet box.

art. The words are still there, she said, if not literally on the page. “It’s almost like you can decode the image and read it like a text,” she said. “If you know what each symbol means, you can read the story.”

“Composites of cultural vocabularies,” Fick’s fine art paintings are separated into cohesive series with each their own original concept. Visual motifs garnered from research, travel, iconography, and personal symbols come together in individual mythologies and explorations of culture

D E C 2 1 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M

vase-like vessels are displayed on pedestals (representing holiness) against wallpaper-esque patterns, each connected to its neighbors via tangles of red thread.

The thread is a personal symbol, she explained—perhaps the one she employs most often.

“It symbolizes resourcefulness. Thread can mend. With it you can make something out of nothing. Or you might think something is ruined, but it can still be salvaged.” The color represents resilience;

red is a color that stains. “So, I like these two things combined—this personal symbol of resourcefulness and perseverance.”

The vessels stand in for the self, she said. “Humans are vessels for our emotions, our experiences, and there is this tension from what you can see on the outside—this beautiful painted exterior, and what it hides on the inside.”

Fick said she created the “Entwined” paintings during the pandemic of 2020, when she was contemplating these themes of resourcefulness and human connection. The red thread weaving its tangled way from vessel to vessel—“It came from this idea of … with resourcefulness and resiliency, we can seek to connect to other humans. And sometimes it’s successful. Sometimes it is all tangled up.”

This year, Fick’s work has come full circle as she puts the finishing touches on her newest book, Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, to be published by HarperCollins Design in 2022. In the style of her first two illustrated books, the travelogue chronicles her 2015 twenty-six-day, eight-city voyage along the Trans-Siberian Railway across Asia to Moscow, capturing moments like ice fishing in Russia and eating shoe sole cake in Mongolia through Fick’s signature illustration style and written narratives.

When she is not reminiscing on these pre-pandemic adventures that informed so much of her work, Fick said she spends her time immersed in the world of Louisiana flora and fauna—her most recent enchantment. As an artist-in-residence at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, she focuses in on the significance of the Louisiana iris, or the okra seeds carried here by enslaved Africans, and she paints them, again and again—creating an entire collection of patterns all her own. h

See more of Fick’s work at emmafick.com, and pre-order her book, Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway on Amazon.

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Seasons Readings

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