Country Roads Magazine "Outdoor & Gardening" March 2022

LOUISIANA , LET’S GIVE COVID THE BOOT!

Louisianans come from all different walks of life.

Whether you work in an office or on a farm. Put out traps or put out fires. Dribble a ball or walk the mall.

It’s time we all stepped up and gave COVID the boot.

If you’re vaccinated, get the booster for maximum protection. If you’re not, get vaccinated so you don’t get sick or pass the virus on to someone who is vulnerable like a tiny baby or an older adult.

Whatever shoes you wear, step up Louisiana and give COVID the boot.

To book your free vaccine or booster, visit vaccines.gov. or call 855-453-0774 to speak with a trusted medical professional.

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

Friday, April 8, 2022

12:00 FESTIVAL OPENS 12:00 Rides, Food & Game Booths Open 5:00-7:00 Clay Cormier - South Stage 5:15 Royalty Introductions - North Stage 5:30-7:30 Chase Tyler - North Stage 7:45-9:45 Souled Out - South Stage 8:15-10:15 Category 6 - North Stage 10:30 FESTIVAL CLOSES

Saturday, April 9, 2022

9:00 FESTIVAL OPENS 9:00 Rides, Food, & Games Booths Open 9:30 Parade Starts Downtown 11:00 Royalty Introductions - Both Stages 11 11:30-11:45 Egg Toss - North Stage 11:45-1:45 Fergs Hwy. - North Stage 12:30-2:30 Lindsey Cardinale - South Stage 1:45 Parade Winner Announced - North Stage 1:45-2:15 Strawberry Eating Contest - North Stage 2:15-4:15 Nashville South - North Stage 3:00-5:00 Waylon Thibodeaux - South Stage 5:45-7:15 Peyton Falgoust Band - South Stage 5:30-8:00 The Dominos - North Stage 8:00-10:00 Parish County Line - South Stage 8:30-10:30 Louisiana Spice - North Stage 11:00 FESTIVAL CLOSES

Sunday, April 10, 2022

6:30 Strawberry Strut Registration 7:30 Strawberry Strut 9:00 Church Service - North Stage 10:00 FESTIVAL OPENS 10:00 Rides, Food & Games Booths Open 10:30 Strawberry Strut Awards - North Stage 10 11:00-11:15 Egg Toss - North Stage 11:00-1:00 Katie Kenney - South Stage 11:30-12:45 Will Vance - North Stage 12:45-1:30 Strawberry Eating Contest - North Stage 1:00-3:00 Ryan Foret - South Stage 1:30-3:30 Amanda Shaw - North Stage 3:30-5:30 Tyler Kinchen - South Stage 4:00-6:00 Phunkey Monkeys - North Stage 6:00 FESTIVAL CLOSES *Schedule times and events are subject to change.

2022 Strawberry Festival Royalty

Blossom - Willie Cumming • Chairman - Jeff Wright Queen - Avery Meyer • King - Carl Wells Grand Marshal - Margaret Joiner

For festival information visit: www.lastrawberryfestival.com or call 1-800-917-7045 // M A R 2 2

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Contents

MARCH 2022

Events

13 6 8

VO LU M E 3 9 // I SS U E 3

Features

48 53 56

SPRING TO LIFE Events worth heading outdoors for

REFLECTIONS Spring Chickens

by James Fox-Smith

NEWS & NOTEWORTHIES

Publisher

RAISING CANE The secrets to growing, maintaining, and cooking Louisiana-grown bamboo

by Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux

THE BROMELIAD CRAZE ENDURES An enclave of enthusiasts and their collections

by Kristy Christiansen

James Fox-Smith

Associate Publisher

Ashley Fox-Smith

Managing Editor

Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Alexandra Kennon

Creative Director

THE WORM LADY Rethinking how we recycle in Acadiana

by Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux

Kourtney Zimmerman

Contributors:

Kristy Christiansen, Paul Christiansen, Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux, Ed Cullen, Beth D’Addono, Paul Kieu, C.C. Lockwood, Harriett Pooler, Ruth Nasrullah

On the Cover

GARDENING & OUTDOORS

Cover image by Paul Kieu As we put the final touches on this issue during the last week of February, hundreds of “bambouistes” were planning their annual pilgrimage to Avery Island for the Louisiana Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Bamboo Society’s Avery Island Moso Bamboo Grove Grooming Event. Held on the last weekend of February, the conference of sorts brings together bamboo-lovers from around the region to clear out dead canes and fallen debris from within one of the oldest, most well-established Moso groves in the country. It’s an event motivated by the purest of human desires: to ensure that our natural treasures are cared for, maintained, and appreciated.

Such enthusiasm for our photosynthetic friends lives at the heart of this year’s Outdoors & Gardening issue, where we meet one woman who has made a business in worm poop and another who uses flowers as her artistic medium. For those who have a particular affinity towards Louisiana’s native flora and fauna, we’ve curated a guide to the region’s best preserved and curated destinations fostering them. And in our Escapes section, we focus in on the Louisiana State Arboretum, where an impassioned group of folks who adored Louisiana’s natural environs carved out a piece of paradise in the diverse landscapes of Evangeline Parish.

In Kristy Christiansen’s story, “The Bromeliad Craze Blooms On” on page 53, we spend some time wandering through wonderfully-weird greenhouses and waxing nostalgic on the flowering plant’s early origins as a muse in Louisiana. One long-time collector of miniature bromeliads put the profound effect of plants on people very simply: “I love them to death. These plants make me so happy. They make me want to get up in the morning.”

Cuisine

60

LE CHAT NOIR Chef Seth Temple raises the bar for a locallysourced menu.

by Beth D’Addono

Culture

62

BATHING BEAUTIES What happens when a Carolina wren discovers your potted plants?

by Harriett Pooler

39 4

64

AN ODE TO CATALOGUES The temptations of remote shopping, pre-internet

by Ed Cullen

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OUTDOOR & GARDENING

AUTHOR Q&A Osha Gray Davidson is visiting Louisiana.

by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

THE HISTORY THAT BOOKS FORGOT Chris Dier explores new media to teach untold American history.

by Alexandra Kennon

Special Advertising Section

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Escapes

68 71

LOUISIANA’S STATE ARBORETUM The evolution of Ville Platte’s best-kept secret

by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

BAYOU STATE TRAIL A case for Louisiana’s first long-distance trail

by Ruth Nasrullah

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PERSPECTIVES Preservation Press indulges in the magic of dried botanicals.

by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Cover Artist

Paul Kieu

Advertising

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Custom Content Coordinator

Lauren Heffker

Advertising Coordinator

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President

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Country Roads Magazine 758 Saint Charles Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802 Phone (225) 343-3714 Fax (815) 550-2272 EDITORIAL@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM WWW.COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

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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.

Country Roads cannot be responsible for delays in subscription deliveries due to U.S. Post Office handling of third-class mail.

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Reflections FROM THE PUBLISHER

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et’s talk about chickens, since we haven’t done that in a while. High on the chicken’s hlist of useful attributes is its potential as a harbinger of spring, if the number of eggs mine have begun laying recently is any indication. After a December/January dry spell during which my fifteen-or-so laying hens hardly managed to muster the makings of a respectable omelette, during the second week of February they started making up for lost time. My coop ranneth over, which seemed odd since the weather that week was as cold and wintry as ever. Then suddenly, just days after the eggsplosion began, signs of spring were everywhere.

The temperature turned mild and warm, a few early jonquils emerged to turn tentative faces towards the sun, and my wife started carrying a shovel and a bucket around in the back of her car (for clambering in and out of roadside ditches digging up other people’s daffodils). After a pretty chilly January for our part of the world, all the signs point to spring definitely having sprung. And the chickens called it before anyone.

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The accuracy of poultry-based weather forecasting makes me wonder why the good people of Pennsylvania continue to place their faith in groundhogs. It also reminds me of a ditty that my English grandfather would recite anytime a few days of unseasonably warm March weather raised his hopes that the interminable Suffolk winter was about to end—then dashed them again as another howling gale blew in from the North Sea. The spring hath come, the throstle cried, But ‘twas the throstle’s blunder.

The snow, it came; it always does, And snowed the bugger under.

Anytime this happened my grandfather would stare gloomily out at the sleet piling up in his back yard and start muttering about throstles. A “throstle” is an old English word for a song thrush, which is itself an old English bird—one noted for its distinctive, musical song, and its sensible habit of migrating south to the Mediterranean or North Africa to escape the long, English winter. So you can see why the sound of a thrush singing in February or March might fill deep-frozen English people with opti-

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mism that spring is about to be upon them. But sadly for deep-frozen English people, song thrushes are apparently no better at vacation timing than Punxatawny Phil is at shadow recognition. The result: enough inaccurate forecasting to result in poetry being written on the subject.

Back to the humble chicken, which in addition to providing us with eggs, improving garden compost, and controlling insect pests, would now seem poised to add long-term weather prediction to its impressive resume. But with the weather turned cold again as I write this, the jury is still out for deliberation. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the last freeze in our part of the world should occur no later than March 8 this year. The Old

Farmer’s Almanac relies on a secret formula for compiling long-term weather forecasts, which it has been doing with something like eighty percent accuracy since its founding in 1792. And while the Almanac is famously cagey about how it arrives at its predictions, I have read that observations about sunspot activity, acorn counts, and the thickness of corn husks all affect the formula. Given the name of the publication and the Old Farmers who presumably constitute its audience, it seems likely that the publishers might have thought to cast a glance in the direction of their readers’ chicken coops when making their forecasts, too.

Have we stumbled on the secret of the Old Farmer’s Almanac weather forecast?

If so, then my chickens’ sudden production increase will have predicted spring’s arrival with a lead time of exactly one month. In the meantime there’ll be omelettes for breakfast, and if the chickens turn out to have jumped the gun, we can always look to the pecan trees as a backup weather prediction plan. If you’ve never heard about that bit of old farmer’s wisdom, I’ll tell you all about it in some other Reflections column.

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

A special advertising feature from Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Elizabeth Floyd, PhD Associate Professor

A glimpse into the day-to-day discovery work of a PBRC botanical researcher.

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n its simplest form, the innovative work of world-renowned researchers at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center recall the basic steps of the scientific method: asking questions and testing hypotheses. For one associate professor, that first question has spurred her life’s work— how can we use different plant species to improve people’s quality of life?

Dr. Elizabeth Floyd leads the botanicals lab at PBRC. As a biochemistry researcher, Dr. Floyd works with scholars around the world to study different types of plant extracts and their potential health benefits.

“We’re doing something that people have done for ages,” Dr. Floyd explains. “Trying to understand how to use plants for human health.”

Since she began her tenure at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in 2004, Dr. Floyd has been steadily working toward the ultimate goal—developing treatments for chronic disease. It is a fascinating process, she says, seeing plants brought from far-flung corners of the globe to her or her colleagues’ lab experiments, and eventually, into their reports and peer-reviewed publications.

“We’re a long way from being finished, but in the end we’re hoping to have dietary supplements that we know are really beneficial, that we’ve studied and identified, and then at some point we can move into drug discovery,” Dr. Floyd says.

Dr. Floyd studies plants by performing experiments in cell culture. This means partitioning a plant and combining its various extracts with different solvents, such as water or ethanol, then examining the effects of those compounds on the organs involved in maintaining the body’s insulin and glucose levels. Research into the effects of plant-based compounds on the body’s systems has resulted in groundbreaking advances in treating major health conditions including obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

In fact, the majority of pharmaceuticals developed prior to the end of the 20th century came from plants. Dr. Floyd points to the medication Metformin as an example. One of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, Metformin is used to treat patients suffering from type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Floyd explains that the drug’s active ingredient, which improves glucose tolerance, is derived from the French Lilac plant.

Dr. Floyd’s days aren’t all spent peering into a microscope “at the bench,” as she calls it, however. Much of her job involves writing grant applications to secure future rounds of funding, mentoring postdoctoral fellows and student workers, and maintaining relationships with chemists, plant biologists, and scientists around the globe.

“I think that’s a big part of moving science forward,” she says.

“Collaborating with people with a lot of different interests, so that everybody brings something different to the table. We all know in research that most of the time, things don’t work out. So it’s really exciting at the bench when something does, and you can see the progress you’ve made.”

To learn more about the current research trials and participation, call 225-763-3000 or visit pbrc.edu/clinicaltrials.

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Noteworthy

MARCH 2022

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

CURIOSITIES

LO O K C LO S E R

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The Legacy of Prospect

THE LATE BILL FAGALY’S PERSONAL COLLECTION TO BE AUCTIONED WITH HOPES OF EXPANDING PROSPECT NEW ORLEANS

W

hen New Orleans art curator and Prospect New Orleans co-founder Bill Fagaly died last summer at the age of eightythree, he left behind a massive and varied collection of “Outsider” art—works by predominantly self-taught artists, whom Fagaly championed throughout his life.

His intent for the collection, which he left in the hands of his dear friend, estate executor, and Board Chairman of Prospect New Orleans Chris Alfieri, was that the works be sold to benefit Prospect, the city-wide art triennial Fagaly co-founded.

Alfieri—who acknowledges what a massive gift and responsibility has fallen to his care—has along with the Prospect board established the William A. Fagaly Memorial Fund for Social Impact, with the hopes of utilizing the funds raised from the auction of Fagaly’s personal art collection to expand Prospect into a year-round presence in New Orleans.

While specific plans for investment are still somewhat nebulous as the Neal Auction approaches, Alfieri said the plan is to invest the funds in ways that are socially and environmentally responsible, as he and the board feel that is what Fagaly would have wanted.

“And the reason we call it the Fagaly Fund for Social Impact was that Bill was so deeply involved in, and he was an activist for the things that he really cared about and loved. He chained himself to the train tracks when they were trying to put the overpass through Jackson Square.

You know, that was Bill. That was Bill,” Alfieri emphasized. “He just felt very deeply about things. I came across a file in his personal effects, which said ‘racial injustices’. He kept a file of things that just broke his heart. And so we’re going to use this amazing gift that he gave us to enhance the work that we’re already doing in those areas. And we’re going to put it all back into New Orleans.”

Nearly fifty works from Fagaly’s estate were already auctioned in February as part of Christie’s “Outsider Art Sale” of works by self-taught artists. “That was wildly successful, in that it really brought in record prices for artists like David Butler,” Alfieri said. “We netted about $500,000 out of that sale. And that was only forty seven lots.” The Neal Auction on March 9–10 will include around 8

eight hundred lots of artwork, furniture, and more—and Alfieri is hopeful that the Outsider Art Sale’s success will be an indicator of how much money it could bring in for The William A. Fagaly Memorial Fund for Social Impact. “It’s going through the Neal catalog that you really get a sense of the breadth of his collecting. He was just endlessly curious about things,” Alfieri said. “And he was deeply influenced by his travels in India and Africa. He would just really take an opportunity to deeply know more about the culture and the artists and would just incorporate those things into his collecting.”

Fagaly championed local culture bearers, as well as artists: according to Alfieri, it was Fagaly who invited the Mardi Gras (or Black Masking) suiting Montana family to the New Orleans Museum of Art, Fagaly who proposed a retrospective of the work of Sister Gertrude Morgan, and Fagaly who was heavily influential in bringing the work of David Butler into the public eye. He was known to avoid creating hierarchies among the works in his collection—he wouldn’t separate the higher-value pieces from those whose artists were less-highly regarded, thereby drawing connections between the two and encouraging conversations. “He was really as deeply interested in these artists and their lives and the cultures from which they came as he was about the work itself,” Alfieri said of his friend’s approach to art and artists.

As for the funds Fagaly’s artwork will garner at auction, Alfieri stressed that he and the board are taking their time to ensure they are utilizing them in the wisest possible ways that align with Fagaly’s intent. “We’re thinking through what is the most efficient delivery system for getting to our community the most that we can, that stands in line with what Bill would have wanted us to do. And so that’s just going to take us a little while,” Alfieri said. “But that’s, that’s where we’re going with it. And we just want to be super careful. You don’t get a gift like this every day. So this is transformational for the [Prospect] organization and for our community. And we want to be really careful to do it right.”

—Alexandra Kennon nealauction.com/auctions/fagaly

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Works by Bill Taylor, David Butler, and Sister Gertrude Morgan, from Billy Fagaly’s collection, auctioned at Christie’s Outsider Art Sale in February.

Courtesy of the Cultural Counsel.

Planting Roots, Growing Branches THE WEST BATON ROUGE MUSEUM UNVEILS A

RETROSPECTIVE OF RONALD TRAHAN’S WORKS

W

hen someone accomplishes something— particularly a lifetime of creating singular artwork that has come to be appreciated internationally—it is truly a beautiful thing to see their community rally around them to celebrate their work and achievements. This was just the kind of celebration on display the evening of February 18 at the West Baton Rouge Museum, at the unveiling of the new semi-permanent exhibit The Trahan Gallery: Rooting Metal, which celebrates the life, legacy, and artwork of Port Allen sculptor Ronald Trahan.

“Ronald [Trahan] is known around the world. But here in Port Allen, he’s our neighbor,” said the West Baton Rouge Museum’s Director of Programs Jeannie Luckett to the crowd, beaming.

Trahan—who began sculpting in wood, but has become famous for his three-dimensional metal works—comes from a long Port Allen lineage. He is a descendant of Valery Trahan, who while enslaved served as the valet of Louisiana Confederate Governor Henry Watkins Allen. The exhibition tells the story of the Trahan family’s history in West Baton Rouge, as well as Trahan’s artistic lineage—which includes the likes of August Rodin, Ivan Mestrovic, Antoine Bourdelle, and Frank Hayden.

As for why the exhibit is titled “Rooting Metal,” curator Bennett Rhodes explained that it has to do with the unique approach Trahan has to his art. “I started

seeing the parallels [between art and nature], because Ronald is a really organic artist … when you have a seed, and plant it in the ground, the roots go down, and the branches go in all kinds of directions. And that’s how Ronald makes art: it’s rooted in his past, and his ancestry, and this region, and all the things he’s observed and learned,” Rhodes told the crowd at the opening. “It goes out and goes whichever way his imagination wants to take us. And so that’s what Rooting Metal is about.”

As attendees from Port Allen and beyond representing a diverse swath of generations and walks of life nibbled from paper cones of cornmeal-crusted catfish, sipped drinks, and bobbed their heads to the music of Last Ripp Brass Band, a steady stream of admirers approached Trahan to offer congratulations and take photos with the sculptor.

“It feels wonderful. I mean, it’s something I been working toward all my life, and to see it come together like this—I never thought it would,” Trahan said emotionally over the din of the crowd.

“I enjoy my work. And I guess that’s part of why I kept doing it so long, because I enjoy what I do. And some of my pieces I create, and some of them come while I’m creating them, the thoughts come to me, and then they’re in front of my eyes.

That’s the joy of it.”

—Alexandra Kennon westbatonrougemuseum.org

A Ninety-Year Pilgrimage

SINCE ITS 1932 BEGINNINGS AS A GARDEN TOUR IN A ROMANTICIZED SOUTH, THE NATCHEZ PILGRIMAGE CONTINUES TO EVOLVE

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n 1931, many of the over-one thousand grand mansions and estates that have long defined Natchez, Mississippi were in a markedly less grand state than they are today. The economic challenges the Southern city and even its wealthiest landowners faced in the wake of the Civil War, and now in the heart of the Great Depression, left little funding for maintaining these architectural masterpieces.

That year, the Natchez Garden Club invited fellow garden clubs from all around the South for a series of garden tours, teas, and luncheons on the grounds of many of these properties.

When the guests started asking to see the inside of the historic homes, Marsha Colson’s great grandmother—who was living at Lansdowne Plantation—is quoted as saying: “Not on my life, they will not see the inside of my house.”

“She would have been embarrassed at the state it was in,” said Colson, who currently serves as the president of the Pilgrimage Garden Club. But when the weather turned sour the following day, the well-documented hospitality of Natchez overpowered such self-consciousness, and the garden club guests were invited into the historic homes of Natchez.

“It was an absolute success,” she said.

“The ladies loved it.” In the oral histories collected from this event, one Natchez Garden Club member recalled a Virginia woman who articulated what made Natchez so compelling at the time: “We have beautiful homes like this all over Virginia, but you have to drive miles and miles to get from one to the other.”

The next year, the Garden Club hosted the very first Natchez Pilgrimage tour of homes. And the rest, as they say, is history. In the years to come, Natchez would build a thriving tourism industry upon its reputation as the city with the most millionaires per capita.

The Natchez Pilgrimage, celebrating its ninetieth anniversary this year, rejuvenated the city as a tourism town recognized globally for its hospitality and charm. Bolstered economically, the city’s antebellum homes were tended to as needed, renovated with historical preservation in mind and furnished with fine period-appropriate antiques. Generations of Natchezians grew up frolicking in the botanical gardens ornamenting these mansions, playing hide and seek under the grand Greek columns, and taking part in the various rituals and rites of passage that have come to be associated with Pilgrimage.

The world that Pilgrimage has fostered

is a romantic one—a Southern utopia of impossible wealth and gentility set against the backdrop of Natchez’s beautiful natural environment and one of the world’s greatest rivers. Over the last several decades, though, organizers have come to recognize the violent erasure that utopia has perpetuated, and have made pointed efforts to re-evaluate the story that Pilgrimage—and Natchez as a whole—tells.

“Pilgrimage, for many many years, told the story of the wealthy white plantation owners, and it ended when the Civil War began, with a Confederate farewell ball,” said Colson. “Many of us have been uncomfortable with that for quite a while, but with all that’s happened in this country in recent years, so many things that were part of our everyday lives—especially in the South—we had to start questioning.”

In 2021, the decision was made to do away with Pilgrimage’s hallmark event, the Natchez Tableaux—which has faced especial criticism over the last several years because of its glorification of the Confederacy, and failure to adequately incorporate the city’s multi-faceted African American history into its programming. Instead, organizers have shifted their focus to telling the whole story of Natchez, even the ugly parts.

“It’s a hard story to tell for many peo-

ple living here, especially for those of us who live in the houses, where our ancestors lived and had enslaved people taking care of the house,” said Colson. “But we’re working very hard in Natchez to own up to these aspects of our past.”

This year’s Pilgrimage will not only emphasize the historical significance of enslaved people in Natchez’s history, and the atrocities they faced—but the experience will also offer a more comprehensive history on Natchez as a whole. Visitors will learn about the region in a context that goes beyond the Antebellum era to include the history of the area’s Indigenous peoples, as well as the many achievements and contributions of Black men and women before, during, and after the Civil War. Ninety years later, Natchez’s remarkable collection of antebellum homes remain at the heart of Pilgrimage—recognized for each one’s history, rare expressions of architecture, and wondrous craftsmanship.

But now, visitors crossing over the homes’ thresholds will be reminded, often at the very beginning of their tour, that “This house was built on the backs of enslaved people.” —Jordan LaHaye Fontenot ­ is year’s Spring Pilgrimage takes place Th from March 12–April 12. Details can be found at natchezpilgrimage.com.

ROAD TRIP TO port arthur, TEXAS

Start your day with a contemplative walk through the tranquil gardens of a Buddhist temple. Then hike on shaded paths as you watch for colorful birds, experience the life and times of iconic rock ‘n roller, Janis Joplin, or soak up the sunshine as you sip on a locally made craft beer. Spring is a magical season, especially if you’re in Port Arthur. Home to a remarkable confluence of cultures and landscapes, there’s nowhere quite like this Texas Gulf Coast destination.

visitportarthurtx.com // M A R 2 2

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YOUR PL ACE IS H E RE IN LIVINGSTON Spring into Livingston Parish

For the outdoorsman, the artist, and the explorer–there’s no shortage of things to do here.

With more than four hundred miles of waterways, the beloved nickname “Sportsman’s Paradise,” rings especially true in Livingston Parish. With bayous, swamps, and rivers to explore, along with the 124,000-acre Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area, make Livingston the dream playground for adventurers and outdoors enthusiasts.

Ample in game for hunting or fishing, load up on crappie sac-a-lait and bassbream in Lake Maurepas, the secondlargest lake in the state, or head to Springfield’s Tickfaw State Park for a hike or nature walk via miles of boardwalk trails. To visit a sporting goods mecca, look no further than Bass Pro Shops in Denham Springs. Equivalent in size to 3.5 football fields, with an indoor pond of roaming ducks and turtles, an onsite restaurant, and a pistol and archery range, the recreational retailer is an attraction in itself.

Downtown Denham Springs is home to an award-winning antique district that has drawn hunters of miscellaneous wares and wonders since 1995. The historic district is a treasure trove for eccentric furniture, vintage vinyl and literature, and quirky art. Time your trip for the V. Watts Trade Day, the second

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Saturday of the month, when over two hundred vendors set up a massive market outside. For other vendor-heavy community-wide events, the Denham Springs Merchants Association is the impetus behind the town’s annual Spring Fest, a local art showcase started more than twenty years ago that features more than 160 regional makers, showcasing everything from handmade furniture, to textiles and pottery, to collectibles and folk art. Mark your calendars for this year’s fest on April 30th, along with the second annual Walker Spring Festival (date TBD), a two-day event which will feature a farmers market, car show, and live music performances.

Livingston also boasts a legacy of scientific discovery and some littleknown Louisiana history for visitors to explore. On the third Saturday of each month, LIGO–a research facility housing one of just two gravitational wave detectors in the country–offers tours and time to explore more than fifty hands-on science experiments in its interactive exhibit hall. The Hungarian Settlement Museum, located inside an old schoolhouse along Highway 43, is open on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. The museum honors the

historic Hungarian settlement known as Árpádhon, established in presentday Albany in 1896, by three immigrant strawberry farmers.

The Grand Country Junction is presented on the third Saturday of each month, and the annual Tickfaw River Regatta returns on April 23. Last but not least, Bo’s Extravaganza 2022: The Last Rally returns to John Schneider Studios in Holden on April 23-24 to celebrate the anniversary of The Dukes of Hazzard. It’s a weekend stacked with spectacle, including car stunts and monster truck shows, celebrity meet-and-greets, a crawfish cookoff, live music across three stages, carnival rides for the kiddos, and a parade.

Whether it’s a road trip, antique hunt or outdoor adventure, one thing’s for sure—once you’ve stepped foot into this special, swampy corner of South Louisiana, leaving is the last thing on your mind. livingstontourism.com

N PARISH

S H O P , P L AY, D I N E , S TAY Livingston Parish Activities

Strawberry Farms Hungarian Museum Creole Museum Tickfaw State Park Suma Hall- Grand Country Junction Old South Jamboree 400 miles of navigable waterways in Livingston Parish Golf – Greystone, and Carter Plantation Livingston Parish Libraries AMC Theatre Airborne Extreme Urban Air Adventure Park Splash Park at NorthPark Arts Council Classes LIGO La Guna Beach Volleyball Shopping: Juban Crossing Bass Pro Denham Springs Antique Di District V-Watts Trade Days 2nd Saturday of the month Farmers Market every Saturday in Denham Springs Livingston Parish Fair – 2nd week in October John Schneider Studios

ANNUAL EVENTS V-Watts Trade Days – 2nd Saturday of every month LIGO - 3rd Saturday of the month 1pm-5pm Grand Country Junction - Monthly 3rd Saturday of the month Denham Springs Spring Festival - April 30th, 2022 Walker Spring Festival – TBA Mardi Gras Parades - Krewe of Diversion, Krewe of Tickfaw, Krewe of Denham Ma Springs, Kroug of Barkus Bo’s Extravaganza – 4th weekend of April Tickfaw River Regatta for TARC – 4TH weekend of April Tickfaw 200 Power Boat Poker Run - 1ST weekend in May Springfield Fireman’s Poker Run – 2nd weekend of June -June 11, 2022 Gar Rodeo - August Living Livingston Parish Fair - 2nd week in October Denham Springs Fall Festival - October 1, 2022 Walker Fall Festival – TBA Creole Festival - 3rd Sunday in October Hungarian Harvest Dance - 1st Saturday in October Lighting of the Old City Hall - November 25, 2022 Christmas Open House - November 26, 2022 Christmas in the Denham Springs Village - November 25- December 17, 2022 Chri Chef’s Evening and Wine Tasting Event - December 1, 2022 Livingston Parish Christmas Parades - December

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

Events

MARCH 2022

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Garden clubs, floral designers, and other creative talents bring the works at the New Orleans Museum of Art to life with flowers and greenery for the muchanticipated springtime event Art in Bloom—this year with the theme “In Full Bloom”. See listing on page 34. Image courtesy of NOMA.

UNTIL MAY

14th

ART EXHIBITIONS EUGENE JAMES MARTIN: HETEROCHROMATIC COLLAGES

treated as a bloc of sorts but made up of representational sculpture, loose gestural paintings, and non-objective abstraction. hilliardmuseum.org. k

Lafayette, Louisiana

Artist Eugene James Martin invented the concept of “Heterochromatic Collages,” wherein he addresses the concept of time in his multi-sourced collages that transcend genre and style. His works are now on display at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in this exhibition curated by Jaik Faulk. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

UNTIL JUL

9th

ART EXHIBITIONS TALKING TO DEATH: AN ALLEGORY FOR SCULPTURE Lafayette, Louisiana

There is an increasing trend in the twentyfirst century for artists to not define themselves based on the media in which they work. Artist Trevor Gould from Johannesburg, South Africa has a new multimedia installation at The Hilliard Art Museum that explores this idea. The project is comprised of many works of art,

UNTIL JUL

30th

CULTURE & PHOTOGRAPHY L. KASIMU HARRIS: VANISHING BLACK BARS & LOUNGES Lafayette, Louisiana

The Black-owned bars and lounges along St. Bernard Avenue in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans were mainstays of the community for generations. They provided refuges and neighborhood meeting places during periods of Jim Crow laws and segregation, and fostered development of community and cultural expression. Sadly, few of those former lounges remain, and many struggle to stay open today. In an attempt to immortalize these institutions and ask “What happens to the culture when it is displaced?” photographer L. Kasimu Harris has documented them in images for this exhibition at The Hilliard Art Museum. hilliardmuseum.org. k

UNTIL DEC

17th

LOCAL HISTORY THE BOGGS FAMILY LEGACY

LD

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana

For more than forty years, there was a member of the Boggs family representing Louisiana in the Second Congressional District This exhibit at the Old State Capitol traces the family’s legacy, from Hale’s three decades in congress, which ended with his disappearance and presumed death while campaigning in Alaska. After his untimely death, his wife Lindy was elected to his seat, where she served eight terms. The exhibit goes on to cover the lives of their children, all three of whom are also involved in politics as a journalist, mayor, and lobbyist. louisianaoldstatecapitol.org. k

Natchez, MS S

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Natchez, MS S

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OPERA ONLINE TRASH OPERA Online

In a groundbreaking partnership between Opéra Louisiane, community activist Marie Constantin of the Louisiana // M A R 2 2

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Events

Beginning March 3rd - March 5th

Stormwater Coalition, and the BREW agency—Baton Rouge’s premier opera organization presents a mini Trash Opera. Highlighting Baton Rouge’s trash problem and the ways it affects Louisiana waterways, the short virtual opera aims to inspire locals to do their part in ensuring a healthy ecosystem. The performance is available for viewing at youtube.com. operalouisiane.com. k

MAR

3

rd

- MAR

HEALTHY GETAWAYS BE WELL, STAY WELL WEEKEND

4

th

Covington, Louisiana

Hearkening back to the Northshore’s historic origins as a wellness oasis set apart from the busy New Orleans cityscape with its calming, natural beauty—the St. Tammany Health System presents a special self-renewal weekend in partnership with the Southern Hotel in historic Covington.

Highlights from this post-Carnival renewal getaway lean into the Southern’s relaxing and tranquil environment, while also offering screenings for skin, head/neck, breast, lung, and colon cancer; as well as onsite wellness checks for lipids, blood

pressure, aortic aneurism, bone density, and body composition. Rates start at $900 per couple, with group pricing, discounts, and a la carte options available. sttammany.health/staywell. k

MAR

3rd - APR 25th

ART EXHIBITIONS LOUISIANA...THROUGH THE PAINTERS’ LENS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

For those talented painters who call Louisiana home, the Bayou State frequently inspires artful interpretations of its varied, richly-beautiful landscapes.

The Associated Women in the Arts’ annual exhibit, hanging at the Old State Capitol, features such works—all inspired by the artists’ lives and travels around the state. associatedwomeninthearts.com. k

MAR 4th

LUCK O’ THE IRISH ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATION WITH DANNY O’FLAHERTY Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Irish entertainer Danny O’Flaherty is

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

Live performances, a scavenger hunt, a kids’ drum circle, and more at the Open Air Fair, which is part of Opéra Louisiane’s Young People’s Opera Program in partnership with the East Baton Rouge Parish Library at Goodwood. Image courtesy of Opéra Louisiane. See listing on page 34.

performing at The Robert A. Bogan Fire Museum for an early St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. 7 pm. $20, children under twelve free. Find the museum on Facebook for more information. k

MAR 4th

KID STUFF FAIRYTALE BALL FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE Mandeville, Louisiana

Grab up your tiny princes and princesses for a magical night at the Castine Center, where they can dress to the nines and be allowed to express their inner royalty. In attendance will be real-life princess Miss Louisiana Julia Claire Williams and her royal court, all available for photos and autographs. Complimentary snacks and drinks will also be included, as well as professional photography by Bella Voi Photography. Open to all K–8th grade children and their parents. 6 pm–9 pm. $35 for a parent/child pairing; $10 for each additional child. crowdpleasersevents.com. k

MAR

4

th

- MAR

ART & PERFORMANCE CATHARSIS AT CITÉ DES ARTS

5

th

Cité des Arts brings two nights of raw emotion to the stage, exploring the isolating nature of pain and the cathartic realization that no one is alone through a series of original works by artists, dancers, actors, and musicians. 7:30 pm–9 pm. $20. citedesarts.org. k

4th

- MAR

FLEA MARKETS ATTIC TRASH & TREASURE SALE

4th - MAR 13th

THEATRE THE GLASS MENAGERIE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge Theatre brings to life one of Tennessee Williams’ best-loved plays, this story of one-time Southern belle Amanda Wingfield seeking a gentleman caller for her shy daughter, Laura, who uses her glass animal figurines to avoid the struggles of the real world. $30; $25 for students.

7:30 pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; 2 pm Sunday. theatrebr.org. k

MAR

4th - MAR 26th

CONCERTS L’AUBERGE CONCERTS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Here’s the shows you can catch coming up at L’Auberge, when you want a safer bet than playing the slots: March 4: Frank Foster. $25. 9 pm.

March 12: Candlebox. $25. 9 pm.

March 26: Dave Attell. $20. 8 pm. lbatonrouge.com. k

MAR

5th

FOOD FESTIVALS GULF COAST BEER & BACON (& CHOCOLATE) FESTIVAL Gulfport, Mississippi

Lafayette, Louisiana

MAR

MAR

6th

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Since the first sale in 1990, the Attic Trash and Treasure Sale has generated over $3 million for local charities. You know what they say about one man’s trash... you could find your newest (oldest) treasure at this year’s event, which will take place at the old Rite Aid at 1029 Millerville Rd. Plenty of folks have cleaned out their attics, and you can peruse and shop the results at this annual fundraiser for BR Regional Eye Bank, Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge, Grief Recovery Center, Louisiana Pediatric Cardiology Foundation, and Redemptorist/St. Gerard Elementary School. Friday 9 am–3 pm; Saturday 9 am–1 pm; and Sunday (when everything will be half price) 10 am–3 pm. Free. Credit cards accepted. attictandtbr.org. k

Sounds like a new kind of trinity. Sample beer, bacon, and chocolate dishes from over thirty local restaurants and vendors at this new Gulfport festival, which is an official qualifying event for the World Food Championships. Vote for your favorite beer, bacon, chocolate, and cocktail, and enter yourself for a chance to attend the World Food Championships in Dallas. 7 pm–10 pm. $50, $75 VIP. gcbeerbaconfest.com. k

MAR

5th

FUN FUNDRAISERS BUBBLY ON THE BAYOU CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH Slidell, Louisiana

Rainbow Child Care’s annual Bubbly on the Bayou Champagne Brunch returns, hosting local celebrity bartenders, a delicious brunch, a silent auction with prizes, and more.

Hosted at the historic Patton’s SalmenFritchie House, the event will benefit St. Tammany’s only non-profit childcare center, which serves low-income families and families in crisis. Derby-themed attire and hats encouraged. 11 am–2 pm. $65 for ages thirteen and older; $35 for children twelve and younger. eventbrite.com. k

MAR 5th

LOCAL HISTORY IONE E. BURDEN SYMPOSIUM Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Three hundred years after the settlement of Louisiana’s German Coast, our state’s // M A R 2 2

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

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Events

MAR 5th

LOCAL LITERACY ONE BOOK ONE COMMUNITY KICKOFF PARTY

Beginning March 5th German communities are the subject of this year’s Ione E. Burden Symposium.

Speakers from the German-Acadian Coast Historical & Genealogical Society, from the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, and from Evergreen Plantation will speak on aspects of Louisiana culture inf luenced by its German families. 8 am–3:30 pm, with a “Meet the Speakers” reception to follow. $40; $20 for Friends of the Rural Life Museum; $10 for LSU students—includes lunch and a speakers reception. lsu.edu/rurallife. k

MAR

5th

NERD OUT LIVINGSTON PARISH LIBRARY COMIC CON Denham Springs, Louisiana

All your favorite worlds—the magical, the two-dimensional, the dangerous, and the mysterious—come alive at Livingston Parish Library’s own celebration of Comic Con. Characters from the best in comic books, movies, television, and pop culture will be set at center stage for this all-ages event.

Costumes are encouraged. 10 am–2 pm at the Denham Springs-Walker Branch.

Free. mylpl.info/comiccon. k

MAR

5th

MARKETS CRAFTIN’ CAJUNS CRAFT SHOW & MARKETPLACE Houma, Louisiana

Benefit from the outsized ingenuity of a Cajun craftsman (or woman) today at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center. The Craftin’ Cajuns indoor craft show and marketplace pops up from 9 am–5 pm. houmaciviccenter.com/craftshow. k

MAR

5th

FOOD FESTS LOUISIANA FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL Slidell, Louisiana

Round up your friends and your chairs 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

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

It’s that time of year again! Dig into the East Baton Rouge Library’s literary selection of the year for its fifteenthannual One Book One Community initiative: Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp by Gwen Roland, featuring nature photographs by C.C. Lockwood. The two-month series will include events that highlight the book, as well as other topics such as nature conservation, Louisiana wildlife, nature photography, and birding. In an exciting slate of events throughout the spring, readers young and old can engage in their own investigation of the book. Oh, and there will be some fun parties too— including a Kickoff Party at the Main Branch Library at Goodwood. 4 pm. Free.

Find a complete list of parish-wide events at ebrpl.com or readonebook.org. k

Gwen Roland, author of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s 2022 One Book One Community selection, Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp, featuring photographs

by C.C. Lockwood. Image courtesy of EBRPL.

at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s Seed Swap. Share and trade heirloom

MAR 5th

GREEN THUMBS SEED SWAP

seeds and trimmings, or pick up a free packet of seeds, even if you don’t have any to share. Just label your seeds and plant

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

cuttings before arrival, and please leave

It’s not too late to plant that spring garden you’ve been daydreaming of, especially with a jumpstart from the community

any invasive or noxious seeds at home.

10 am–2 pm. At the Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library. ebrpl.com. k

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Events

Beginning March 5th - March 7th MAR 5th

CONCERTS LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PRESENTS NORTHSHORE CLASSICS Covington, Louisiana

Don’t miss the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra’s special concert from its Northshore Classics Series: a performance of Mozart’s Prague symphony, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto. 7:30 pm. $37; $10 for students and children. lpomusic.com. k

MAR 5th

GREEN THUMBS MADISONVILLE GARDEN SHOW Madisonville, Louisiana

The Madisonville Garden Club has invited over twenty-five southern vendors out to their annual garden show, offering plenty of plants that were grown in Louisiana and predisposed to our climate.

Enjoy the spring weather along the Tchefuncte River at Madisonville Town Hall and peruse shrubs, annuals, trees, perennials, and other products to help nudge you toward your ideal garden.

8 am–4 pm. For more information,

find the Madisonville Garden Club on Facebook. k

MAR 5th

MARKETS SHADOWS ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR New Iberia, Louisiana

Among the giant oaks on the winding banks of the Teche, attendees at this twice-annual arts & crafts fair can pick up one-of-a-kind items from over one hundred vendors from around the state.

From crocheted goodies to bath products, this market has it all. And of course—for what fair would be complete without it— there will be plenty of food, drink, and dessert. 9 am–4 pm. $5 per person; $3 for children ages six to eleven; under six get in free. shadowsontheteche.org. k

MAR 5th - MAR 19th

LIVE MUSIC THE DEW DROP JAZZ HALL SPRING CONCERTS Mandeville, Louisiana

The historic Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall, the venerable century-plus-old rural

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

jazz venue, will host special Saturday concerts throughout the spring. See the schedule below: March 5: Dr. Redwine’s Grape Stompers March 19: Ingrid Lucia It’s a genial, casual, lakeside night out.

6:30 pm–9 pm; all on the 400 block of Lamarque Street. $10, souvenirs and beverages available for purchase, plus home-cooked meals available from next door. dewdropjazzhall.com. k

MAR

5th - MAR 20th

THEATRE NOISES OFF

Mandeville, Louisiana

30 By Ninety Theatre is kicking off spring loudly, with Noises Off, a theatre production about...well, theatre production. This classic Michael Frayn play takes audiences to the back of the house, where all sorts of things can—and do—go hilariously wrong. Friday and Saturday nights 8 pm; Sundays at 2:30 pm. $19; $11 for children twelve and younger; $17 for seniors and military; $14 for students. 30byninety.com. k

MAR

5th

- MAR

26th

CONCERTS MARCH AT THE RED DRAGON Baton Rouge, Louisiana

In its modest digs on Florida

Boulevard, the Red Dragon Listening Room pulls in artists who are anything but in terms of their abilities. Wellknown and emerging songwriters take the stage here several times each month, and with the venue’s non-profit status all money raised at the door goes directly to the artists. Join for any of these concerts: March 12: Gregg Wright Trio. $25– $35.

March 25: Bob Livingston. $25–$35.

March 26: Tunica Hills Music Fest and Jam. Free.

Shows usually start at 8 pm. (225) 939-7783. Tickets at paypal.me/ reddragonlr; mention the artist in the message line. k

MAR

5th

- MAR

ART EXHIBITIONS LOUISIANA, MYSTERY AND POETRY

31st

New Orleans, Louisiana

Artist Elayne Kuehler, a Baton Rouge native, captures Louisiana through all genres of oil painting—from portraiture, to landscape, and still life—in a way refered to as “romantic realism”. On exhibit at Gallery 600 Julia. There will be an artist reception from 6 pm–8 pm.

Monday–Friday, 10 am–3:30 pm. Free. gallery600julia.com. k

MAR 6th

through the Acadiana Center for the Arts screening programs. This month, catch these masterpieces right in Lafayette:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

March 6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Magic Flute (in English), 2 pm–4:30 pm.

March 13: Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon or Cinderella (in English). 2 pm–4:30 pm.

March 27: Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.

2 pm–4:30 pm.

LIVE MUSIC SOLE LAB SUNDAYS Legendary Baton Rouge DJ Sole Lab BR and partner MarkDub bring the second installation of their new showcase of underground hip-hop music and art. After the MCs perform, there will be an open cypher. 4 pm– 7 pm. Free. yeswecannibal.org. k

MAR

6

th

WEDDING BELLS WHITE OAK BRIDAL SHOW Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Acadiana Center for the Arts continues screening the Metropolitan Opera productions in HD this month, with productions of The Magic Flute, Cinderella, and Rigoletto. Image courtesy of the ACA.

MAR 5th - APR 1st

PHOTO EXHIBITS JENNIFER ESNEAULT: MAGIC & MADNESS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Kelwood Contemporary Art will feature the first solo show for local conceptual photo artist Jennifer Esneault. Esneault’s work explores the theme of modern femininity by putting expectations, failures, fears,

and power under a microscope. These quiet reflections give pause to those who may seek to silence the stories of women. The public is invited to opening night from 5 pm–9 pm. There will also be a Gallery Talk with the artist on March 13 from 2 pm–4 pm, and a Narrative Photo Workshop on March 26 from 9 am–noon for $50 per person (register at eventbrite.com).The gallery is located at 8202 Kelwood Ave. Free. jennifercarwilepaintings.com. k

Those with wedding bells in their future can head to the oak-laden grounds of Chef John Folse’s White Oak Estate and Gardens to peruse local wedding vendors, tour the grounds, sip champagne, and nibble hors d’oeuvres prepared by Folse’s catering company.

1 pm–4:30 pm. $15 in advance on eventbrite.com or $20 day-of. whiteoakestateandgardens.com. k

MAR 6th - MAR 27th

OPERA ON SCREEN THE MET OPERA AT THE ACA Lafayette, Louisiana

Experience the Met Opera in HD

$10. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

MAR 7th & MAR 14th

CREATIVE CLASSES CREATIVE ACADIANA SPRING 2022 WORKSHOPS Lafayette, Louisiana

The Acadiana Center for the Arts continues to provide vital resources to artists, musicians, and other creatives in the Acadiana region— like these in-person workshops from national presenters on topics related to artist finances and other key facets of maintaining a life as a professional creator. March’s workshop is “A Sustainable Creative Life: Relationships & Ecosystems 2-part workshop”: This workshop series is specifically designed to empower artists and demonstrate pragmatic approaches to sustaining a creative life. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

VISITING ARTIST PROGRAMS MAR 10–JUN 19 / 2022

STATE OF THE ART RECORD

KELLIE ROMANY

OPENING RECEPTION & PERFORMANCE ART PIECE MARCH 10 / 6–8 PM Watch a performance art piece titled Can I Get a Witness by artist Kellie Romany at 6:30 PM. Kellie Romany’s In an Effort to be Held (image left) will also be on view in State of the Art: Record.

lsumoa.org @lsumoa 225-389-7200

SPONSORED BY

artist talk & making

MARCH 11 / 6–8 PM State of the Art 2020: Record is organized

by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The national tour of State of the Art 2020 is sponsored by Bank of America with additional support from Art Bridges. This exhibition and its programming are sponsored locally by a generous grant from Art Bridges. Support also by LSU MOA Annual Exhibition Fund donors. Free Friday Night sponsors at LSU MOA: Louisiana Lottery Corporation and IBERIABANK, a division of First Horizon, and Louisiana CAT.

Hear from Kellie Romany and create clay catchall vessels with the artist in this making activity.

Ages 13+ / Free to attend.

IMAGE (detail): Kellie Romany, In an Effort to be Held, 2016-2019, oil on ceramic, dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist

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Events

Beginning March 7 - March 10 th

MAR 7th - MAR 18th CONCERTS MARCH AT THE RAISING CANE’S RIVER CENTER Baton Rouge, Louisiana

There’s always a grand production on deck at the River Center—this month brings: March 7: The national touring production of Fiddler on the Roof. 7:30 pm. $55–$85.

March 17: Baby Shark Live! The 2022 Splash Tour. 6 pm. $25–$199.

March 18: Reo Speedwagon. $75–$300. raisingcanesrivercenter.com. k

MAR

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- MAR

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March 18: Funk Me, I’m Irish! With Big Sam’s Funky Nation. Doors 8 pm, show 9 pm.

March 19: Fred Wesley’s House Party + Sam Kininger, Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff, and Russell Batiste & Friends + Billy luso. Doors 8 pm, show at 9 pm. tipitinas.com. k

MAR 10

th

LIVE MUSIC PHIL STACEY BENEFIT CONCERT Covington, Louisiana

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LIVE MUSIC TIPITINA’S CONCERT SCHEDULE New Orleans, Louisiana

The famous Tchoupitoulas venue continues to bring a wide variety of New Orleans’ favorite musical acts to Professor Longhair’s legendary stage. Here’s what’s happening this month: March 9: Poguetry Featuring Lost Bayou Ramblers With Spider Stacy & Cait O’Riordan (of The Pogues). Doors 7:30 pm, show 8:30 pm.

Start your Lent off right with a special candlelight concert performed by American Idol finalist Phil Stacey, presented by Family Promise of St. Tammany and Christ Episcopal Church Covington. Food trucks will be on site for pre-concert dinners.

Doors at 5:30 pm. Free. fpstp.org. k

MAR 10th

CONCERTS JULIAN KUERTI CONDUCTS DVORÁK Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra

welcomes guest conductor, Julian Kuerti, along with Grammy award-winning cellist, Zuil Bailey, to join the symphony for an evening of Dvořák’s symphonies and a composition by Louisiana composer Louis Moreau, too. At the Raising Cane’s River Center. 7:30 pm–9:30 pm. $19– $65. brso.org. k

MAR 10th

CONCERTS THE DAVID EGAN SONGBOOK Lafayette, Louisiana

As part of the Acadiana Center for the Arts Louisiana Crossroads concert series, dozens of artists and groups will gather together on stage to celebrate the legacy of Lafayette songwriter David Egan. The unprecedented evening of music will feature artists who have recorded Egan’s music, including: Joe Cocker, Solomon Burke, Irma Thomas, Percy Sledge, John Mayall, Johnny Adams, Marcia Ball, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Lil Band o’ Gold, Filé, and many more. Also in attendance will be many of David’s friends and fans, including curator Roddie Romero, Jon Cleary, Curely Taylor, Kevin Gordon, Charlene Howard, Joe V. McMahan, Pat Breaux, Dave Ranson, Mike Sipos, Johanna Divine, and many more. 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $35. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

MAR

10th

- MAR

ART EVENTS LOUISIANA ARTS SUMMIT Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Louisiana’s identity is deeply characterized by the interactions between traditional and contemporary artists, between its commingling of cultures, its strange and lovely natural landscapes, and all the ways its complicated and distinct collective histories might be expressed. Art is important here. This spring the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge is partnering with the Louisiana Division of the Arts for the 2022 Louisiana Arts Summit. Artists, arts organizations, and community members are invited for opportunities to network, participate in discussions, and engage in professional development. The cornerstones of the event are planning and economic development in the arts, long-term financial planning and resilience for arts organizations, branding and promotion, equity, accessibility, and education. Events will take place at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center. 9:30 am– 3:30 pm on Thursday; 9 am–3:45 pm on Friday. $40 one day pass; $65 for two-day pass. See the full schedule and register at artsbr.org. k

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MAR 10th - APR 1st

ART EXHIBITIONS EMPATHY PLAN FOR THE WESTERN FAM Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Atlanta-based artist Steven L. Anderson’s exhibition at Yes We Cannibal includes video, paper collages, paintings, and more—all about “the power of nature, and the nature of power”. The title is inspired by Joseph Buey’s 1974 lecture tour, “Energy Plan for the Western Man,” as Anderson’s artwork explores the same ecological and spiritual crises Buey was preoccupied with. An opening reception will take place from 6 pm–8 pm. Free. yeswecannibal.org. k

MAR 10th - JUN 19th

ART EXHIBITIONS STATE OF THE ART: RECORD Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Professional and amateur cooks alike will vye for the title of “World Champion” at the World Championship Crawfish Étouffée cook-off in Eunice. See listing on page 37. Image courtesy of St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission.

MAR

10th - MAR 12th

LOVING LITERATURE NEW ORLEANS BOOK FESTIVAL AT TULANE New Orleans, Louisiana

For the first time, Tulane is hosting a three-

day literary celebration featuring more than

John Grisham are among the esteemed

a hundred local, regional, and national

speakers. This festival debut, which was

authors—including some of the nation’s

originally postponed due to COVID, will

most beloved writers. Richard Campanella,

include panel discussions, keynote speeches,

Sarah Broom, Walter Isaacson, Malcolm

book fairs, workshops, family programming,

Gladwell, Poppy Tooker, Sheba Turk, and

and more. bookfest.tulane.edu. k

This exhibition, curated by the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, comments on the ways that we as a society record and preserve information. The artwork is divided into three parts: historical record (preserving and re-constructing history), seeking the intangible, and finding order. An opening reception will be from 6 pm–8 pm, featuring a performance art piece by artist Kellie Romany. There will also be a free

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Events

Beginning March 11th - March 12th artist talk on March 11 from 6 pm–8 pm. lsumoa.org. k

MAR 11th

CALENDAR OF EVENTS APRIL 2022 Pockin’ on the Bayou Town of Cottonport April 16, 2022 318.876.3485 Knocking on the Square Avoyelles Parish Courthouse April Apri 17, 2022 (9:00am Registration) 318.305.8088 Nelly Paragon Casino Resort April 23, 2022 Paragoncasinoresort.com Evergreen’s 150th Celebration Town of Evergreen April 30, 2022 Town of Evergreen Da Parish Crawwsh Boil St. Joseph’s Catholic Church -Marksville April 30, 2022 St. Joseph ACTS

CONCERTS SMOKEHOUSE & MAMIE PORTER AND THE GUTBUCKET BLUES BAND Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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11th

&

16th

HISTORY TALKS LUNCHTIME LECTURES IN MARCH Port Allen, Louisiana

MAR 11th

March 11: “I Need a Higgins Boat.

Do You Think You Can Find One?” with Higgins Boat enthusiast Jimmy Duckworth, who will discuss how he built a replica of the ship credited with winning WWII, and learn about this and other historic watercrafts.

March 16: “Recollections of a Schoolboy in West Baton Rouge during WWII” with West Baton Rouge Historical Association Board Member Ellis Gauthier. Gauthier will share memories of his childhood in West Baton Rouge during the 1940s, and riveting tales from the war.

The lecture is held in conjunction with the exhibit The Pelican State Goes to War, which is on display until March 20.

CONCERTS STRUGGLE JENNINGS WITH SEVEN YEAR WITCH Natchez, Mississippi

Nashville rapper Struggle Jennings is the grandson of rock guitarist Duane Eddy and country musician Jessi Colter, the step-grandson of Waylon Jennings, and the nephew of Shooter Jennings. Now, he’ll be performing for the Natchez City Auditorium with Seven Year Witch.

Doors at 6 pm, show at 7 pm. $15–$35. bontempstix.com. k

MAR 11th

CONCERTS THE BLOOMIES + CHUPACABRA

The West Baton Rouge Museum offers two of its popular Lunchtime Lectures this month. All events begin at noon.

wbrmuseum.org. k

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

NOLA-based band The Bloomies are playing with Chupacabra on the outdoor stage at Beauvoir Park. 6 pm–10 pm.

Tickets are $20 at bontempstix.com. k

MAR 11th - MAR 12th SILVER SCREEN SOUTHERN GOTHIC FILM FESTIVAL Lafayette, Louisiana

Cité des Arts presents Lafayette’s first and only horror festival, showcasing unique voices from across the independent horror film community. Hosted by one of the local drag community’s most regal queens, Miss Martini Bear, the event will feature films from all over the world, with filmmaker Q&As. Halloween costumes encouraged.

6 pm–9 pm Friday; 4:30 pm–9 pm Saturday. $20 per day. citedesarts.org. k

MAR 11 - MAR 13

22

MAR

Soak in the sounds of the award-winning, low-down blues of Smokehouse & Mamie Porter. 7:30 pm–9:30 pm. $15– $25. bontempstix.com. k

th

8592 Hwy 1, Mansura, LA 800.833.4195 travelavoyelles.com

called A Little Night Music. 7:30 pm on Friday and 3 pm on Sunday at Hosanna Lutheran Church in Mandeville. $15, age ten and younger free. npassingers.org. k

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TRIBUTE SHOWS A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC: A TRIBUTE TO STEPHEN SONDHEIM Mandeville, Louisiana

The Northlake Performing Arts Society is presenting a tribute to the music of prolific late composer Stephen Sondheim

MAR

12th

GREEN THUMBS HERB WORKSHOP AT NORTHLAKE NATURE CENTER Mandeville, Louisiana

Join Kelly McGee for a brand-new workshop at Northlake Nature Center, where participants will get the opportunity to learn about planting and caring for culinary herbs. Plants, dirt, and pot provided. 1 pm at the picnic tables by the pavilion. Space is limited, so register early at (985) 626-1238 or by emailing rue@northlakenature.org. $45. northlakenature.org. k

MAR

12th

CREATIVE CLASSES MINI WORKSHOP: CLAY HANDBUILDING, PINCH POTS Lafayette, Louisiana

Dip (or rather, dig) your fingers into the world of pottery by trying out the basic handbuilding technique of pinch pots.

In this workshop at the Lafayette Art Association, participants will learn to build either a lidded container, bowl, cup, or sculptural piece. All tools and supplies provided. 10 am–3 pm with a one-hour lunch break. $75. lafayetteart.org. k

Meet

Nathan Hite, MD Board Certified colorectal surgeon Nathan Phillip Hite, MD, is a lifelong Louisiana resident. Well, almost.

“I like to say that I was born and raised in south Louisiana,” Dr. Hite says. “Actually, I was adopted. I came to Louisiana at four months old and have been here ever since.”

Becoming a Doctor

Through the years, Dr. Hite has taken full advantage of his adopted Louisiana heritage. After earning his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, he attended LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. Following a general surgery internship at the Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia, he returned to his home state to perform his residency at LSU in New Orleans.

Once he completed his residency, he headed to Seattle, Washington. There, he completed the Ochsner Health Colorectal Fellowship at the Swedish Colon and Rectal Clinic.

To further the understanding and care of colorectal conditions, Dr. Hite has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed publications in the areas of colorectal surgery and cancer.

Passionate Care

Though he enjoys colorectal hot topics such as rectal cancer, Dr. Hite is also interested in benign conditions. He’s drawn to troublesome issues, conditions that aren’t life-threatening but make life less enjoyable such as abscesses (painful swelling around the anus) and anal fissures (tear in the anal canal lining).

“These are considered ‘small’ problems, but they still have a major impact on people’s lives,” Dr. Hite says. “Being able to fix these problems greatly improves a patient’s quality of life, and I’m grateful to play a role in that.”

Thanks to robotic surgery, surgeons can perform complex operations in a minimally invasive fashion. Dr. Hite explains that this reduces stress on the patient and surgeon. As a result, complex procedures can be completed easily, safely and quickly.

Dr. Hite says access to surgical robots is one reason he enjoys practicing medicine with Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group. But high-tech tools aren’t the only reason he appreciates his practice. The people make it even better.

“We’re a very close-knit group that always supports one another,” Dr. Hite says. “Everyone is committed to ensuring quality outcomes for patients, and we’re given full freedom to put patient care first.”

Life Beyond the Operating Room

As expected, Dr. Hite is a loud and proud LSU graduate. When not helping people overcome colorectal health issues, he can be found rooting for the Tigers on the football field. He also enjoys cooking and eating good food and spending time with family.

Married in 2020, he and his wife enjoy going to the beach as often as possible. They’re often spotted out and about with their rescue dog, Roux, in tow.

Need a car detailed? Ask Dr. Hite for some tips. He enjoys the process and end product. He often details his car and those of his family members. When it comes to fun and games, Dr. Hite has a thing for poker. Just be careful when playing with him, he’s pretty good.

Learn more about our surgeons and the Our Lady of the Lake Robotic Surgery Institute at ololrmc.com/robotics

As a member of Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group, Dr. Hite has access to specialized tools that allow him to perform advanced surgical intervention. One of the most powerful tools is inside the operating room.

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Events

Beginning March 12th MAR 12th

GOOD EATS BAYOU TERREBONNE BOUCHERIE Houma, Louisiana

It’s a boucherie on the bayou, mes chers, with mounds of pork and a white bean cook-off, to boot. The second-annual Bayou Terrebonne Boucherie promises more, too—a series of bayou-themed competitions (or as we like to say, a Cajun Olympics) offers teams the chance to take home the prized Cajun Cup. Arts and crafts, activities for kids, and live music all day long from Nonc Nu & Da Wild Matous, Tyron Benoit Band, MJ Dardar Band, No Posers, The Dream Junkies, and DJ Doug Funnie. All at Bayou Terrebonne Distillers in downtown Houma. Proceeds will go towards quality of life projects in Terrebonne Parish. 9 am.

Free. houmatravel.com. k

MAR

12th

CONCERTS JUSTIN CHAMPAGNE HOMETOWN THROWDOWN New Iberia, Louisiana

Returning home for the first time off

tour to New Iberia, Justin Champagne is presenting a live concert with friends, including Mario Morales, Clay Cormier, Dalton D’Rich, Micah Kennedy, Victoria Wells, and more.

7 pm–10 pm at the Sugar Cane Festival Building. 7 pm. $30. eventbrite.com. k

MAR

12

New Roads, Louisiana

The Arts Council of Pointe Coupee is hosting a series of nineteen workshops this year on a wide variety of subjects from literature to visual arts, thanks to a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts. This month, there’s a Water-Media Workshop with Cherie Fry: Fry will teach participants to “Simplify and Paint,” offering stepby-step demonstrations and guidance for mixing water-soluble paint, using water-soluble graphite, and applying brushwork for anyone from beginners to advanced artists. Participants will learn how to use a reference image to create original art by blending

Natchez

MonmouthHistoricInn.com 601-442-5852

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MAR

12th

LUCK O’ THE IRISH COVINGTON ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE Covington, Louisiana

th

CREATIVE CLASSES ART EXPLOSION IN POINTE COUPEE

B 

texture, color, and paint. Supplies and information about fees will be provided to those who register. 9 am–4 pm at the Poydras Center.

Contact (225) 718-1574 or roygaleb@ bellsouth.net for further information. artscouncilofpointecoupee.org. k

Irish blood runs thick in Covington— and even those who don’t have it have eagerly celebrated the heritage of St. Patrick’s patronage in Louisiana since 2018, with the birth of the Covington Celtic Club and annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The route runs from the Columbia Street Tap Room, and concludes with a block party at the corner of New Hampshire and Rutland Streets, where ladies and leprechauns alike may dance the afternoon away for a St. Patty’s block party. Noon. covingtoncelticclub.com. k

MAR

12th

LUCK O’ THE IRISH CELTIC BAYOU FEST Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette’s Annual Traditional Irish St.

Patrick’s Day Festival returns, bringing the very best in traditional Celtic music and entertainment. Downtown will be seeing green with cultural events including an Irish Whiskey Tasting, a Guinness Cook-off, a “whiskey snug,” a Lenten crawfish boil, and more. All of this happening against a background of Acadian & Celtic medleys sparking inner urges to kick up your feet. The lineup includes The Here and Now, The Rayo Brothers, The Whiskey Bay Rovers. Celjun, the Baton Rouge Caledonian Pipes and Drums, and the Ryan School of Irish Dance. celticbayoufest.com. k

MAR 12th

CREATIVE COMPETITIONS SHADOWS-ON-THE-TECHE PLEIN AIR COMPETITION New Iberia, Louisiana

“Plein air” describes the technique of creating art in the open air—a process that provides dramatically different results as artists adapt to a day’s shifting weather patterns and angles of light.

Weeks Hall, the last owner of National Historic Landmark-listed Shadows-Onthe-Teche, was a practicing artist who painted en plein air as well as many other styles. A few years ago, Shadows honored the artistic tradition that Hall began by establishing a plein air art

A T L D

Plein air painters flock to New Iberia each spring to try their hands at recreating its gorgeous landscapes.

Here, Chris Willey paints in 2021. Image courtesy of Iberia Parish Convention & Visitors Bureau.

competition, which returns to the historic house’s grounds this month. On March 12, dozens of well-known artists from across Louisiana and around the South will come to town to have their blank canvases marked, then will head out into New Iberia and surroundings, to ply their pastels and work their watercolors.

On March 18, artists will return finished work to the Shadows where it will be judged by Vermont plein air artist Mark Boedges. Artists’ work will be exhibited and available for sale in the Shadows Visitor Center beginning on March 18, when the competition winners will be announced. The ceremony, reception, and sale are all free to attend. Other events available to the public include a two-day watercolor workshop for plein air painting by artist Richie Vios, held at 7837 Main Highway St. Martinville from March 9–10. 10 am–5 pm. $200.

There will be the annual Plein Air Quick Draw on March 12 (3 pm–5 pm), the Paint Out on March 18 (9 am–1 pm), and a special extension of the overall event to Delcambre. See Boedges in action on March 15 (1 pm at the HIlliard Art Museum) and March 17 (2 pm at the Shadows), at an art talk at the Bayou Carlin Cove Boat Landing & Pavilion on March 13 (noon), and for a three-day workshop held at the Shadows on the Teche Museum from 8:30–4:30 pm March 19–21 ($599). shadowsontheteche.org. k

MAR 12th

KNOWING NATURE A WALK IN THE WOODS AT NORTHLAKE NATURE CENTER Mandeville, Louisiana

Take a guided hike through the diverse ecosystems at the Northlake Nature Center, all four hundred acres of them.

This hike introduces the “Four Seasons” Tree ID Program, enabling participants to identify native trees and shrubs year-round, and highlighting seasonal

features which are often unique to individual species. This spring session highlights emerging flowers and leaves.

9 am at 23135 Highway 190. $5.

Reservations required. (985) 626-1238 or northlakenature.org. k

MAR 12th

FUN RUNS SHAMROCK SPRINT 5K & 1 MILE FUN RUN Covington, Louisiana

Kelly Kicking Cancer invites all to join in on their annual fundraising event, the Shamrock Sprint 5K and Fun Run, which takes runners from the Trailhead through downtown Covington.

Registration starts at 7 am; Fun Run starts at 8 am; 5K starts at 8:30 am.

Proceeds will go towards brain cancer research through the Kelly Kicking Cancer foundation. Virtual options are also available. $35 to run; $20 for a Party Pass, granting access to the live music and local eats afterwards. kellykickingcancer.org. k

MAR

12th

DOCUMENTARIES SCREENING OF THE QUIET CAJUNS Lafayette, Louisiana

The Acadiana Center for the Arts is screening the film The Quiet Cajuns: One Heritage. Two Generations. One Disease. The documentary tells the story of the genetic mutation that traveled with the Acadians from Nova Scotia over two centuries ago. Acadian Usher Syndrome has affected hundreds of Louisiana Acadians, causing them to lose the senses of sight and hearing.

Researchers have, through genealogical research, uncovered the molecular basis for the disease, and provide hope for a cure. 5 pm–7 pm. Free. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

Look for our April edition

The Road Trip Issue on stands April 1!

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Events

Beginning March 12th - March 13th MAR 12th

VROOM VROOM SPRING STREET FESTIVAL & CLASSIC CAR SHOW New Roads, Louisiana

The fun-lovin’ folks on False River greet spring with this thirteenth annual antique car and motorcycle show that attracts upwards of three hundred vehicles amid a day of food, music, arts & crafts, children’s activities, and plenty of spring fever festivities. The car show is open to all categories of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, with top-fifty awards, mayor’s choice, and sponsors’ awards all up for grabs. 9 am–2 pm throughout downtown New Roads. Day-of registration $35 from 8 am–11 am, early registration $30. newroadscarshow.com or bontempstix.com. k

MAR 12th

GOOD EATS NOT YOUR MAMA’S GUMBO COOK-OFF Abita Springs, Louisiana

Nothing brings the people together like an old-fashioned gumbo cook-off. Head

MAR 12th - MAR 13th

and photography exploring the ways in which society at times fails us; curated

by Anthony Spinello. An opening celebration will be held from 7 pm– 10 pm. cacno.org. k

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

MAR

noon. Free. Find the event on Facebook for more information. k

out to the Abita Springs Trailhead this weekend, and get lined up as early as 9:30 am. $10 gets you a wristband and a say-so in the People’s Choice Awards.

Keep Abita Beautiful will also be raffling off a Weber Q 1200 Black 8500-BTU 189-square-inch portable gas grill from 1:30 pm–2:30 pm. Tickets are $1, and winner must be present to claim their prize. Besides the gallons of gumbo, attendees will also enjoy side items and beverages (adult and otherwise) provided for sale by local vendors and organizations. All proceeds will go towards city beautification projects, glass recycling, litter clean-ups, and educational programs. louisiananorthshore.com. k

MAR 12th

GREEN THUMBS MID CITY SEED SWAP Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Calling all Baton Rouge gardeners, from apartment-dwelling houseplant lovers to full-blown farmers: bring your seeds, clippings, and seedlings for vegetables and ornamental plants out to share the leafy love at the quarterly Seed Swap at 630 Richland Avenue in Baton Rouge. 9 am–

GREEN THUMBS LSU AGCENTER SPRING GARDEN SHOW

The floor of John M. Parker Coliseum at LSU will be transformed into a fascinating world of plants and gardens, when the LSU AgCenter’s Spring Garden Show and Arts and Crafts Fair returns to satisfy the green thumbs of the Capitol Region. The show includes numerous vendors selling a tremendous variety of plants and yard, garden, and patiorelated merchandise. Also catch landscape displays, arts & crafts vendors, plant health clinics, and children’s activities.

9 am–4 pm each day. Adults $5; free for children younger than twelve.

(225) 578-1205. k

MAR 12 - JUN 19 th

th

ART EXHIBITIONS #FAIL

12th

- JAN

ART EXHIBITIONS SCHEMA: SHAWNE MAJOR Lafayette, Louisiana

In Major’s abstract compositions, Mardi Gras beads, tiny plastic toys, buttons, and jewelry are sewn together using long lengths of thread—a metaphor for the intricate layering and piling of inter-related belief systems that weave themselves into a person’s sense of self. A selection of her works, titled Schema, will be displayed in the Hilliard Art Museum’s atrium. hilliardmuseum.org. k

MAR 13th

LUCK O’ THE IRISH SLIDELL ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE Slidell, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

As beautiful as our world can be, systemic failures exist all around.

Twenty five artists from across the U.S. are coming together to create sculpture, video, paintings, prints, performances,

Olde Towne Slidell goes green with its almost fifty-year-old St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Throws include thousands of cabbages, onions, potatoes and carrots to make Irish stew. Plus ramen, fruits, beads, and toys. Noon. Follows traditional

S AV E T H E D AT E

Symposium

Symposium

P R E S E N T E D B Y LO N G U E V U E April 7–9, 2022 | 7 Bamboo Road

For more than 30 years the Design Symposium has welcomed renowned designers focusing on interior and exterior spaces and the intersection between the two.

This year, the Symposium returns to the grounds of Longue Vue with featured speakers Edwina von Gal and Cathy Kincaid.

Kincaid TICKETS AVAILABLE AT LONGUEVUE.COM

Edwina von Gal Cathy Kincaid April 7-8, 2021 | Longue Vue 26

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Slidell parade route, setting out from City Hall at 1 pm. myslidell.com. k

MAR 13th

KNOWING NATURE READY, TECH, GO! CITY NATURE CHALLENGE 2022 Port Allen, Louisiana

The Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater Baton Rouge are teaming up with the West Baton Rouge Museum to help kids and adults alike prepare for the City Nature Challenge 2022 at the end of April. Get ready to help put Baton Rouge on the map during the four-day international nature competition— which involves identifying trees, shrubs, birds, and other f lora and fauna—with the help of knowledgable experts. To participate in this training event, simply show up or email brnaturechallenge@gmail.com. 2 pm.

Free. wbrmuseum.org. k

MAR

13th

FUN FUNDRAISERS LEGENDS GALA Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Join Baton Rouge contemporary dance company Of Moving Colors for one of their legendary parties—this one will entail an evening of food, drink, music, and fun surprises. The theme of the

Baton Rouge’s contemporary dance company Of Moving Colors is bringing their Legends Gala back to Baton Rouge’s Gallery 14, this year with the theme “Through Time,” reminding party-goers that there is no time like the present to create. Image courtesy of OMC.

gala is “Through Time,” reminding guests that from 15 billion B.C. through today and into the future, now is our perfect time to express ourselves. The gala is sponsored by Aetna and will be held at Gallery 14.

7 pm–10 pm. $100, $250 VIP duo. ofmovingcolors.org. k

MAR

13th

SHOPPING SPREES HELEN BRETT GIFT & JEWELRY SHOW Gonzales, Louisiana

This sprawling springtime bonanza will feature nearly five hundred vendors in the

Lamar-Dixon Expo Center. Jewelry, home decor, and seasonal gifts at wholesale prices will all be present for perusing. The show will be open exclusively to buyers on March 11, and to the public on March 12 and 13.

10 am–5 pm Friday and Saturday, and 10 am–4 pm Sunday. $17. Children under fifteen free. helenbrettexhibits.com. k

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ADVERTISEMENT

EURO FEST 2022

Events

APRIL 23 • FREE TO ALL • 10AM-5PM

Beginning March 13th - March 17th MAR

13th - MAR 27th

ARTFUL OUTINGS MEAT MEET SALON SERIES Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The innovative, arts-forward, anti-profit group Yes We Cannibal is hosting talks and performances with artists in person, as well as streamed to Twitch in their Meat Meet Salon Series. Sundays 4 pm–6 pm at Yes We Cannibal’s Government Street space or twitch.tv/yeswecannibal. Free. The schedule is as follows: March 13: Discussion with Laramie Griffin, president of EvolvE (Victory Over Louisiana Violence) March 20: Film screening of W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971) March 27: Interview and presentation with Active Cultures (Los Angeles) yeswecannibal.org. k

MAR

16th

CONCERTS RIVER CITY JAZZ MASTERS: HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge’s

annual series attracting some of the world’s most talented jazz artists welcomes famed Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa Torres to the Manship Theatre stage. 7:30 pm. $28–$48. manshiptheatre.org. k

MAR

17th

ART EXHIBITIONS OLIVIA MCNEELY PASS Saint Francisville, Louisiana

A special opening reception will be held at the Backwoods Gallery this weekend for the gallery’s newest exhibition featuring the work of Olivia McNelly Pass. At age seventy-five, Pass used the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to put her artwork on the front burner, spending two to five mornings a week drawing and painting at the Charter Street Studio in Jackson, Louisiana. Her work, which ranges from oils to watercolors, frequently depicts scenes from West Feliciana, Sabine, and Avoyelles Parishes. This will be her first solo exhibition, and all works will be available for purchase. 5 pm–7 pm. Free and open to the (vaccinated) public. For additional information, call Backwoods Gallery owner Joe Savell at (225) 721-1736. k

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NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI EXPERIENCE THE GRAND AUTOS & MOTORCYCLES OF EUROPE

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MAR

17th

CHAMPIONS OF GROOVE SLIM HARPO MUSIC AWARDS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Named in honor of the legendary Baton Rouge blues fixture James Moore, better known by his stage name Slim Harpo, the annual Slim Harpo Music Awards have honored greats in local music and beyond since 2003. This year’s Pioneer Awards will go to Baton Rouge musicians drummer Michael Jo Monk Caesar; bassists Doug Brousseau and Miguel D. Hernandez; and guitarist Johnny Rossetti.

Bassist David Hyde, a Hammond native, will also receive a Pioneer Award. The Legend Award is set to go to Shreveport guitarist and songwriter Buddy Flett, and the Ambassador Award will be presented to Lafayette radio personality Raoul Breaux. 7:30 pm at Phil Brady’s. $20 admission includes jambalaya. louisianasmusic.com/slim-harpo-musicawards. k

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MAR 17th

KNOWING NATURE AUDUBON SOCIETY WORKSHOP: BIRDS OF LOUISIANA Gonzales, Louisiana

Join president of the Baton Rouge Audubon Society and avid birder Jane Patterson to learn about the many birds that can be found in Ascension Parish and beyond. 6 pm. Free. myapl.org. k

MAR 17th - MAR 19th

MUSIC FESTIVALS DANNY BARKER BANJO & GUITAR FESTIVAL New Orleans, Louisiana

Danny Barker—famed New Orleans jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, ukulele player, and author—made a lasting impact on the longevity of jazz in New Orleans. The Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival was established to preserve the importance of art, education,

2

APRIL 23 & 24, 2022

SATURDAY & SUNDAY • 10 AM TO 5 PM ANTIQUES | VINTAGE COLLECTIBLES & CRAFTS ARCHITECTURAL SALVAGE | APPRAISALS | FOOD | MUSIC & MORE . . .

STAA COVINGTON ART MARKET For more information, visit www.covingtonheritagefoundation.com, or email sbonnett@covla.com

COVINGTON TRAILHEAD | 419 N. NEW HAMPSHIRE STREET | COVINGTON, LOUISIANA 70433 | 985.892.1873 28

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ST. TAMMANY ART ASSOCIATION

and culture, which organizers suggest will erode in time if not cherished and celebrated to shape the youth of the next generation. Barker’s greatest wish was for the banjo and guitar to carry the musical tradition into the future. In addition to live entertainment, the festival offers workshops and clinics, providing a hands-on approach. This four-day feast happens at a handful of venues across New Orleans, and features clinics, a birthday celebration for Barker, many live performances, a parade, panel discussions, film screenings, and more. Some events are free; others have a cost for admission. dannybarkerfestival.com. k

MAR 17th - MAR 19th ART EXHIBITIONS ART ON 45

inspired by the music on a 45rpm (7”) record. The works of art are then entered into a juried two-week exhibition, and two pieces receive Juror’s Choice Awards.

The project, now in its sixth year, has attracted artists from across Louisiana and beyond, and many art collectors have begun to add a 45 or two to their collection from the shows each year. The pieces for each year’s exhibition also go into an ART ON 45 book, which has become a collectable on its own. For the 2021/22 exhibit/auction, the pieces will support the work of the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB) in Ruston. There will be an online auction from March 17–19, and if COVID allows, a reception on March 19 from 6 pm–8:30 pm at Fine Line Supply Co., 207 N Trenton Street, in downtown Ruston. christianedrieling.com/art-on-45. k

Each year, Ruston-based collage artist Christiane Drieling invites artists from across Louisiana and beyond to create artwork on 45rpm vinyl records. Image courtesy of Christiane Drieling.

Ruston, Louisiana & Online

Seven years ago, Ruston-based collage artist Christiane Drieling picked up a box of old 45rpm vinyl records at a thrift store. Even more than listening to them herself, she enjoyed imagining the stories of others who had once listened to them: “I like to imagine in what situation a certain song was played, who danced to the tunes. Who listened with who and dreamed about what?” So, Drieling had the idea for ART ON 45: a project for which she invites artists of all mediums and locations to create a work of art

MAR

17th - MAR 20th

BOOK BONANZAS LSU BOOK BAZAAR

Friday; 9 am–5 pm Saturday; and 9 am– 4 pm Sunday. Admission is free. lib.lsu.edu/about/friends/bazaar. k

MAR 17th - APR MUSICALS THE PRODUCERS

3rd

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

New Iberia, Louisiana

Over 65,000 books representing dozens of genres will be up for grabs at the John M. Parker Coliseum, from contemporary fiction to rare and collectible books. They come in all forms and sizes, from hardback to leather bound and oversized. Proceeds from the Bazaar go into an endowment supporting LSU Libraries. 9 am–7 pm Thursday and

Based on the Mel Brooks movie, The Producers tells the tale of what happens when the creatives want it all to go wrong.

Producing a Broadway musical titled Springtime for Hitler is a good place to start. This award-winning musical will be performed by the Iberia Performing Arts League, directed by Kaleigh Lay. Thursday–

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Events

MAR

MAR

18th

CREATIVE CLASSES MASTER CLASS WITH CHRIS THOMAS KING Port Allen, Louisiana

Pack up your favorite libations, and open your mind to the history of our community.

This month’s Historical Happy Hour features Grammy Award-winning local musician and Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? actor Chris Thomas King, son of Tabby Thomas, who will be joined by a handful of his talented former music mentees for musical performances, tributes, and discussions. Held on the back lawn near the Juke Joint; bring blankets and folding chairs. 6 pm–8 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.com. k

MAR

18th

CREATIVE CLASSES POCKET PLANTERS WORKSHOP Covington, Louisiana

Spend an evening with the St. Tammany

- MAR

LOCAL HISTORY INVITATION TO ST. FRANCISVILLE

Beginning March 18th Saturday at 7:30 pm; Sunday at 2 pm. $20. ipaltheater.com. k

18th

19th

Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Arts Association, perfecting your hand building technique and crafting an opportunity for botanical beauty in your home. These ceramic wall planters are lovely and unique, and instructor Janie Dick will lead the way in building and glazing. 6 pm–8 pm. $100. sttammany.art. k

MAR

18th

- MAR

19th

SILVER SCREEN CANE RIVER FILM FESTIVAL Natchitoches, Louisiana

Produced by the Resurrection Ferm Foundation, the Cane River Film Festival brings Louisiana stories to a worldwide audience through its annual exhibition of locally-made films. The weekend heads off with a welcome reception at Fort St. Jean Baptiste, followed by an opening VIP celebration at the H.A. Cook Guest House. Saturday brings all of the film screenings, shown at the Parkway Cinema 6 from 11 am–6 pm. Free and open to the public. And then all comes to a close at Mariner’s Restaurant for a networking dinner from 7 pm–10 pm. caneriverfilmfestival.com. k

Join the West Feliciana Historical Society for an exciting weekend of events surrounding the history of the West Florida Rebellion of 1810. On Friday, head to the Museum for a “Taste of the Republic” craft beer tasting, with food, music, and camaraderie around the subject of St. Francisville history. 6:30 pm. $75. On Saturday morning, engage with the history of the rebellion through a special walking tour hosted by the Society.

9:30 am–4 pm. $25. More details at invitationtostfrancisville.org. k

MAR 18th - MAR 20th

SPRING FESTIVALS FESTIVALS ACADIENS ET CRÉOLES SPRING FESTIVAL

Grand Return.” There will also be a fall festival in October 2022. Non-stop cultural immersion includes the Bayou Food Festival, Louisiana Crafts Fair, workshops, cooking demonstrations, and a French Mass. There will also be multiple stages of live music, featuring beloved Louisiana musicians including: Bonsoir, Catin; the Lafayette Rhythm Devils; Horace Trahan and the Ossun Express; Feufollet; the Pine Leaf Boys; Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie; Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys; Huval-Fuselier Cajun Band; The Daiquiri Queens; Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers; Cedric Watson & Bijou Créole; and many, many more. Free.

5:30 pm–8:30 pm Friday, 10:30 am– 8 pm Saturday, 10:30 am–7:30 pm Sunday. festivalsacadiens.com. k

MAR 18th - MAR

20th

FOOD FESTIVALS AMITE OYSTER FESTIVAL

Lafayette, Louisiana

Amite, Louisiana

Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is returning to pay tribute to the music, food, and arts passed down since the arrival of the Acadian pioneers 250 years ago. The largest Cajun and Creole culture festival is coming back with a spring festival for the first time in over forty years, with the theme “Le Grand Retour,” or “The

A staple of the local economy as well as the local palate, oysters have good reason to be celebrated in Amite—and the real pearl is the three days of the Amite Oyster Festival.

Carnival rides, live music performances, local food and drink, and parading and pageantry galore with the theme “The Pearl of Louisiana”—not to mention a

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Events

Beginning March 19th - March 24th healthy (or maybe not so healthy) portion of fresh oysters, all in downtown Amite. 5 pm– midnight Friday; 10 am–11 pm Saturday; 10 am–6 pm Sunday. amiteoysterfestival.com. k

MAR

19th

SPRING FESTIVALS WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FESTIVAL undefined, undefined

For decades, the whiskered fish was the guest of honor every year at the Washington Festival Grounds. Now, members of the community are coming together to revitalize the spirit of the old Washington Catfish Festival into a bright and shiny Washington Community Festival, featuring many of the beloved activities and programming of the old fête, on Washington’s Main Street.

Expect blocks of vendors, live music, an antique car show, a catfish gravy cook-off, a silent auction, and a Kid’s Korner with games for children of every age. 10 am–9 pm. Free. (337) 826-3626. k

MAR

19th

CONCERTS ABITA SPRINGS OPRY CONCERTS Abita Springs, Louisiana

The Abita Springs Opry is devoted to preserving Louisiana’s indigenous music in all its guises. Arrive early and join the folks who’ve made a ritual of enjoying gumbo, hot dogs, and homemade pastries, not to mention the pre-show sound checks and front porch concerts. It all adds up to the good ol’ family atmosphere that the Opry strives for. The lineup for March includes performances by the Steve Anderson Group, the Band of Brothers, Ben Redwine Jazz Band, and The Cailidh Ramblers.

7 pm–9 pm. $20. abitaopry.org. k

MAR

19th

CHEERS CHAFUNKTA BREWING’S 9TH ANNIVERSARY BASH Mandeville, Louisiana

Celebrate nine years of good times and good local brews at Chafunkta Brewing Company’s Eighth Anniversary Bash. It wouldn’t be a party without a live band, food, and you guessed it—plenty of beer.

Noon–10 pm. Free. chafunktabrew.com. k

MAR

19th

ARTS MARKETS ARTS EVENING AT OLDE TOWNE SLIDELL Slidell, Louisiana

Join the City of Slidell for the return of 32

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

the annual Arts Evening in Olde Towne Slidell. This event is one of the largest and most celebrated cultural festivals on the Northshore, an entertaining evening filled with art, food, live music, dancing, fine dining, and antique and boutique shopping.

More than one hundred artists and art organizations will display their works at locations throughout Olde Towne, with live music and entertainment throughout.

Whether it’s classic rock, R&B, jazz, variety, rock ’n’ roll, or acoustic, there’s something for every musical taste. In addition to visual and performing artists, patrons will enjoy fine and casual dining at participating Arts Evening restaurants and opportunities to shop for antiques, furnishings, and more in Olde Towne’s boutiques. This year’s featured exhibition will be staged at the Slidell Cultural Center at City Hall: George Dunbar: Retrospective, on view from March 18–April 22. In order to provide easy access to participating Arts Evening locations, the city’s shuttle and street car will run throughout Olde Towne from 4 pm– 10 pm. Event runs from 4 pm–9 pm.

Free. For the complete list of artists and entertainers featured throughout Olde Towne, visit myslidell.com. k

MAR

19th

CONCERTS JAY MILES GRIGGS FEATURING JOHNNY VIDACOVICH Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Guitarist Jay Miles Griggs will be joined by legendary New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich at Chorum Hall. Michael Pellera will also appear on piano, and Grayson Brockamp on bass. 7:30 pm–9 pm. $25–$40. bontempstix.com. k

MAR

19th

SPRING FESTIVALS FESTIVAL OF LIVE OAKS New Iberia, Louisiana

Louisiana loves its live oaks, and with good reason. Their beauty inspires, their branches offer shelter from the sun, their roots run deep. The Annual Festival of Live Oaks in live-oak laden New Iberia will offer arts & crafts, music, workshops, a barbecue cookoff, and children’s activities—including face painting, pony rides, and this year, a junior barbecue cook-off. 9 am–3 pm in New Iberia City Park. iberiatravel.com. k

MAR

19th

FLEA MARKETS EXIT 11 YARD SALE Grand Coteau, Louisiana

This shopping experience runs through the historic towns of Grand Coteau and Sunset,

where residents and visitors are invited to set up tables to sell anything from crafts, antiques and furniture, jewelry, glassware, and one-of-a-kind items. Some shops will feature special sales or one-day discounts.

7 am–4 pm, along highways 93 & 182 in Grand Coteau and Sunset, I-49 Exit 11.

Free. (337) 313-4448 or (337) 331-5577. k

MAR

March 31: Main Branch in Livingston, 6 pm. mylpl.info. k

MAR 23rd - MAR 27th

LOVING LITERATURE THE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS & NEW ORLEANS LITERARY FESTIVAL

19th - MAR 20th

New Orleans, Louisiana

MARKETS BAYOU HOME SHOW & CANNATA’S FESTIVAL OF FOOD MARCH Houma, Louisiana

Stop by the Houma–Terrebonne Civic Center to find all for your home needs, for both inside and out. Whether you need something for your bathroom, kitchen, living room, outdoor sitting area, or you just like looking at home products and sampling from forty plus vendors while you do, the Bayou Home Show is something you won’t want to miss. 10 am–5 pm. $6 for adults, free for children twelve and younger, $4 for military. k

MAR 21st & MAR 31st

CREATIVE CLASSES DIGITAL MUSIC PRODUCTION FOR BEGINNERS

Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is returning in 2022 with two festivals: one this month, and another in October. See listing on page 31. Image courtesy of Festivals Acadiens et Créoles.

a possibility as you might think—not

able to take them home via MP3 file.

with this helpful beginners’ class with

Bring your own headphones, or borrow

the Livingston Parish Library, which

some there. Registration is required,

teaches the basic tenants of FL Studio,

and basic computer knowledge is a

a popular music production application

prerequisite. For ages fourteen and up.

used worldwide. Participants will learn

Free.

Livingston, Louisiana

how to make their own beat using the

March 21: Denham Springs-Walker

Producing your music isn’t as far away

library computers, and will even be

Branch, 7 pm.

The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival returns to the French Quarter for the annual celebration of contemporary literature, culture, theater, and the works of Tennessee Williams.

More than a typical book festival, TWNOLF usually showcases awardwinning writers, actors, musicians, and other artists in over 150 events in the French Quarter and other New Orleans venues. Literary walking tours, book talks, music events, culinary events, literary panels, theatre events, and much more will come together for the five days of Williams-inspired revelry. Tickets when they’re available and the full schedule of events at tennesseewilliams.net. k

MAR

24th - MAR 27th

ART MEETS NATURE ART IN BLOOM 2022 New Orleans, Louisiana

One of the most anticipated springtime

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Events

Beginning March 25th - March 26th events in New Orleans, Art in Bloom showcases spectacular floral designs created by garden clubs, floral designers, and creative talents from New Orleans and beyond. This year’s theme, “In Full Bloom,” celebrates, through floral expression, the joy of returning to our pre-pandemic way of life.

In addition to fabulous floral installations on view for five days at NOMA, Queen Nefertari’s Egypt will also be on display during Art in Bloom. noma.org. k

MAR 25 - MAR 26 th

th

MUSIC FESTS BUKU MUSIC + ART New Orleans, Louisiana

Held in New Orleans’ Warehouse District, flanked by an active railroad, a dilapidated power plant, and barges floating by on the Mississippi, the vibe at Buku Music + Art Project is definitively industrial. But it is also quintessentially New Orleans. One of the stages, called Float Den, is at all other times of the year a Mardi Gras float manufacturing warehouse: Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World. The amalgamation of energies fits perfectly with the festival’s fusion

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of electronic dance music, hip-hop, and indie rock. It’s a dance party with a gritty, urban vibe. This year’s lineup includes Tame Impala, Porter Robinson, Taking Back Sunday, Tierra Whack, Alison Wonderland, and so, so many more. $120 per day; $239.50 for a two-day pass, plus plenty of options for extras. thebukuproject.com. k

MAR 25th - MAR 26th SHOPPING SPREES MARKET ON THE HILL

inflatables, and gem mining (for a fee). $15 Friday; $10 Saturday; $20 for a twoday pass. Children twelve and younger are free. The weekend will come to an official end on Saturday evening, with Tacky Prom, an event for attendees twenty-one years old and older.

Admission includes dinner; BYOB. 8 pm–11 pm. $75; $600 for a table of eight. All proceeds from the chili cook off and Tacky Prom will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Tickets at eventbrite.com. k

MAR

25

th

- MAR

GOOD EATS COOKING IN CENTRAL FESTIVAL

27

th

Ethel, Louisiana

Central, Louisiana

Spend a weekend at the wondrous Barn Hill Preserve, home to kangaroos, giraffes, sloths, and more. Kicking off on Friday evening, attendees can expect shopping, live music, and boiled crawfish available for purchase from 5 pm–10 pm. The fun carries on Saturday, starting with a chili cook off and centered by a vintage-inspired outdoor market featuring antiques, handmade treasures, home decor, boutique clothing, and more—all against a backdrop of live music and food. Other exciting activities include a kangaroo walk, interactive animal shows,

Cooking in Central is back this year, this time to raise money for the continued Hurricane Ida relief efforts in Lower Terrebonne Parish. The city’s “largest crawfish boil” begins a 5 pm Friday for $20 a plate, with the Progressive Auction starting at 6 pm, and The Molly Ringwalds playing at 7 pm. On Saturday festival gates open at 2 pm, with music from the School of Rock Band starting at 4 pm. Starting at 5 pm Saturday attendees can enjoy the delicious outcome of the barbecue cook-off for $15 a plate, which includes

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

jambalaya, cochon de lait, barbecue chicken, and pork roast. Entertainment continues into Saturday night with the Chase Tyler Band at 7 pm, with children’s activities, auctions, and other fun throughout the weekend. Tickets are available at all Central public schools, the Central Chamber of Commerce, and Ross Tire and Service. For more information and cook-off entry forms, visit cookingincentral.com. k

MAR

26th

OPERA OUTSIDE OPEN AIR FAIR Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Bringing opera to the people, as it does best, Opéra Louisiane presents an afternoon of live music and experiences for the entire family through its Open Air Fair. Part of its Young People’s Opera Program and presented in partnership with the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Branch Library at Goodwood, participants can learn to dance, draw, and sing from master artists. Stick around for the live show to hear a captivating performance of Hoffman’s Infinite Imagination, dance along, participate in a scavenger hunt, tell your story, or lay down a beat in the kids’ drum circle. 11:30–1:30 pm. Free. operalouisiane.com. k

A Special Advertising Feature from Monroe/West Monroe CVB

Tour the Twin Cities: Monroe-West Monroe

Discover elegant gardens in bloom, a hill country winery, and a thriving local arts scene stacked with events this spring.

F

rom art galleries and historic museums, to formal gardens, nature refuges and a trove of family-friendly excursions, Monroe-West Monroe beckons with outdoor and cultural attractions that make for a dream North Louisiana getaway.

The blooming of the tulips at Biedenharn Museum and Gardens is a sight for sore eyes; the retro museum and historic home on Riverside Drive preserve the legacy of Joseph Augustus Biedenharn, known for opening the first Coca-Cola bottling factory in Monroe and forming the beginning of the global franchise we know today. The museum features vintage Coke memorabilia, including an original fivecent vending machine and an old-fashioned soda jerk. The home also recounts the life story of Biedenharn’s only daughter, Emy-Lou, a renowned opera singer in pre-WWII Europe, who developed the estate’s formal English gardens upon her return to Monroe.

Head over to H2Go Paddle and rent a kayak or paddle board and drift along the scenic waters of the Ouachita River, Bayou Desiard, or the expansive 1,600-acre lake at the center of Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. If you happen to have little ones in tow, you’ve come to the right place.

At the Northeast Louisiana Children’s Museum, children can play doctor at their Discovery Hospital, or embark on a safari boat ride (!) through the swamp habitat at Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo. Monroe-West Monroe’s creative spirit runs deep, and its epicenter can be found at Art Alley—a collective of ten galleries placing the work of local artists front and center.

The best time to experience the breadth of local talent on display, however, is during the Downtown Gallery Crawl, held on the first Thursday of the month in April, June, August, October, and December.

Home to the largest visual arts museum in North Louisiana, the Masur Museum of Art—located in the former Tudor-style home of the Masur family—hosts rotating exhibits that often offer a platform for lesserknown perspectives. Upcoming is the fiftyninth annual juried art competition, on view from February 24 through May 7. Last but not least, don’t be surprised to see a number of heron sculptures scattered throughout the Twin Cities. Herons on the Bayou is a public art installation consisting of eighty-six unique, life-size herons, each designed by a local artist.

As for the performing arts, the Strauss Little Theatre will perform Neil Simon’s revision of The Odd Couple as part of its spring season, running March 17–26, followed by the musical comedy Company, slated to run April 21–30. For their highly anticipated annual spring showcase, Ballet Under the Stars, the Twin City Ballet will perform at the sprawling Kiroli Park Amphitheater April 21–24.

Running each year from March through May and again in September through October, the popular outdoor concert series at Landry Vineyards are back. Nestled in West Monroe’s hill country, the winery is a scenic setting for enjoying live music, so claim a spot on the grass and grab a glass of Redneck Red or Peach Muscadine. Can’t make it?

Worry not–the vineyard’s tasting room is open Monday through Saturday, 11 am—5:30 pm.

If you’d rather get your hands on a local craft brew, look no further than Flying Tiger Brewery. The brewery’s military theme pays homage to hometown hero Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, whose Flying Tigers fighter pilots were instrumental in helping Allied forces in World War II.

The contemporary Parish Restaurant & Bar, the brainchild of award-winning Chef Cory Bahr—a Monroe native, champion of the Food Network’s Chopped cooking competition, and culinary conservation advocate—offers a creative take on classic Southern cuisine with a menu designed around eating local, emphasizing fresh Gulf seafood, pasta made in-house daily, and prime beef. Standout dishes include hearthbaked Mississippi sweet potato bread, signature duck wraps, and alligator karaage.

Bahr’s culinary influence can also be seen on the menu at Standard Coffee Co., the specialty coffee shop he founded with his wife, Whitney. A lunch menu of hot sandwiches, miso and tonkotsu ramen, and fresh pastries (like the chef’s famous holy biscuits, ricotta toast with honey hazelnut brittle, or king cake scones, to name a few) make it one of the most popular spots in town.

Don’t leave without stopping by Antique Alley in downtown West Monroe for a coalescence of merchants, antiques shops,

specialty stores, and restaurants. Also located in the Cotton Port Historic District, the Hamilton House Inn is a Romanesque Revival-style bed-and-breakfast (and a favorite among locals) if you’re thinking of extending your stay. We wouldn’t blame you one bit. monroe-westmonroe.org

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Events

ride (and hike!) is to raise money and awareness for the Cancer Association of

Beginning March 26 - March 27 th

MAR 26th

MARKETS ABITA SPRINGS WHOLE TOWN GARAGE SALE & FLEA MARKET Abita Springs, Louisiana

Each year in March, since 1994, hundreds of Abita Springs residents have had their garage sales on the same day. If you fancy snatching up a bargain in this small-town celebration, come by Saturday between 8 am and 3 pm and browse the booths that are set up on the streets of this quaint little town. Free. louisiananorthshore.com. k

th

artists as well as the AcA. $75 per person. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

is asked to raise $300 for the cause

MUSIC FESTS TUNICA HILLS MUSIC FESTIVAL & JAM

with Facebook Fundraising, and upon

St. Francisville, Louisiana

completion the $75 reservation fee will

Once again, the hills come alive for the annual Tunica Hills Music Festival and Jam. Two stages welcome Louisiana musicians of all varieties for concerts, jam sessions, instruction, and celebration of the arts. Bring your blankets, chairs, coolers, and of course your instruments and settle in for a beautiful weekend in Parker Park.

10 am–10 pm. Free. stfrancisvillefestivals.com. k

Greater New Orleans. Each participant

be refunded and you will be entered into a drawing for a special prize to be given

MAR 26th

BIKE RACE TOUR DE LIS 2022 Mandeville, Louisiana

The purpose of this fun, non-competitive

MAR 26th

out after the ride. An award will be given to the highest fundraiser, as well. Choose your own mileage: ten, twenty, forty, or sixty-two. Begins at Fontainebleau State Park. Race begins at 8 am. tourdelisla.org. k

MAR

26th

- MAR

27th

CONCERTS SONGWRITERS SIDE BY SIDE

STEPPIN’ OUT CINDERELLA AT THE HEYMANN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Lafayette, Louisiana

Acadiana Center for the Arts is excited to announce Songwriters Side by Side at the historic Maison Madeleine at Lake Martin. This magical evening will feature an intimate concert with performances from Dirk Powell & Yvette Landry. Attendees will dine on delicious food, enjoy festive cocktails, and peruse beautiful artwork provided by local artists in a silent auction benefiting the

Experience the magic of Cinderella through a classical ballet, made possible by the Lafayette Ballet Theatre. The rags-to-riches story of one of our favorite princesses will come to life on stage, with performances by principal guest artists from the Pacific Northwest Ballet in a three-act, full-length production. 7 pm. Ticket prices vary. lafayetteballettheatre.org. k

MAR 26th

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Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre is welcoming dancers from the Oklahoma City Ballet to join the company on the River Center stage for Rapunzel: A Storybook Ballet. Image courtesy of BRBT.

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

MAR

26th - MAR 27th

THEATRE HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES Covington, Louisiana

A famously-beloved farce on the intricacies of love and lying, How the Other Half Loves is coming—in all its domestic glory—to Playmakers Theater in Covington. 7 pm on Saturdays; 2 pm on Sundays. $20; $17 for children seventeen and younger.

Tickets at bontempstix.com. playmakers-theater-05.webselt.net. k

MAR

26th - MAR 27th

SPRING FESTIVALS LOUISIANA WILDFOWL FESTIVAL Mandeville, Louisiana

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck in the Castine Center this weekend, it’s probably a masterfully-carved decoy.

The annual Louisiana Wildfowl Carvers & Collectors Guild Festival will bring hundreds of carvers from around the globe to Mandeville. The extensive list of categories include ducks, songbirds, fish, caricatures, wildlife, interpretive art, and more. There’s an auction, live decoy carving demonstrations, decoy painting contest, and a head whittling contest. Arts and crafts exhibitors will also set up in the Castine Center, and vendors will be on hand to sell carving and painting supplies. $5; free for children younger than twelve. 9 am–6 pm Saturday; 9 am–4 pm Sunday. 63350 Pelican Boulevard. (985) 790-9184 or lwccg.com. k

MAR

26th - MAR 27th

MARKETS SPRING PONTCHARTRAIN HOME SHOW & LOUISIANA FOOD FEST Kenner, Louisiana

Louisiana’s largest and longest running spring home show returns. This year’s event will feature exhibitors boasting the latest trends in kitchens, remodeling, flooring, outdoor living, and so much more. While you’re there, don’t miss the Louisiana Food Fest, where there will be free samples, tastings, coupons, and recipes from over twenty brands. At the “Tastes of Louisiana,” show visitors can also taste from an assortment of beverages from Louisiana breweries, vineyards, and distilleries. Every participant at the show has a chance to win door prizes, including spa days, restaurant certificates, and much more. 10 am–5 pm. $8; Children younger than twelve are free. jaaspro.com. k

upwards of two hundred vendors gather to peddle antique furniture, glass, vintage clothing, jewelry, collectibles, handmade crafts, and things to eat. It’s a colorful, walkable opportunity to find a wide range of merchandise, from 10 am– 5 pm both days on First, Second, and Erlanger streets. Free. slidellstreetfair.com. k

MAR

26th - MAR 27th

STEPPIN’ OUT RAPUNZEL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s final production of the season is a revival of Rapunzel: A Storybook Ballet, an original take on the long-haired damsel in distress conceived, choreographed, and directed

by Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s Rebecca Acosta and Jonna Cox. Paige Russell and Henrique Neumann, two professional dancers from the Oklahoma City Ballet who tour and dance as a couple, will be joining the BRBT company as Rapunzel and the Prince. 2 pm both days. $27–$47. batonrougeballet.org. k

MAR

27th

MUSIC FESTS GATESFEST ARTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL Metairie, Louisiana

Four stages of live music (featuring Sweet Crude, John Boutté, and Big Sam’s Funky Nation, among many others), plus the Team Gleason Beer Garden, a Family Fest Area just for kids and their grownups, food trucks, and plenty more fun at Congregation Gates of Prayer in Metairie. 10:30 am–7 pm. $54 for general admission. gatesfest.org. k

MAR

27th

NETWORKING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS WITH THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BATON ROUGE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Junior League of Baton Rouge is hosting a free community event as part of the “Building a Better America Today” program, which has the goal of fostering empathy, inclusion, diversity, and equity. Anyone from middle school age upwards who is interested in growing their understanding of these qualities is invited to attend this event at the Main Branch Library at Goodwood, to learn more about a series of online courses that can be completed on the participants’ own time through the spring and summer.

4 pm. ebrpl.com. k

MAR 27th

MARKETS SLIDELL SPRING STREET FAIR

GOOD EATS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CRAWFISH ETOUFFÉE COOK-OFF

Slidell, Louisiana

Eunice, Louisiana

In the heart of Olde Towne Slidell,

The étouffée extravaganza has Eunice

MAR

26th - MAR 27th

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Events

Beginning March 28th - March 31th simmerin’ again this year with crawfish and good times galore. And though we’re pretty sure places like Germany, Thailand, or Chile aren’t competing in the cook-off, we like the sound of world championship, too. While live Cajun and zydeco music play in the background, get to tasting—such a concentration of crawfish étouffée this delicious is not something you see every day. And don’t miss the arts and crafts vendors, petting zoo, pony rides, fun jumps and more, while you’re out there. Enjoy live music by Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, Gregory LeJeune & Cajun Heat, and Jason Frey & Lagniappe while chowing down from 10 am–4 pm, when the winners will be announced. Free. etouffeecookoff.org. k

MAR

28th

SILVER SCREEN LES VUES FREE FILM SERIES Lafayette, Louisiana

Grab some popcorn and settle down for this monthly film series in Vermilionville’s Performance Center, where films curated by filmmakers and enthusiasts range from features, documentaries, student film, shorts, and animation that focus on the theme of culture. Held on the last Monday of the month. Admission is free, but a suggested $5 goes toward screening and curating costs. 300 Fisher Road. 6:30 pm–8 pm. (337) 233-4077. vermilionville.org. k

MAR

Photo by David Brooke Martin

28th

LIVE MUSIC NEW ORLEANS FRIENDS OF MUSIC CHAMBER CONCERTS New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Friends of Music 20212022 season continues with performances from some of chamber music’s most accomplished artists. March’s performance is Musicians from Marlboro. 7:30 pm at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall. $35.

(504) 895-0690 or friendsofmusic.org. k

MAR

31st

LIVE MUSIC ROCKIN’ THE RAILS CONCERT SERIES Covington, Louisiana

Spring in Covington means it’s time for the Rockin’ the Rails concert series. Every Thursday night, attendees are treated to free live musical entertainment in historic downtown. This month, catch Kevin & The Blues Groovers (Rev. Peter Atkins Park).

Free at the Covington Trailhead.

5:30 pm–7:30 pm. covla.com. k 38

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FOR OUR FULL LIST OF MARCH EVENTS, INCLUDING THOSE WE COULDN’T FIT IN PRINT, POINT YOUR PHONE CAMERA HERE.

Special Advertising Section

Outdoors

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Outdoors & Gardening

Special Advertising Section

Content Sponsored by Bob’s Tree Preservation

Stress Management for Senior Oak Trees

S

enior Oak trees are old, aging, and in many cases stressed trees. Young trees are vigorous and can adjust to change.

Stressed and dying senior trees fail to adjust to change.

Changes include adding irrigation or landscape at base of old trees.

Construction activities such as soil cuts, soil fills, and driving heavy equipment (soil compaction) over the trees’ sensitive root zone area, all can kill old trees.

The Death phase or Senescence is the slow death period for aging live oak trees. Old oak trees in senescence phase can idle along for hundreds of years. Visual clues of senescence include: 1- Upper canopy dieback 2- Large, heavy, limb failures. 3- Aging oaks stop growing taller and begin growing a wider base. Aging oaks like aging people are less flexible, not able to bend and come back, and are more brittle.

Old oaks reach the limits of their site resources then begin to idle and decline. Excessive pruning of old oak trees can kill the tree.

Old oaks can live for centuries. The key to preserving Senior trees is to connect the tree to an ecological site that can sustain it. A tree is only as good as the site it is growing on.

Treatments for Senior Oaks • Expanding the trees’ resource space will improve health • Mulch, go wide, 1 to 2” layer of composted hardwood mulch (derived from local hardwood trees) • Improve soil health (de-compact and improve drainage) • Apply continuous small doses of elements (less nitrogen) more P, K, Ca, Mg. Use organics ( liquid compost, compost teas etc.) to restore soil biology • Remove interference (remove turf, vines, competing canopy).

• Prune to reduce mass (prune exterior canopy only, the middle of the tree is the No Pruning zone) • Support mass and control movement via cable, brace, guy, and support • Prevent insect and disease attacks (pest management) • Lightning kills! Protect old oak trees from lightning via installation of a lightning protection system • Have the senior oaks inspected annually by a qualified tree professional (ISA Certified Arborist)

Bob’s Tree Preser vation • (888) 620 -TREE (8733) • w w w.bobstree.com 40

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Outdoors & Gardening

Special Advertising Section Photo by Johanna Stadler, courtesy of Hilltop Arboretum

FLOWER HUNTING

Louisiana Born and Raised FIVE DESTINATIONS TO SEE NATIVE PLANTS AT THEIR BEST

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

I

t's no secret that Louisiana's natural environment is one of the most diverse, unique, and beautiful on the planet. The species that occur naturally in its watery wetlands, its towering hardwood forests, its rustling prairielands are strange and wild, of every color in the rainbow, awe-inducing in their ingenuity and their delicacy, with names like: PawPaw, Beautyberry, Green Dragon, Carolina Elephant's Foot, and Baby Blue Eyes.

Here we've selected five destinations in the state that have taken especial care to preserve existing native plantscapes or to foster new ones. From New Orleans to Natchitoches, discover parks and trails and preservation areas rich with species that were here long before us, flourishing wild on some of our region's most beautiful properties.

Hilltop Arboretum

In a past life, Hilltop’s fourteen acres served as Emory and Annette Smith’s farm—a rural oasis of forest, meadow, and farmland that the couple enjoyed from 1929 to 1988, when Emory donated all of it to Louisiana State University. Today, the site provides one of the region’s most extensive collections of Southern native plantlife, including 150 species of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.

Native Plantscapes: Hilltop’s most defining feature is its Cajun Prairie-inspired Meadow, three acres blossoming with various annual and perennial flowers and grasses. Throughout the year, students from the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, called the “Meadow Keepers,” travel across the state collecting wildflower seeds from other Cajun Prairies, and planting them at Hilltop.

Best Time of Year to Visit: According to Hilltop Business Manager Amy

Cathedral—an area of the arboretum once distinguished by high canopy trees, which has been affected by the last decade’s many hurricanes. Contributions will also support plantings of native hedgerows around the Arboretum’s perimeters.

Another way to be a part of Hilltop’s continued development is to become a member of the Friends of the Hilltop Arboretum organization, which works in partnership with LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture to preserve, protect, and enhance Hilltop. For a minimum of $35 per year, members gain free admission to over 320 gardens across North America, reduced rates for Hilltop programs and events, admission to the Annual Member Luncheon, a ten percent discount at the annual Plantfest! event, and more.

Learn more about donations and memberships at lsu.edu/hilltop/support or by calling (225) 767-6916.

Hughes, the best time to visit the arboretum is either in the fall, when the meadows are bursting with Swamp Sunflower, Goldenrod, Virginia Crownbeard, Ironweed, and more, or Spring, when the trees reach their aesthetic height. Keep an eye out, in particular, for the Silverbell tree, which only blooms for a single week in the spring.

Programming and Events: On April 9–10, Hilltop will host its popular Spring Fling Plant Sale, offering a wide selection of native and adapted trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, ferns, fruits, edibles, and ornamental grasses. 9 am–4 pm on Saturday; Noon–4 pm Sunday.

Hours: Sunday–Saturday, from dawn to dusk. Free.

Hilltop Arboretum

11855 Highland Road Baton Rouge, LA 70810

Get involved: Hilltop is currently accepting tax-deductible donations to support lsu.edu/hilltop

the installation of new plant collections and irrigations in the Central Ravine and the

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Special Advertising Section

Outdoors & Gardening

Photo by Linda Medine, courtesy of Hilltop Arboretum

Moncus Park

A community-led initiative that’s been in the works for almost twenty years now, the beloved Lafayette “Horse Farm” property officially opened as a full-fledged worldclass city park in January 2021. The one hundred-acre property shifts from rolling hills to forested trails and is distinguished by its century-old oak trees reigning in clusters throughout the park.

Best Time of Year to Visit: Though the park is a wonder at any time of year, the plants listed above are at their best in spring and early summer.

Native Plantscapes: Lovingly conceived to provide an an accessible introduction to the Lafayette area's original natural state, Moncus Park also includes intentionallycurated ecosystems including a wetland pond, horticultural gardens, an iris garden, and over two hundred newly-planted magnolias, oaks, and cypress trees across the property. In the summer of 2021, the Moncus Park team collaborated with the Acadiana Native Plant Project to survey the forests along the back of the park, and counted over ninety native species. Among the trees they encountered are: Manglier, Eastern red cedar, Wax myrtle, Black cherry, and American elm. They discovered Giant ragweed, Carolina elephant’s foot, and Resurrection fern; Carolina coralbead, Frost grape, and Peppervine; Oval leaf sedge, Basket grass, and Meadow garlic.

Get involved: Totally conceived of and supported by the Lafayette community, Moncus Park depends on dedicated volunteers year-round in terms of maintaining and improving the health of the park. On the third Thursday of every month, from 9 am–noon, volunteers are invited to assist with tasks like spreading mulch, weeding flower beds, and picking up litter in the park. Volunteers can also participate in the park’s “Adopt a Bed” program, in which individuals and organizations take responsibility for weeding and replenishing a dedicated garden bed on a weekly basis. For other volunteer opportunities, you can contact Nicholas Moss at nmoss@moncuspark.org or visit moncuspark.org/volunteer.

There are also various dedicated donation opportunities, from supporting the

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Hours: Sunday–Saturday. The front fifty acres of the park are open from 5 pm–10 pm; Wooded ravines and Cajun Prairie are open from sunrise to sunset. Free.

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Neches River Rose in New Orleans City Park Native Garden. Photo courtesy of New Orleans City Park.

Joe Pye Weed in New Orleans City Park Native Garden. Photo courtesy of New Orleans City Park.

development of Lake Reaux to planting a tree, listed at moncuspark.org/donate.

For a more long-term contribution, Moncus Park’s membership program starts at $25 per year, and includes recognition on the Moncus Park website, access to members-only announcements and discounts, and an “It’s My Park” decal.

Programming and Events: For nine years, the Lafayette Farmers & Artisans Market has set up under the giant oak tree at today's Moncus Park on Saturday mornings—featuring a lively conglomeration of over fifty local artisans, growers, and musicians from all across the state. Other regular events include Food Truck Fridays, which feature a locally-owned food truck each week; regular fitness classes, including some targeted towards kids; a women’s walking club; cooking classes, and even en plein air French workshops. For a full listing of Moncus Park’s monthly events, visit moncuspark.org/events.

Moncus Park 2913 Johnston Street Lafayette, LA 70 70503 moncuspark.org // M A R 2 2

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Outdoors & Gardening

Special Advertising Section

Dig into your culture with a Country Roads subscription.

Get or gift a print subscription at countryroadsmag.com

Coneflowers at Moncus Park. Courtesy of Moncus Park

New Orleans City Park

New Orleans City Park is considered one of the largest urban parks in the country, with 1,300 acres of natural oasis and community attractions from a golf course and fishing ponds to the New Orleans Museum of Art and the antique carousel. Within this Crescent City mecca, though, visitors can also find pockets dedicated to the native flora and fauna of Louisiana.

Summer

C A M P

Native Plantscapes: Native Gardens: On the South Side of the park, the ten-acre Botanical Garden

was originally planted in 1936 as a WPA project and carries on today as an Art Deco ornamental wonderland. Inside, one corner is dedicated entirely to native plantings, featuring a dazzling presentation of native ecosystems ranging from thicket to prairie to pine forest to wetland. Expect to find Swamp Doghobble, Blue-Eyed Grasses, Rattlesnake Master, Texas Coneflower, Louisiana Irises, and a large Southern Magnolia at the center.

Big Lake Native Plant Trail: City Park’s Big Lake—surrounded by an array of

art installations, biking paths, and boating opportunities—also boasts a beautiful walking trail designed to spotlight hundreds of species native to New Orleans, including Prairie Verbena, Blazing Star, Blue Wood Sedge, White Prairie Clover, and many, many more.

Besthoff Sculpture Garden: The New Orleans Museum of Art’s alreadymagnificent sculpture garden has benefitted in recent years from the volunteer efforts of the Greater New Orleans Iris Society, who have planted and maintained vibrant beds of Louisiana Irises throughout the garden.

Hours: Sunday–Saturday. From thirty minutes before official sunrise until thirty

Explore Louisiana A-Z Registration Begins

March 5

brec.org/summercamp 44

225-343-4955

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minutes after official sunset. Free.

Programming and Events: Every second Saturday of the month, City Park

hosts the Arts Council New Orleans’ Arts Market on the Goldring/Woldenberg Great Lawn, featuring more than thirty Gulf South artists showcasing their handmade work. Also on second Saturdays, find the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra at the Popp Bandstand, featuring classical music performances paired with a different story each month.

Outdoors & Gardening

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Outdoors & Gardening

Special Advertising Section

Get involved: Currently the Friends of City Park are hosting volunteers every week as they aim to restore and maintain the native plant beds along the Big Lake Native Plant Trail. Volunteers will assist in weeding, removal of plant debris, mulching, shoveling, and other tasks. Tools, water, and bug spray will be provided; volunteers are asked to bring proof of vaccination or negative COVID test results, a reusable water bottle, and sunscreen. 9 am–11 am on Fridays.

Inquire about the Big Lake Native Trail Restoration Project and other volunteer opportunities through volunteer@nocp.org.

You can also join the Friends of City Park organization, which comes with plenty of exclusive perks to make your support worthwhile. An individual membership of $57 per year (there are also plenty of options for seniors and families) comes with discounts to most of the activities and events that take place in the park year-round and funds the continued growth and maintenance of New Orleans City Park. Learn more at friendsofcitypark.com.

New Orleans City Park 1 Palm Drive New Orleans, LA 70124 Neworleanscitypark.com

Native Plantscapes: Dormon’s sanctuary is cradled beneath native loblolly pines—many estimated to be between 120–300 years old—mixed with other hardwoods, including blossoming dogwoods and other native trees. At the height of spring, the forest is painted in color by blooming mountain laurel, native azaleas, and Louisiana Iris; Virginia bluebell, trillium, and wild cherry. A wildflower meadow features daffodils, shrubs of American olive, and rhododendron in abundance, along with the rare Louisiana Bluestar. And, truly, so much more.

Lawton Lane; $3 through Chicot State Park entrance to the J.D. “Prof” Lafleur Visitor’s Center.

Get Involved: The Louisiana State Arboretum’s Friends group, which was awarded

501(c)(3) status in 2008, works to enhance the arboretum through continued development of Arboretum programs and educational initiatives, as well as promotion of the Arboretum throughout the region. Individual memberships are $20; family memberships are $25. More information is available at friendslaarb.org. Volunteer opportunities are also available on occasion. If interested in learning how you can be involved, call the Arboretum at (337) 363-5616.

Louisiana State Arboretum 1300 Sudie Lawton Lane Ville Platte, LA 70586 Or at Chicot State Park 3469 Chicot Park Road Ville Platte, LA 70586

Southern Shield Firm at Moncus Park. Courtesy of Moncus Park.

Briarwood Nature Preserve 216 Caroline Dormon Road Saline, LA 71070 briarwoodnp.org

Louisiana State Arboretum

In 1964, Louisiana officially opened and dedicated the first state-supported Arboretum in the United States in Ville Platte, using three hundred acres of land originally part of Chicot State Park. Now expanded to six hundred acres, the Arboretum is recognized as one of the most expansive examples of Louisiana’s ecological diversity—featuring five distinct ecosystems and hundreds of species of wildlife.

Read more about the Louisiana State Arboretum’s history on page 68.

Native Plantscapes:

Inside the Arboretum, visitors 46

Hours: Sunday–Saturday. 9 am–5 pm. Free through old entrance at 1300 Sudie

of programming, including Guided Hikes, Bird Hikes, Guided Canoe Tours, and informationals on topics like “Mammals of Louisiana,” “Owls,” and more. Their most up-to-date upcoming events can be found on the Louisiana State Arboretum Facebook page.

The birthplace and home of the groundbreaking naturalist, author, and artist Caroline Dormon—Briarwood Nature Preserve carries on her great legacy by preserving Southern native wildflowers and forest ecosystems. Some have argued that Briarwood possesses the largest collection of native plants in Louisiana—featuring hundreds of flowers, trees, and shrubs collected and planted by Dormon herself.

by appointment only during the months of March, April, May, October, and November. To schedule a private tour, call (318)578-3379. $5 recommended donation.

Best Time of Year to Visit: According to Arboretum Curator Kim Hollier, the Arboretum is at its showiest during the months of March, April, and November.

“The weather is usually nice and you have either spring flowers or fall color going on.

I happen to like winter also. You can see the topography really well when the leaves fall off the trees. Summer is very green, but it’s also very hot, and you have to deal with ticks and insects and poison ivy.”

Events/Programming: The Louisiana State Arboretum offers a robust slate

Briarwood Nature Preserve

Hours: Briarwood is open to the pubic

will wander through five distinct habitats: Cypress-Tupelo Swamp, Bottomland Hardwood Forest, Beech-Magnolia Forest, Cajun Prairie, and a Vernal Pool. Each of these hosts a grand diversity of natively-occurring plants, many of which are marked with full descriptions along the pathways.

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Photos courtesy of the Louisiana State Arboretum.

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Features

MARCH 2022 48

H OW TO G R OW, M A I N T A I N , A N D E A T B A M B O O

IN

COMMON?

// 5 6 W E A L T H I N

THE WIGGLIES

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Photos feature W.P. “Judge” Edwards III, who is the President of the Louisiana Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, at his home, which boasts the oldest grove of Moso timber bamboo in the state—as well as Edwards’ own collection of various bamboo species.

BAM BOOZLE D

Raising Cane

GROWING AND MAINTAINING BAMBOO IN SOUTH LOUISIANA

T

Story by Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux • Photos by Paul Kieu

welve years ago, we moved to a home that came with two well-established clumps of bamboo at the back fence. From my rudimentary knowledge of bamboo, I knew there were two kinds—clumping, which was “good,” and running, which could break through your neighbors’ fence and take over the yard in the middle of the night.

I have since learned much more about growing bamboo in South Louisiana, encouraged along the way by local bamboo enthusiasts who have shown me how to maintain it, love it, and even eat it.

Like most people, I knew bamboo had origins in faraway places like Asia and South America, but a Chitimacha basket weaver recently pointed out to me that the people of Louisiana have been nurturing and utilizing native bamboo for thousands of years in the low-lying lands of the Chitimacha people around Charenton.

Arundinaria gigantea, or river cane, remains integral to 48

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the tribe’s basket weaving traditions, as well as those of other native peoples in the region.

River cane is a running bamboo which grows in thickets referred to as canebrakes. Modern day agricultural and cattle grazing practices have reduced the canebrakes in South Louisiana drastically, but recent efforts

by Chitimacha leaders have resulted in the re-establishment of the river cane on the Chitimacha Reservation—ensuring a supply of material for basketweaving, which remains an integral part of the Chitimacha culture.

Bamboo, both native and imported varieties, is notoriously hardy in South Louisiana, but it can and does suffer when the land suffers. When W.P. “Judge” Edwards III, the President of the Louisiana Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, bought his great uncle’s Victorian-style home in Abbeville, it came with the oldest grove of Moso timber bamboo (Phyl-

lostachys edulis) in the state, planted by Dr. Clarence “C.J.” Edwards in 1898. The grove has been struggling since Judge acquired it. He attributes its sparse culms to poor soil quality and compaction from when the grove was cleared with heavy equipment in the 1980s. He is currently employing a small excavator, bagged leaves, a flock of chickens, and a large goose to help improve the soil—loosening it while adding in natural materials.

Judge remembers playing in the historic Moso grove as a child, surrounded by the tall canes that once reached as high as seventy-five feet and as wide as seven inches in diameter. “I always loved bamboo. I wasn’t a fanatic, but you get infected, you know,” he told me as we toured his collection of fifteen different bamboo species spread out over about three acres. The honking goose greeted us near a workshop sided with split bamboo canes. I passed the beautiful, golden, green-striped canes of Alphonse Karr (Bambusa multiplex), learned about the well-spaced

nodules of Bambusa textilis—which makes great catfish poles—and listened to Judge’s story of the temple bamboo (Semiarundinaria fastuosa) that got away.

He pointed out a few barely visible pots hidden within the unwieldy patch of purple-caned temple bamboo, which his cousin had gifted him a few years ago. He shook his head, saying “It slept, crept, then leapt right out of the pots!” referring to an oft-noted pattern in bamboo’s growth habits. The new species is beautiful, he said, so he is working on ways to contain it and control its spread.

Reaching down to dig up a creeping rhizome in our pathway, he seemed just as impressed with the plant’s powerful growth as frustrated by its invasiveness.

As I had learned from my experience with clumping bamboo, the groves do, in certain locations, require containing. When I noticed mine too close to a fence, I spent an afternoon with a pickaxe and a hand saw removing roots and dead canes. I’ve since learned there are better tools specifically designed for digging bamboo, like one called “The Slammer.” Made up of a sharp metal blade welded to a hollow pipe, the tool is used by inserting a heavy metal rod into the tube, slamming it down and driving the blade into the ground and through the rhizome. Also, a twelve-volt hacksaw with a pruning blade makes pruning bamboo infinitely easier.

My sister has ringed her New Orleans home with twenty bamboo plants, including Gracilis (Bambusa textilis) and blue bamboo (Bambusa chungii). Both clumping varieties grow tall enough so they create a greenish

blue wall higher than her home, which is built nine feet off the ground. She explained her maintenance process, “In the weeks when the bamboo is shooting, I set a Saturday morning reminder on my phone and walk the parameter knocking down the shoots with my foot.

The maintenance is worth it in return for the beautiful, luxurious, living screen that surrounds my yard.”

Another way to keep bamboo contained is by eating it, as I learned from Payao “Yao” Richard, the office manager at Live Oak Gardens wholesale nursery at Jefferson Island.

As part of the family who owns and operates the nursery and the adjacent Rip Van Winkle Gardens, Yao lives at the edge of the botanical gardens with her husband Michael Richard, Jr. and their son. Over the years I have enjoyed visiting with Yao, learning about the bamboos propagated at the nursery, as well as the tropical bamboos featured in the photos tacked to the office walls, some of which were taken in Yao’s birth country of Thailand. I recently asked her if she knew anything about harvesting and cooking bamboo shoots. In response, she invited me to supper.

I found her at her kitchen sink with a mortar and pestle in arms—smashing a mixture of bamboo shoots, lime juice, onion tops, cilantro, mint, seasoned toasted rice, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, and a can of tuna.

Harvesting and preparing bamboo shoots for eating is a labor of love, she explained, and you only do it twice a year: in the spring for runners like Robert Young (Phyllostachys viridis) and in summer for clumpers like Kanapah (Bambusa textilis), which produce

Adventures Around Every Bend

LEARN MORE AT VISITIBERVILLE.COM

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FREE FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT!

Open Air Fair Saturday, March 26th • 11:30AM-1:30PM Goodwood Main Library Presented by

Live Music Performance!

Costumed Characters!

Fun Arts and Crafts!

Don't miss out on Free Activity Bags, Art Projects, Scavenger Hunt, Bubble Booth, Face Painting, and food!

operalouisiane.com

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her favorite shoots. All varieties of bamboo are edible, but timing and preparation are key for palatability. They are best harvested when they first emerge. She and Mike roast their shoots on a BBQ pit, then peel, slice, and boil them. After draining the bitter pot liquor, she boils the shoots again, then stores them in a freezer with water, shares them, or uses them in recipes.

That night, Yao served the bamboo shoot salad with a light red wine and plates of boiled eggs, fresh cucumber, and chicken sausage made in nearby Delcambre. From first bite, I reveled in the layers of flavor—the smoky taste of the roasted bamboo, the salty umami of the fish sauce, and the brightness of the lime. As I finished my second (perhaps third) helping, Yao and Mike offered a tour of the gardens where the shoots were harvested.

Mike named the many bamboo varieties as Yao showed me the special place where she harvests the shoots. Serendipitously, we came across a late season shoot, which Mike cut down with his pocketknife. Back in the kitchen, Yao peeled it, then used what she referred to as a “two-blades knife” to slice the thin rings of sweet-smelling freshness. She likened the smell to that of freshly-shucked corn.

I thought to myself, now this is the way to

contain bamboo.

Containing and maintaining bamboo is relatively straightforward if you are consistent, but it’s a different situation when you find yourself inheriting a neglected mess, a “crisscrossed chaos of living and dead culms all tangled together,” as Andy Ringle described the expansive Moso groves on the land he and his brother Ken Ringle inherited at Avery Island. I first met Andy at an event at the University of Louisiana. His eyes lit up when I told him about my bamboo, and he invited me to join a gang of “bambouistes,” a term he coined to refer to bamboo enthusiasts, like the ones who annually descend upon Avery Island for the Louisiana Gulf Coast Chapter (LGCC) of the American Bamboo Society’s (ABS) Avery Island Moso Bamboo Grove Grooming Event.

Edward Avery McIlhenny planted the Moso grove in 1910. After decades of neglect, Louisiana members of the ABS learned of the historic grove—which is considered one of the oldest, most well-established Moso bamboo groves in the United States—and requested permission to clean it up. Thus was born the annual grooming tradition, which has occurred now for over twenty years on the last weekend of February, just before the groves begin to push up new shoots.

Celebrating the Arrival of America’s Greatest Artist/Naturalist with the

COMING EVENTS April 1, 2022 - Birding & Historic Tours Audubon State Historic Site & Featured Area Locations

The weekend begins on Friday night at the Ramada Conference Center in New Iberia, with all those gathered offering their individual testimonies as to how they came to live the life of a bambouiste. Saturday participants work alongside both experienced folks and newbies to clear out dead canes and fallen debris from within the groves. All are given the opportunity to take some of the cut canes home. It’s been several years since I attended the event, but I still recall the peace I experienced in those rejuvenated

groves at the end of the workday, listening to the culms clacking and the leaves rustling up high.

In a recent move, I had to say goodbye to my two clumps of bamboo, and I find myself lost without them, especially in tomato growing season when I need new stakes. I’ll be heading to the bamboo nurseries soon; there’s a wide-open space in my yard where I think a clump of Kanapaha with its tasty shoots would look great. h

Many nurseries carry limited varieties of bamboo, but I recommend visiting one of the bamboo specialty nurseries of South Louisiana to explore the beauty of the wider range they carry. The Ninth Ward Nursery in New Orleans (ninthwardnursery.com) can help you decide which bamboo will suit your space and needs. Bamboo Gardens of Louisiana (bamboogardensla.com) is a nursery located on twenty-four acres in Mount Hermon with sales handled online or by advance appointment.

For a real treat, plan a visit to the Bamboo Company Nursery (bamboocompanynursery.com) in Franklinton—the only bamboo arboretum in the state—where you can choose from over one hundred varieties, take a tour of the bamboo groves, or even join a class. They’ll teach you how to make a bamboo walking stick, and in the spring they offer lessons in cooking bamboo shoots.

The annual Avery Island Moso Bamboo Grove Grooming Event took place on February 25–27 this year. To learn more about attending next year, visit the ABS website at bamboocentral. net/averyisland.html. The event is only open to ABS members; visit bamboo.org to learn about joining the Society.

April 2, 2022 - Inaugural John James Audubon Symposium - Jackson Hall at Grace Episcopal Church April 2, 2022 - “AUDUBON UNDER THE OAKS" Gala 4 pm–7 pm • Audubon State Historic Site An elegant evening of fine Louisiana cuisine and refreshments served in the shadow of Oakley house, where Audubon painted 32 of the bird species highlighted in his famous Birds of America portfolio. Beautiful music and entertainment by James Linden Hogg, and the camaraderie of old and new friends as you dine under majestic oak trees.

Tickets for Gala & Symposium are Limited and On Sale Now at

point your phone camera here

#AudubonCountry The Inaugural John James Audubon Symposium is hosted by the Friends of West Feliciana Tourism, and the Audubon Under the Oaks Gala is hosted by the Friends of Oakley, with support from the

West Feliciana Parish Tourist Commission

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A Special Advertising Feature from Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

No Slowing Down After a three-year battle with prostate cancer, avid outdoorsman and Louisiana native John Brumfield is back to doing what he loves most. A blessing made possible, he says, thanks to his care team at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

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ike many people born and raised in the Bayou State, Baton Rouge resident John Brumfield is a passionate outdoorsman. He learned to hunt and fish at an early age, claiming his first buck at age fifteen–the antlers of which he still proudly displays. Even today, at age seventy-two, the retired process technician deer hunts throughout the fall and early winter, beginning the season by sowing food plots with rye grass and feed, then spending as much time as possible behind the sights of his rifle. The Brumfields’ freezer stays stocked with the spoils of John’s hunting trips, namely luscious cuts of venison and wild hog, along with smoked deer sausage.

Living an active lifestyle has always been a priority for John and his spouse of fifty-one years, Charlene. So, when John was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, it was important to him and Charlene to stay close to home for John’s treatment to ensure the energetic father and grandfather could continue doing the things he loves most.

John ultimately made the decision to undergo treatment at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Baton Rouge, undergoing surgery in 2018, and later radiation therapy in 2020.

“It is such a nice Cancer Center with the friendliest people,” John says. “The treatments went smoothly, and Dr. Charles Wood, my radiation oncologist, was great.”

“John tolerated treatment like a champ. He was given no restrictions, and was able to maintain his routine activities,” said Dr. Wood. “Radiotherapy targeting precision has advanced significantly over the years, and in the case of patients like John, days often can feel like ‘business as usual,’ even in the midst of radiation. Keeping active is something we encourage, and for some patients, we might even suggest they begin exercising during treatment, as this can help preserve and increase energy levels.”

According to Dr. Wood, John received Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), potentially allowing for higher radiation doses to the cancerous area and less impact to healthy tissue. In addition, John, just as every patient at the Cancer Center, was supported by a nutritionist, who provides dietary guidance depending on their needs.

John experienced little interruption in getting back to his favorite hobbies, he says. Hunting keeps him busy throughout the fall, but it’s not his only pastime; John is also an avid gardener. Taking full advantage of Louisiana’s nearly yearround growing season and warm climate, John plants fresh vegetables in their backyard garden in both fall and spring. Not only does the rewarding hobby provide the Brumfields with a constant supply of fresh, healthy food, but it’s a great way to get outside and keep moving, too.

Aside from his love of the outdoors and avid green thumb, John also has a keen artistic side.

While the Brumfields’ now-adult sons were growing up, John picked up woodworking from a friend, learning to carve detailed figures out of salvaged cypress. For years, he has collected remnants of cypress found on his outdoor jaunts, taking home as much as he could carry to prepare for carving.

“You start with a really sharp knife and you just start small,” John says. “The more you do it, the better you get at it.”

John’s specialty is making Christmas-themed figurines, which he gives as gifts to friends and family. He is especially fond of whittling different versions of St. Nick, along with Christmas trees and variations of crosses.

“He’s given every grandchild a Santa face,” Charlene says. “He gives away everything he makes.

It’s his love language.”

For John, cancer might have been a bump in the road, but it hasn’t slowed him down. He continues to return to Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center for check-ups, greeting his care team with a big smile, and maybe a homespun tale of his latest adventure.

Last year, John and Charlene celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary, marking the milestone with a road trip to Alabama to enjoy the beautiful estate at Bellingrath Gardens and Dauphine Island.

“We’ve always been big travelers,” Charlene says. “We have a lot of fun together.”

Photo by Kimberly Meadowlark

To learn more about Mary Bird Perkins and its team of cancer-fighting experts, visit Marybird.org.

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PINEAPPLES & MOSS

The Bromeliad Craze Blooms On THE DIVERSE FAMILY OF FLOWERING PLANTS CONTINUES TO CAPTURE THE IMAGINATION OF LOUISIANA COLLECTORS Story by Kristy Christiansen • Photos by Paul Christiansen

I

n an unassuming neighborhood in Kenner, ranch houses fall in line one after another. Their perfectly-manicured front lawns hint at similarly designed hbackyards, wedged into typical city lots just large enough to buffer each home from the one next door. But Bryan Windham’s house, tucked away on a side street, holds a secret: an expansive backyard running the length of four other homes. Step outside of the cookie cutter suburban dream and onto Windham’s hidden property, and you’ll find two large greenhouses shielding a tropical oasis of more than five thousand bromeliads.

“About twenty-two years ago, I went to a craft fair in Canton and bought my first bromeliad,” said Windham, who now serves as the president of the River Ridge Bromeliad Society. He purchased the fated flower from Don and Shirley Leonard, owners of Don and Shirley’s Nursery in Thibodaux and frequent vendors at many festivals and plant shows around Louisiana. “I brought it home, joined the River Ridge Bromeliad Society, learned more, and it turned into this.”

Walking the rows of his greenhouse, where bromeliads are packed in tightly on tables and cling to support posts, Windham picks up one bromeliad after another, rattling off genus names like Vriesea, Aechmea, Tillandsia, and Billbergia. They each have labels, but he doesn’t spare the slips of paper a glance, having long since committed the flowers’ names to memory.

There are more than fifty genera and three thousand species of the family Bromeliaceae. The terrestrial spe-

cies grow in the ground—one of the most well-known being the pineapple (Ananas comosus)—while saxicolous species grow on rocks. Epiphytes, known as air plants, latch on to trees or telephone poles (though they are not parasitic). One common South Louisiana epiphytic bromeliad is Spanish moss.

Bromeliad leaves generally grow in a spiral, or rosette, pattern, and range in color from various shades of green to maroon and white and yellow. In the case of most mature bromeliads (it can take a year or more for the plant to reach maturity), a flower stalk sprouts from within the rosette, shooting out a vibrant, flowering display. Each bromeliad only produces one flower, and once the flower dies, the plant begins its own cycle of dying— which can sometimes take up to two years. In the meantime, though, baby plants, or “pups,” will grow from the mother plant.

Windham is serious about his collecting, growing many of his own plants through hybridization. He demonstrates by meticulously extracting pollen out of one plant and placing it in the stigma of another.

“After pollination, it will produce seeds that germinate and grow. I collect the seeds, sow them, and as they mature, I separate them,” he said. “Every seedling has the possibility of producing a new plant. I would go over to Michael’s Nursery in Florida—he has ten acres of greenhouses—and I would bring back a truckload of plants. Now, I’m selling to him.”

With plans to launch a bromeliad business after retire-

ment, Windham is leading the Southern bromeliad trade into the future, carrying on the traditions of the early bromeliad pioneers, such as Mulford Foster, Eric Knobloch, and Morris Henry Hobbs.

Foster, a New Jersey botanist who moved to Florida in the 1920s, repeatedly traveled to South America and the Caribbean to collect various species of plants. In the wild, bromeliads grow almost exclusively in the American tropics, largely in South America. Over the course of his many travels, Foster found and brought between one hundred and seventy and two hundred new species to his home in Florida. He ran the Tropical Arts Nursery in Orlando and spent much of his time cultivating and hybridizing bromeliads. His name is uttered with hushed reverance by anyone possessing the slightest knowledge of bromeliad history, including Jeanne Garman, a longtime member of the Greater New Orleans Bromeliad Society.

“In the fifties, he collected and hybridized more bromeliads than anyone,” she said. Garman herself has spent over fifty years collecting bromeliads, trading in her stockpile of larger varieties for her beloved miniature neoregelias after moving from Lakeview to the banks of Bayou St. John in New Orleans in 1987.

It was Foster’s friend Eric Knobloch, a botanist at Tulane University, and the Louisiana artist Morris Henry Hobbs who helped to bring the bromeliad craze to Louisiana. Both members of the Patio Planters group in the French Quarter, they filled their courtyards with // M A R 2 2

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

bromeliads. The two formed the Louisiana Bromeliad Society in 1954, with Hobbs serving as the first president and Knobloch the second. Hobbs’ bromeliad etchings graced the covers of many of the Society’s early bulletins, and the Bromeliad Society International’s as well—an organization that he was also deeply involved in.

Hobbs expanded his collection to Mandeville, where he painted watercolors for his never-completed book, Bromeliads and Birds of Tropical America. Meanwhile, Knobloch purchased Mary Plantation in Plaquemines Parish in 1946 and landscaped the property with his rare collection of bromeliads. Charles Birdsong, current president of the Baton Rouge Bromeliad Society, remembers him well.

“As a kid, I would go to the Knoblochs’ with my mom,” said Birdsong. “I lived in New Orleans, where we raised bromeliads and orchids. There were not many places you could buy them back then.” His mother was Knobloch’s realtor, said Birdsong, and they quickly developed a friendship. “Foster would bring a lot back from South America. He would hybridize them and shared a lot with Knobloch, who shared them with my mom.”

Regional interest in the exotic plants continued to grow, but the Louisiana Bromeliad Society maxed out its membership at thirty-six. So Knobloch helped with the founding of a second group, the Greater New Orleans Bromeliad Society, in 1971. A year later, the group boasted one hundred and fifty members.

“It was a fever,” said Garman. “At one time, we were at UNO [University of New Orleans]. We had to close out membership at two hundred because there was no room big enough.” After using flower show judges for their shows for many years, the members decided that the particularities of bromeliads required a more specific set of expertise. “We became the first bromeliad judges in the world,” she said. “We would conduct our very own judging schools the same as other societies had in the past. Later schools were conducted in the States, and then overseas. Now I am the last of the original bromeliad judges.”

Birdsong started his own collection in high school in the 1960s. He went to college at Louisiana State University, and as soon as he moved off campus, brought his bromeliads to Baton Rouge. Since then, the collection has grown to over six thousand plants. He recalled that at the time, his mom had tried to join the Greater New Orleans Bromeliad Society but was turned away because there was no space for new members.

Birdsong took the natural next step and helped launch the Bromeliad Society of Baton Rouge in 1975. “I’m the only active charter member left,” he said. “I served every office and have been president for seven or eight years. I’m the benevolent dictator,” he laughed. Birdsong has also held the position of director and currently serves as affiliate shows chairman of the International Bromeliad Society.

Today, the bromeliad focus has shifted from the Southern United States to Australia. Birdsong’s daughter married an Australian, and Birdsong visits the couple every other year for the Australasian Bromeliad Conference, going through countless hoops to export bromeliads back with him to the states. Many of these have made their way to Garman.

“They have these hybrid minis you’d go nuts for, and you can’t get them here,” said Garman. “Oh, I love them to death. These plants make me so happy. They make me want to get up in the morning.” h

The bromeliad craze may have waned in Louisiana since its heyday in the 1960s and ‘70s, but it’s far from over. The local societies continue to meet once a month and encourage interested parties to check out their Facebook pages to learn more. After a hiatus due to COVID, they are each gearing up for their annual shows in May and June, leading up to the World Conference, which kicks off June 7 in Sarasota, Florida. You can also purchase bromeliads at Don and Shirley’s in Thibodaux or at the many plant shows they attend.

Bromeliad Society of Baton Rouge Meets on the second Thursday of every month at 7 pm at The Baton Rouge Garden Center, 7950 Independence Boulevard Baton Rouge, LA 70806 Greater New Orleans Bromeliad Society Meets on the fourth Thursday of every month at 7 pm at The Old Metairie Library, 2350 Metairie Road Metairie, LA 70001 River Ridge Bromeliad Society Meets every first Thursday of the month at 2401 43rd Street Kenner, LA 70065 Don & Shirley’s Nursery 1022 McCulla Street Thibodaux, LA 70301 facebook.com/LouisianaBromeliads (985) 447-7088

17th Annual

Saturday, April 2, 2022 3:30pm until 6:00pm More than 200 foreign and domestic beers, ales and homebrews will be made available for tasting during this popular annual event benefiting the LSU Rural Life Museum.

This fun filled afternoon is for patrons aged 21 years and older.

Proper photo identification required to purchase tickets and to enter event. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available. Tickets are limited to 2000.

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Tickets: $45.00 per ticket Designated Driver: $20.00 per ticket 2:30 pm Early Entry: $100.00 per ticket (Early entry includes 1 jambalaya, 1 choice of drink)

NO REFUNDS

Located on Burden Museum and Gardens • 4560 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge, LA 70809 // M A R 2 2

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W WIGGLERS

The Worm Lady

TAYLOR LYONS VAUGHAN RETHINKS RECYCLING IN ACADIANA Story by Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux • Photos by Paul Kieu

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ith dirt beneath her fingernails and a big smile on her face, Taylor Lyons Vaughan recently welcomed me to her suburban worm farm in Lafayette—where we talked about recycling, worm poop, and the stress-relieving properties of soil. She is the “worm lady” of Worm Lady Recycles (WLR), her small home-based business where she tends to her collective of composting worms that recycle paper, food, and yard waste into valuable nutrient-rich castings, the vermiculturist’s word for worm poop.

In 2018, while on maternity leave from studying Speech and Language Pathology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a series of inner nudges led Lyons Vaughan to investigate worm farming as a business opportunity. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, she felt inclined to start a business that would allow her to be close to home with her three small children. After reading an article noting the challenges to area recycling systems, she came across the story of a successful worm farmer in India.

This farmer, also a mother (but with twelve children), inspired Lyons Vaughan to see her own suburban backyard in a new light—as an opportunity to establish a greener method of recycling in her community, while producing soil-enriching nutrients in the process.

Unlike the local municipal recycling system—which sends recyclables to a sorting facility near Baton Rouge— WLR recycling stays local. WLR has several paper collection points in the area, including one in her front yard, where neighbors regularly bring brown papers (thin cardboard, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons). She shreds the paper in a wood-chipper and uses it for bedding material that will eventually be consumed by the worms. To this, she adds bagged leaves collected from neighbors and friends.

Lyons Vaughn uses mostly European Red Wigglers that, in addition to recycling paper and yard waste, can process fifty to sixty pounds of food waste per week. She feeds them with waste fruits and vegetables generated by local grocery stores, as well as her own household food waste. To ensure the health of her worm farm and due to size constraints, she does not accept food waste from the public.

The magic happens in the worm shed, a small portable building just beyond two trampolines and a zip line, where Lyons Vaughn laid chopped bell peppers and cantaloupe in shallow beds arranged in multi-levels. It was a cold breezy day when I visited; the insulated shed offered a cozy haven in which to learn more about the business. Lyons Vaughn explained that she raises most of her worms indoors to control for moisture, temperature, and potential theft by songbird. Raking her fingers gently through the beds, she smiled and asked, “Can you hear them?” We stood quietly for a moment in the shed, and indeed I could

hear the gentle rustling of hundreds of thousands of worms working.

These are not your typical earthworms, which tend to feed deep in the soil on already-composted material.

The European red wigglers stay closer to the surface, rapidly consuming organic material—food waste, paper, and yard trimmings—generating castings which are rich in iron, sulfur, calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The Louisiana State University Agriculture Center’s testing of WLR castings has shown them to be super concentrated in nutrients, recommending they be used at a rate of fifteen percent castings to soil—the typical recommended percentage being thirty percent.

Not relying on these reports alone, Lyons Vaughan has several experiments growing in her backyard, where she compares plants growing in worm casting-enriched soils to those that are not. She also uses the castings to create a liquid fertilizer known as “worm tea” to feed her plants, which she also sells at local farmers markets.

“Digging in the dirt is my therapy,” Lyons Vaughan related. “I rarely wear gloves, since being in contact with the soil is known to trigger the production of serotonin in the brain.” She was referring to research that has made a connection between the soil bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae and the production of serotonin, which can provide relief from anxiety and depression. As someone

In addition to her main “employees,” her red wigglers, Lyons Vaughan also enlists the help of a brood of black soldier fly larvae. A pound of these babies can eat seven pounds of food waste per day.

who lives with both, she welcomes this small-business byproduct that keeps her hands in the dirt most days.

In addition to the worms, Lyons Vaughan is enlisting another hardworking critter on her small farm—the black soldier fly. A pound of black soldier fly larvae can eat seven pounds of food waste per day, and they are an excellent source of protein for her chickens. The larvae can

also feed fish, reptiles, even humans. “In other countries, they fry them up and eat them. They’re not so different from crawfish,” she pointed out, but no, she has not tried them—yet. She sees her business growing beyond worms to include a variety of insects in her product line up.

Lyons Vaughan envisions worm composting as a way for households, restaurants, and businesses to better manage

their food waste, which the EPA currently estimates to be 219 pounds per person annually in the United States.

While not yet able to handle food waste from the general public, she offers classes that send each student home with a complete worm bin ready to start recycling food waste and paper at home. She invites attendees to return if they are having trouble with their system.

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She also offers a sifting service whereby she will sift a home worm bin and return the reset bin to the customer along with a bag of castings. Worm Lady Recycles, though small in scale, is grand in purpose by pointing the way to a sustainable, localized approach to managing common household waste. h If you live in Acadiana, you can find Worm Lady Recycles at the following local farmers’ markets: Hub City Farmers Market, Lafayette Farmers & Artisan Market, and Fightingville Fresh Market. To learn more about WLR products or to schedule a class, field trip, or tour, visit wormladyrecycles.com.

Lyons Vaughan’s European red wigglers can consume organic material—food waste, paper, and yard trimmings—and generate castings rich in iron, sulfur, calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

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“Nack-A-Tish”

SPRING THINGS

On the banks of the Cane River Lake, explore the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. Follow the trails in Kisatchie National Forest and through the Cane River National Heritage Area to find centuries of history, culture, and natural landscapes, ready to be explored by foot, car, or boat.

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Reading on the River

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CAPA on the Cane

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Cuisine

MARCH 2022

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FARM-FRESH INGENUITY FINDS

A

WHOLE HOG CUISINE

HOME

IN

AN OLD BURLESQUE

TEMPLE & HIS TURNIPS

CLUB

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Chef Seth Temple’s stuffed quail with risotto and kale appetizer and the Electric Boogie cocktail featuring mezcal, bell pepper syrup, and thyme.

Le Chat Noir

SETH TEMPLE STEPS IN AS A LINK BETWEEN THE FARM AND THE TABLE AT HIS NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANT

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Story by Beth D’Addono • Photos by Alexandra Kennon ith the forecast of last month’s freeze warnings, Chef Seth Temple was worrying about his hakurei turnips.

The Lake Charles native, whose resume includes the Michelin-starred Lyle’s in London, heads the kitchen at the newly-opened Le Chat Noir, a farmto-table restaurant in the former funky theatre space at 715 St. Charles Avenue.

Following a history of star-studded musicians, actors, and burlesque dancers, since December 2021 a busy line of chefs have taken center stage at Le Chat, “performing” for as many as 220 guests a night.

Temple is a graduate of the John Folse Culinary Institute in Thibodaux, where he earned a scholarship to the elite Institute Paul Bocuse in France. Taking inspiration from the approaches at restaurants like Lyle’s or Blue Hill at Stone

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Bars in the Hudson Valley, helmed by Dan Barber—Temple has committed to sourcing no less than seventy percent of Le Chat Noir’s ingredients locally.

As the global supply chain continues to creak under the weight of the pandemic, sourcing regionally and locally makes more sense than ever. The chef has forged direct connections with local purveyors, including Mushroom Maggie’s Farm in West Feliciana Parish and JV Foods out of Kenner, a distribution company that sources from producers like Two Dog Farms in Flora, Mississippi; and Matt Ranatza Farms and Saxon Becnel & Sons citrus, both in Belle Chase. His menu features oysters harvested primarily from Louisiana and Alabama gulf coasts, using suppliers like Bright Side Oysters out of Grand Isle, who sustainably grow oysters in floating cages year-round, without ever having to disturb the ecosystem with dredging.

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But beyond just sourcing locally, Temple aims to be a crop influencer, weighing in with farmers on what he’d like them to grow and what he can guarantee in the way of bottom-line business if they work with him. “This is the first time I’m doing this directly with farms,” he said. Working with Tim from JV Foods, Temple gets planting lists from the farms, crop projections for spring and summer. Looking past the usual cucumbers and tomatoes, Temple is asking for farms like Two Dog to grow sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, and the turnips he loves so much. “Sunchokes grow in north Mississippi, but I want them to grow closer to New Orleans. We’re asking the farmers to put them in the ground, and I’ll buy fifty to one hundred pounds a week, which is guaranteed money for them.

Same for the hakurei turnips—I want them harvested with the tops on, and I’ll

buy forty to fifty pounds a week.”

On Le Chat’s menu, Temple’s mastery over such ingredients shines. When it comes to the turnips, Temple sautés the crunchy Japanese varietal, with greens attached, in a miso-fueled umami sauce studded with candied Meyerquats and fronds of bronze fennel. Twirl the turnips like linguine, being sure to get the hybrid citrus in every bite, and the clean depth of flavor is revelatory.

Fostering such novel interdependence between his restaurant and his farmers comes with its vulnerabilities, of course—and requires a certain amount of adaptability and creativity. When freezing temperatures affect farmers, Temple feels the chill. “Prior to the freeze, we knew it was coming,” he said.

“I bought every ounce of Aztec spinach I could. When everything green but cabbage and kale died, I used the spinach in place of the turnip tops. It looks the same and has the same flavor profile.

Now I’m using kale because it’s the only thing alive. It looks like planting is going to push back, but we’ll see what happens.”

This kind of back and forth extends beyond just vegetables, said Temple, who worked as a snout to tail butcher at Kenton’s in New Orleans before it closed in 2018. His experience at Lyle’s zero-waste kitchen influences his approach to processes like breaking down a Baton Rouge-raised pig every two weeks and aging four twenty-pound black groupers (sourced from Evans Meats in Birmingham) a month. Aging the fish gets the most out of each and every grouper. “We hang them for seven days, which gets rid of the water weight and makes the meat firmer.”

He’s pushing to get more locally-farmed quail raised on the Northshore, which—when he can get it—he serves stuffed with risotto on a bed of that Aztec spinach. Le Chat Noir’s menu of sides reads like a vegetable lover’s dream, with options like sticky beets served with endive, shallot, and Stilton; grilled mushrooms presented with herbs in a house vinaigrette; and heirloom beans prepared with preserved tomatoes, anchovy, and cress. The menu is shot through with vegan, vegetarian, and even gluten-free options.

Temple shares his passion for approachability and flavor with the restaurant’s knowledgeable wine director, sommelier Kevin Wardell, who recently moved to New Orleans with his

family from Healdsburg, California.

Like so many hospitality professionals who weathered the pandemic, Wardell and his wife were ready for a change.

He brings small, boutique producers and lesser-known grapes to Le Chat Noir’s affordable list. His knowledge of varietals is vast; as is his familiarity with Old World and Italian wines. The menu’s “By The Glass” selection trots the globe, including a minerally white from Santorini and a fruit-forward cab franc from the Bourgueil area of the Loire Valley. The bar’s cocktail programs includes classics like the Sazerac and the gin-based Ford’s cocktail, along with originals like the Peat Davidson, made with rye, peated bourbon, dry vermouth, and sherry syrup.

Like so many restaurants that opened since the pandemic, Le Chat Noir has had plenty of hiccoughs while trying to get open. “Hurricane Ida was the most recent delay,” said partner James Reuter, a thirty-three-year-old restaurant dynamo who owns Bearcat’s locations Uptown and in the Central Business District. “We opened at the worst time for restaurants, the month of December, but we didn’t want to wait any more.”

Gene Todaro, owner of Le Chat’s historic building, is also a partner. He ran his restaurant Marcello’s in the space before he moved it to Covington.

The space’s large windows overlook St. Charles Avenue; a front bar and

oyster bar boast the original black and white tile floor up front. In the dining room, the black acoustic ceiling, still tracked with stage lighting, is original—and a welcome sound buffer.

Beyond his work with local producers, Temple imagines a day when he can welcome Louisiana game to the table, too. “We want to push for the same kind of legislation the state passed for fishing,” he said, referring to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF)’s 2014 “catch and cook” program that allows restaurants with the proper permit to cook up certain fresh-caught fish for customers who bring it to them.

“We’re the Sportsman’s Paradise—it’s on our license plate. Why do I have to gets ducks from Canada? I’ve sat down with politicians and asked them how many wood ducks they killed last weekend, and how many of those forty ducks are getting freezer burnt or just left for waste. It’s the craziest thing. If we get local game through a USDA processing plant, it can work. If that’s something I can accomplish in my lifetime, I’ll die happy.” h

Le Chat Noir is currently open for Happy Hour from 2:30 to five pm Tuesday through Saturday, and dinner from five until 10.

A half-dozen “Shucker’s Choice” oysters, which on this day included Little Honeys, Irish Points, and Indian Lagoons.

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Culture

MARCH 2022 62

THE

BENEFITS OF A

DIRT BATH

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DAVIDSON, A GREAT SOUTHERN WRITER

A

LOVE

// 6 6

LETTER

TO

LOUISIANA'S

PORCH

B E ST E N E M I E S PACKAGES

TIKTOK TEACHER

// 6 5 O S H A G R A Y

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A Carolina Wren. Photo by Patrice Bouchard.

B I R D WAT C H I N G

Bathing Beauties

WHEN A CAROLINA WREN FINDS A POT OF DIRT

By Harriett Pooler

L

ast spring, I looked out my window and noticed that dirt was scattered outside of the potted plants on my patio.

Thinking a squirrel was the culprit, I waited and watched—only to discover a family of Carolina Wrens was using my pots and exposed dirt for their dust baths. The wrens were so sweet and earnest with their bathing, I hated to interfere.

The Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) is one of my most beloved backyard birds. Often heard before seen, the wren’s song seems to say: tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle or wheedle, wheedle, wheedle.

This cheerful visitor can often be seen flitting around edges of woods, backyard shrubs, and vines. Not shy birds, wrens will also check out patios, garages, and outside storage areas.

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At 5.5 inches, the Carolina Wren has a rich brown color overall, with a reddish-brown belly and chest. The throat area is buffy, as is the line over its eye.

This eye stripe or “eyebrow” is distinctive to the Carolina Wren, but all wren species can hold their tail cocked above the back, giving the bird a perky look.

Found mostly in the eastern half of United States, the Carolina Wren is a year-long resident and is easily attracted to any backyard offering the basics of water, food, and shelter. Wrens love insects like beetles, grasshoppers, and cockroaches, as well as spiders, snails, and slugs; and might often be seen scurrying across the lawn in pursuit of a bug.

During the winter months when insects are not as abundant, homeowners can help supplement the wren diet by incorporating berry-producing shrubs and

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vines, such as sumac, bayberry, Virginia creeper, and even poison ivy into their landscape. Hedges, brush piles, and shrubs will give wrens a safe place to shelter when needed.

Low water dishes on the ground (unless you have an outdoor cat) or a garden fountain can serve as a source of water for the wren, for both drinking and bathing. Water baths are a critical part of the wren’s feather hygiene. Besides, watching the Carolina Wren splashing around in the water is like capturing a PBS moment in your own backyard.

When Spring mating season rolls around, the Carolina Wren does not need assistance producing the next generation.

Pairs mate for life, and they even build their nests together. Adding a traditional bird house to the backyard is a good idea but not necessary. Wrens are creative

nesters and opt to build their nests wherever it suits their fancy. Because Carolina Wrens have adapted so well to urban living, their bulky nests of twigs, leaves, moss, and weeds might be found inside gardening shoes, door wreaths, discarded flowerpots, old engines, garage shelves, open mailboxes, barbeque pits, old tires, propane hoods, and brush piles.

If you are lucky enough to have a wren pair nest in your yard, expect to see three to seven fledglings hanging around your yard and patio. They tend to be less fearful than their parents and will get themselves into every nook and cranny of a patio looking for bugs, or for a spot to dust bathe.

Dust is a natural cleanser for birds, keeping them from accumulating too much oil in their feathers, which can cause feathers to get matted and inter-

fere with a bird’s airworthiness. Dust also smothers lice, mites, and parasites.

Dusting is most common in birds living in areas with little rain or during the hotter parts of the year. However, birds will dust whenever they feel it necessary to keep their feathers in good condition.

Open spots in the yard without vegetation are present prime opportunities for a dust bath. In the dirt, the wren will shimmy around on its belly until a depression has been made, allowing for a greater surface area to be coated. Then, they will start waving their wings in the air to cover the undersides with dust. By the end of the bath, the wren has dusted every part of its feathered body except for its back.

When the wrens dominated the exposed dirt in my potted plants last spring, I left them alone until the level of loose dirt on my patio stopped being cute.

Then, I placed garden rocks from the alleyway on the dirt surface of the pots, re-directing the wrens to find more natural bathing areas. Even so, I once peeked out the window to notice two determined wrens using their bill to toss the rocks over the sides and reclaim their favorite bathing spot. h

The Carolina wrens in the author's backyard found a perfect bathing spot in the pots on her patio, and left quite a mess behind. Photo by Harriett Pooler.

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E S S AY

Catalog Temptations A REQUIEUM FOR A TIME BEFORE AMAZON

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By Ed Cullen

nother year’s gone by without my ordering a single thing by marking choices on paper, then waiting for the thing to arrive. No updates. No tracking.

In those olden days, I would have forgotten I’d ordered the cap, knife, solar light, shower shoes—then, zammo, there’d be a package on the porch.

The cat and I are old enough that porch packages still excite us.

It took thirty years to realize I already owned more sweaters than days cold enough to wear them all in South Louisiana. But still I’d pore over the catalogs, marveling at the bone structure and fitness of the models, their glowing faces warming me with their smiles and gleaming white, straight teeth.

I want the lace-up boots resting on one of the catalog’s hearths. I want a competitor’s boot-shoes of premium cow leather with suede uppers that shed snow and rain. In South Louisiana, they shed water up to the first two inches. Then, you better have a pair of calf-high babies open ends down, soles to the sky, between the bed of your pickup and the cab. Basic black with red bottoms.

The classic catalog boot-shoe comes in colors of “dark cement,” brick, rust, and rust orange with cozy fleece lining in orange and black plaid and Primaloft insulation. Check the temp before slipping these on. There are five days in this tropical winter season that you can wear these shoes without losing liters of fluid through your feet.

Oh, but those vintage indigo uppers with bright navy lowers and slate plaid liners have me reaching for the antique silver letters over blue embossed numbers of my VISA. Sure, they cost $200 before

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tax, but at two wearings per year, I would never wear them out.

I was recently shoving one of the catalogs into the kindling box when— blam—the pages fluttered open to “Our Bestselling Rainwear”. Now, rainwear I can use. But the jacket I already have just won’t wear out. I try leaving it behind at the coffee shop, but my flight is arrested by the inevitable “Oh, sir, you’re forgetting your breathable rain jacket with drawstring hood and dark gray zip-up vest.”

Warming my shins before a chiminea fire burning up those old catalogs, I know what I want from them isn’t for sale. I want the lakes and islands behind the gorgeous humans. I want the mountains of Maine, the sailboats gliding past E.B. White’s old farm and, above all, I want the models’ time in life.

I went to the Mother Store of all adventure outfitters in Seattle a few years ago, hoping the catalog models worked there when they weren’t jumping puddles, scaling sheer rock faces, or draped over the arms of chairs before stone fire places.

My visit to Outdoor Valhalla was rewarded by simulated hiking trails that lead up from the parking lot through new-growth evergreens to doors with crossed, ice-axe handles. The woman who sold me a Velcro strap for my back pack looked merely human, though she had a nice smile. And she was from New Orleans.

She was a photographer, happy to have the part-time gig at Camping Castle, but she was homesick. She would have cheerfully traded shooting the rapids of an untamed river for the walking paths of Audubon Park. h

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

On "The Best of Enemies" A Q&A WITH OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

W

hen Osha Gray Davidson received his invitation to be the Great Southern Writer for this year’s Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, his immediate reaction was, “Me? A Southern writer?”

The award-winning author of The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South was born in New Jersey, grew up in Iowa, and currently lives in Arizona. He’s written about the first Native American woman to die in combat as a United States soldier, about the underwater mysteries of South Pacific coral reefs for the 2003 documentary Coral Reef Adventure, and he’s covered topics like fraud in fish marketing and solar-powered 3D printers in his two-year blogging stint at Forbes.

“I’ve never thought of myself as a regional writer,” he said. “I write on all sorts of topics that look at things in different areas all over the world.”

That his 1996 portrait of North Carolina race relations—presented through the story of Black activist Ann Atwater’s and ex-Klansman C.P. Ellis’s unlikely friendship— continues to resonate so deeply within the context of Southern literature was “humbling, but also thrilling,” he said.

In anticipation for his visit to Louisiana for the festival, which takes place this spring, we connected with Davidson to discuss the journalistic process behind The Best of Enemies, its role in contemporary conversations around race, and his podcast The American Project.

Tell me about how you initially came to write The Best of Enemies, and about your reporting process for the book.

Well, I first heard about their story when I was reviewing a Studs Terkel book called Race, and it had a few pages about [Atwater and Ellis’s] relationship. It’s such a compelling story that I thought, "There is more there. Someone should write about their relationship and the context in which it happened." And I realized, well, that could be me.

So, I called C.P. because his phone number was listed, and things just went from there. It took a while to get both him and Ann Atwater to trust me enough to sit down and talk with me. And even

at that, I spent two to three years going to Durham and spending a week or two at a time there, just meeting them, their friends, their families. Always, when you’re doing journalism, long form journalism especially, getting people to trust you and being trustworthy is a challenge.

So, just being open about my ignorance, which they were bound to pick up on, helped. And they both opened up, and ... just, they were wonderful. It was so rewarding, personally, to me, just to get to know them and their families. So, that’s how it came about.

The Best of Enemies has received sort of a second life with the making of Robert Bissell’s 2019 film based on your book. What place do you think this story—written in the nineties about events that took place in the seventies—hold in conversations around race today?

The story is still relevant in at least a couple of ways that I think are important.

One is that their friendship shows what is possible. If the head of the KKK and a Black community activist can bridge a divide and become true friends—and more like family, as both of them have said—what excuse do the rest of us have for not making the effort? It shows what is possible. And, to me, that was the most important message of the book. And I think that’s what has touched a lot of people, too.

The other part that I think is relevant is C.P. Ellis—I was fascinated by how he got to where he was to begin with. Right?

He was a Klan member. It’s so easy to just write those people off. And in some cases,

that’s not totally inappropriate. But for me, it was really important to understand how and why people are racist, what causes that, what racism offers to people, and what hole that fills in themselves. A big part of this story is how institutions and demagogues recruit people and exploit them—the context of white supremacist institutions and how the powers-that-be in Durham kept white and Black workers at each other’s throats to keep their power. Seeing that, that’s what allowed C.P. to break free from that. He came to understand that he was being used. And it was Anne’s compassion that allowed her to try and not just write C.P. off. Though, of course, it didn’t stop her from trying to kill him at one point.

Tell me about your latest big endeavor the podcast The American Project?

Sure! So, I started the podcast when I knew that the movie for The Best of Enemies was going to be coming out. I re-

alized, ‘Okay I’ll be doing interviews again, for a book that I wrote years and years before.’ And I thought, okay, so

there’s been a lot of scholarship done on racial issues since then. I spent about a year catching up on the scholarship of racism and racial justice. And there was also ... we were going through a moment after the George Floyd murder. This was an important topic of conversation. Unfortunately, racism is an evergreen topic in America. And I hope that someday it won’t be.

Through my research, I discovered that I was wondering, "What can be done now? What can I do now to further this discussion beyond just my book?"

And I sort of stumbled on reparations and the whole reparations movement.

The more I read about it and watched speeches or lectures on reparations, the

more fascinated I became in it. And that’s when I decided I was going to do a podcast of investigative journalism on one issue: on reparations and why they are a possibility. There are a lot of recordings throughout our history, early recordings, and all sorts of resources. And there are all these experts, people who have devoted their lives to this, that I was able to interview via Zoom and phone, and occasionally to travel and meet in person.

I was fortunate enough to get William Darity, Jr.—probably the leading expert on reparations in the United States—to be an advisor on the show, to listen to the episodes and give me feedback, and tell me when I’m going in the wrong direction.

What are you most looking forward to, bringing this story to the forefront again for this festival?

Just being able to meet people in Louisiana and talk about, and answer questions about, this remarkable story is always

exciting. Now, Ann and C.P. have both passed, but keeping their memory alive I think is important.

What about visiting Louisiana in general? What are you most looking forward to about that?

Well, first of all, I do have links there. My father went to Louisiana State University, and my grandparents came to the United States through New Orleans. So, some parts of my family settled there and in Mississippi, and my father went back and visited them a lot. He always listened to the LSU games on the radio.

And then, of course, Louisiana—especially the Southern part of Louisiana—is just such a fascinating section of Ameri-

ca, and so different from so many others.

I’ve always been a big fan of the music.

And the food. And also the natural world there. I’ve written a book about coral reefs, and another about sea turtles—so I’ve traveled around the world to really unique places, but I haven’t spent much time in Southern Louisiana. All of that is really exciting. h

The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival will take place in downtown New Iberia from April 1-3, featuring events that include lectures from local historians, readings, a 5K, writing workshops, a book fair and more—not to mention the popular Dave Robichaux Haunts and Jaunts Bus Tour, and a special tribute to the Louisiana literary behemoth Ernest Gaines.

A screening of The Best of Enemies will take place on Saturday, April 2 at 12:30 pm at the Grand Movie Theater, and Davidson will present a talk on the process of writing The Best of Enemies for the Great Southern Writer Symposium at 3 pm.

You can purchase Davidson’s book at uncpress.org, watch the movie on Netflix, and find The American Project podcast at theamericanproject.us. // M A R 2 2

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E D U C AT I O N

Teaching History the Books Forgot

USING TIKTOK, CHRIS DIER IS REACHING AN AUDIENCE HUNGRY TO LEARN LESSER-KNOWN ASPECTS OF LOCAL HISTORY.

By Alexandra Kennon Photo courtesy of Chris Dier

aback that aside from the rare footnote, this deadly event appeared to have been entirely left out of history books.

“Once I sort of started to pull off the veil of this history, I really never looked back,” he said.

He wasted no time in presenting his findings to his students. He wanted to know if they and their parents had ever heard about these events—particularly because, as he discovered through his research, many of his students shared last names with both perpetrators and victims of the massacre. Not only was the story close to home in that regard, but the 1868 killings took place over a broad section of land—including that upon which Dier grew up, and where St. Bernard Middle School stands today.

“It became one of those things where I wanted to get it into the classroom as soon as possible,” Dier explained.

The reactions from his students were mixed—some were unsurprised to learn that something of that nature occurred so close by, while others were completely shocked. The commonality was that, in part because of the proximity, they were eager to learn more. “It sort of opens up that natural curiosity that we all have, and really gets them invested,” Dier said.

“So, it also gave us a lot of fodder for conversations, you know, students can actually engage in history that is their history and not history from a faraway place or anything, but history that they can take ownership of.”

Since then, Dier has written and published the first book documenting the ordeal: The 1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre: Blood in the Cane Fields (The History Press, 2017). While researching the book, he learned that the St. Bernard Massacre was far from being a singular event—in the years following the Civil War, similar violent episodes against Black individuals took place across Louisiana. Dier notes that while he remained ignorant of this bloody swath of history until adulthood, the majority of Black Louisianians find it unsurprising.

Garnering a Global Following

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hen teaching eighth grade at St. Bernard Middle School in 2013, Chris Dier was researching episodes in local history that would be relevant to his students. He knew from his graduate studies in education at the University of New Orleans that the best way to increase class engagement is with topics from close to home, after all.

His search led him to John C. Rodrigue’s Reconstruction in the Cane Fields: From Slavery to Free Labor in Louisiana’s Sugar Parishes, 1862–1880 (LSU Press, 2001), wherein a vague footnote piqued his curiosity; it mentioned “disturbances” in St. Bernard Parish in 1868. Dier—an avid

reader of historical texts who was raised by a history teacher mother, majored in history at East Texas Baptist University, and now taught history himself—had never heard of these “disturbances,” which had apparently taken place in the very parish in which he had grown up and now taught in.

Dier began poring over records—some digitized by Harvard University and some via the Congressional Record Archive—to learn more about the episodes in question.

In doing so, he discovered that the 1868 St. Bernard event referenced by the footnote amounted to much more than “disturbances.” In fact, he had stumbled upon one of the deadliest massacres in the history of Louisiana.

The 1868 St. Bernard Massacre Following the Civil War, in the days leading up to the presidential election of 1868, white Democratic voters in Louisiana and other Southern states feared losing their majority as newly-emancipated Black men joined the voting rolls.

The stakes of the election were particularly high: a win for Democratic candidate Horatio Seymour would return Louisiana to home rule, spelling an end to local enforcement of Reconstruction-era measures to preserve the rights of newly enfranchised African Americans in the South by federal troops. On the other hand, a victory for the Republican candidate and former Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant would mean that local en66

forcement of Reconstruction era policies would continue—a prospect dreaded by many landowners in St. Bernard.

In an effort to secure a Seymour victory, in late October 1868 groups armed and mobilized to silence the freedmen and their newly-obtained voting rights.

Some Black men were forced from their homes and murdered. Others fled to the sugarcane fields, where some hid for multiple days. Reports of freedmen killed range from thirty-five to well over one hundred, while two white people were killed in the bloodshed (one of whom died while attempting to assist victims).

Dier was surprised to have never heard of these historical atrocities, and taken

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Years later, in March of 2020, Dier was teaching history at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans. Like other teachers across the globe, he was challenged to adapt his educational methods to the virtual sphere. At the urging of his students, Dier began utilizing a less-conventional method for sharing the largely-unknown history they were discussing in class: TikTok, the wildly-popular social media platform for creating and sharing shortform videos. He had been creating video content for his students already, but was initially reluctant to enter the entertainment-heavy, largely-Gen-Z space. “I said, ‘Absolutely, that’s not what we’re doing.’

And then I downloaded the app,” Dier said. The rest, as they say, is history.

As he explored the seemingly-infinite network of videos, particularly those posted by other history teachers, he found himself thinking, “Wow, this is actually a pretty cool way to deliver content.” He began making one-minute videos about historical episodes not covered by the textbooks he teaches from. “Because that means that teachers might not have the resources to access it, and thus students might not have access to it,” Dier explained. “So, I think that appealed to many people, to hear about history that isn’t really taught as much.”

That Dier’s TikTok presence appealed to “many people” might be an understatement: “I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging or anything, but it is global now,” Dier said. In February 2022, Dier’s account has 113.4 thousand followers, and over 1.3 million “likes”. He gets messages from viewers in China, Dubai,

Latin America, and beyond—a particularly large percentage of his followers are Chilean. “I don’t know, I did a few videos on Chilean history,” Dier explained, still marveling. “But yeah, it’s remarkable.”

Though significant social media capital is nothing to scoff at these days, Dier’s scope of recognition has extended into more concrete, official realms as well. He was invited to the White House after being named the 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, chosen as a finalist for the 2020 National Teacher of the Year, and named the winner of the National Education Association’s 2021 Human and Civil Rights Award. While he admits that having his work validated is a good feeling, “I also didn’t become a teacher for that type of validation or for the accolades,” he said. “To receive them is remarkable.

But again, it wasn’t my main goal, it was a product of the work.”

President of the Louisiana Association of Educators Dr. Tia Mills, on whose board Dier currently sits, applauded Dier’s willingness to meet students on their level by embracing the technology of their generation. “I think that the way that he is introducing [more difficult historical content] is very innovative. You know, with the changing of times comes the changing of thinking [about] the ways of approaching education, in different perspectives,” said Mills. “So, you have to be able to reach our children in various ways, because we have different types of learners.”

Now entering his third year on TikTok, Dier has produced an entire video series that addresses the largely untaught and undiscussed Reconstruction-Era massacres that took place in Louisiana

and beyond. They include the Thibideaux Massacre of 1887, the Bossier City Massacre of 1868, and the New Orleans Massacre of 1866, among others. Dier urges viewer discretion before diving into the frequently-violent details of these events, reminding his audience that he does not “believe in sugar-coating history—especially this history.”

For most of his videos, Dier travels to the sites where the bloodshed took place, emphasizing that not only are these atrocities largely unknown, but that the

locations at which they took place remain eerily unmarked—which he believes is a way of intentionally obscuring these events from the public eye. “I mean, today I passed the Roosevelt Hotel. And that’s where the New Orleans Massacre of 1866 happened. But there’s no marker.

There’s nothing there, it just looks like a hotel,” Dier emphasized. “So this history is all-encompassing and all around us, yet it just is not being presented in a way that is easy for people to access. And I think that’s fascinating.”

Advocating for the Acknowledgement of Uncomfortable Truths At Dier’s urging, the St. Bernard Parish Government is looking into allocating funds to place a historical marker at the site of the St. Bernard Massacre. The problem, according to Dier, is that such markers are expensive, and most parish governments can only afford one a year.

In 2020, St. Bernard allocated a marker to commemorate Fazendeville, the Black neighborhood demolished by the National Park Service in 1965 to clear Chalmette Battlefield, where the Battle of New Orleans took place. “St. Bernard Parish just got a marker for them last year, which is why I waited until this year, because that community was pushing hard for that,” Dier told me in late December, 2021. “And they’re only sponsoring one a year. So, this year, it looks like [the St. Bernard Massacre] is the marker that they are going with, so I can only hope for the best. And if not that, I do have a few people who said they would be willing to fundraise and donate.”

In New Orleans, Dier recently appeared on a WDSU Channel 6 TV segment discussing the St. Bernard Massacre, after which he said a local business owner reached out to him, lauding his efforts and offering to buy $500 worth of his books to distribute to family and friends. “I don’t often lose my words, but honestly, I don’t have many words, other than to say thank you,” the business owner said of the news segment. “I struggled watching it. But I’m thinking that’s the idea, right?”

Dier’s work also included advocating for the Reconstruction Era to be included in Louisiana’s high school social studies curriculum—which with new standards enacted in 2022, will finally include American history prior to 1877.

“Let’s be real: middle schoolers aren’t getting a full grasp and understanding of the Revolution, the Constitution, slavery and the Civil War, and Reconstruction,” said Dier. “So, if they don’t get it while they’re twelve, they’re never going to get this history ever again, if they don’t go to college.”

Mills, who in addition to serving as President of the LAE also sits on the

Louisiana School & District Accountability Commission, says decisions about what goes into the curriculum and doesn’t are certainly worth discussing. “I can definitely understand for sure why he has concerns about it. And I think that it’s something that we should have a candid conversation about.”

Though teaching violent and racially-fraught episodes of Louisiana’s history is certainly not easy, Dier firmly believes in the importance of shedding light on all aspects of our nation’s past, however uncomfortable they may make us. “We can’t deny reality, and people really were killed en masse, in massacres across Louisiana. And those victims, and survivors, and their descendants deserve to have their rightful place in the curriculum and in classrooms, just as if this happened to your family or anyone that you think should be valued,” Dier said. “And to not do so is devaluing the people who paid the hefty price simply for existing, or trying to do something as simple as vote, or as simple as walk down the street, minding their business—something that we all take for granted.”

Also a history major in college, Mills agrees that educators share the burden of ensuring that history is not lost by teaching it accurately to younger generations.

“I think it’s extremely crucial that [Dier] teaches that aspect of history, because if it’s not taught by our educators, then is going to be considered lost. There’s a lot of history out there that if not shared, or passed down from generation to generation, then it’s basically going to fade away.

And that is something that, as an individual with a history background, I’m deeply, gravely concerned about,” Mills said.

“The work that [Dier has] done in that area, you can tell that he’s extremely passionate about it.”

“If I had to sum it up,” Dier said, “Students deserve to know the truth, the victims and survivors and their descendants deserve to have justice and recognition, and it helps us move forward as a society if we have a decent understanding of our nation’s past.” h

Find more information on Chris Dier and his work, as well as his and his students’ list of teacher resources, or to purchase his book The 1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre: Blood in the Cane Fields (The History Press, 2017), at chrisdier.com. Watch his historical videos and follow him on TikTok @cmdla.

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B E S T- K E P T S E C R E T S

MeeMom’s Classroom THE DREAM FOR AN ARBORETUM IN LOUISIANA

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

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hen I was a child, staring out of the window of my social studies classroom at the height of Louisiana’s preciously-brief spring, certain monotonous schooldays were interrupted by the intercom: “Mrs. Kathy [or Therese, or Jackie, or Kim], would you send Jordan to the office? Mrs. Susan’s here to get her.”

Stepping into the hallway, I’d join four or five of my other LaHaye cousins en route to the school’s exit, elated.

Mommee was checking us out of school!

I don’t remember how many times exactly our grandmother did this for us, but there were always sugary snacks involved, and often more of us than could legally fit into her vehicle. Piled all together in our plaid and our polos, we’d drive the twenty minutes across Evangeline Parish to her favorite place: the Louisiana State Arboretum.

Down the trails we’d go, paired by age, Mommee leading the way—yelling out over our chatter to point out the towering beech trees, the splotches of Christmas lichens, the vines of trailing muscadine. “Leaves of three, don’t touch me,” she’d remind us of the plentiful poison ivy, and every now and then she’d stop and have us listen for birdsongs. High for an afternoon on the freedom from our rigid Catholic school routines, we reveled in the fresh air and the hilly wilderness—utterly grateful for the day, and for her. On our way back to the car, we’d always stop for a minute to sit on the benches of the out68

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Photos courtesy of the Louisiana State Arboretum.

door classroom we’d call “MeeMom’s School”.

“It’s been such a big part of our life,” said my grandmother, Susan LaHaye, of the arboretum when I visited her recently. “I would take my children, and I took y’all.

It’s a wonderful place… And it brought me a little richness that I never would have known with my mom.”

Her mother Dulcie Dupré (or “MeeMom” as we called her) was intimately involved in the creation of the arboretum from its beginnings, with a dream mirroring naturalist and educator Caroline Dormon’s: Louisiana should have a state arboretum. In an interview published in The Ville Platte Gazette in November 1992, Dupré articulated this aspiration, which was spurred during a visit to San Francisco’s Strybing Arboretum (now the San Francisco Botanical Garden) decades before: “I walked out of there, and said ‘I’m going home and building one.’”

The Louisiana State Arboretum’s genesis can be traced back to a State Park and Recreation Commission meeting in 1957, when Rotarian and retired principal from Ville Platte J.D. “Prof” Lafleur conducted a presentation on Chicot State Park’s magnificent, centuries-old trees.

In attendance was Mrs. A.G. “Sudie” Lawton, a close friend and collaborator of Caroline Dormon, who had been advocating for an arboretum for decades at that time. Lafleur’s lecture drew Lawton, a board member of the Commission, to Evangeline Parish to see the place he described. When she saw the old-growth trees, the roll-

ing hills, and the diversity of plants and wildlife flourishing in the swamps, hardwood forests, and prairielands of the property—she knew that it was the perfect location for Dormon’s vision to be realized.

Four years later, in May of 1961, 301 acres of Chicot State Park were set aside by the State Parks and Recreation Commission and Louisiana State Parks to create the first state-supported arboretum in the United States.

“The original site was picked by Prof,” said Jim Robinson, a naturalist who served as the Manager of the Arboretum for twenty five years until his retirement, and currently serves as the President of the Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum. “Prof had been associated with Chicot Park for so many years, and he knew where the prettiest parts of the park were. And it was awesome.

There’s the deeply-dissected ridges, narrow ridges. You find a lot of plant diversity when you have those changes in elevation. And so, they laid out the trails.”

Dormon was invited to serve as a consultant for the project, and she collaborated with Lafleur to develop the area into a destination for regional and national botanists, horticulturalists, students, and tourists—connecting with organizations throughout the state for support and funding. In April, 1964, the Louisiana State Arboretum was officially dedicated as a preservation area for trees and shrubs native to the region.

To create a roadside entry, the organizers had to reach out to private landowners, who gladly donated their

property for the cause. These included Joel Guillory, Anthony Abdalla, and John Ellis Dupré—my great grandfather, Dulcie’s husband. “When you stand at that entryway,” said Robinson, “you’re standing at the highest place in Evangeline Parish.”

“My daddy used to go to sheriff’s sales,” laughed my grandmother, Susan.

“He’d pick up little pieces of land like that all around the parish. But that’s what got Mama involved.” In the year of the arboretum’s establishment, Dulcie Dupré served as the Secretary of the Arboretum Steering Committee, and in the years to follow she was appointed to the board by Governor Edwin Edwards and became a founding member of the Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum, along with my grandmother.

“She really enjoyed writing letters and having meetings with people who were so interested in such a thing as this,” said my grandmother. “It came to be because people worked to have it.

And it was about sharing it with others, you know—this wonderful little jewel that’s there … I’d go with her and help her, and I think without the arboretum, I wouldn’t have realized in such a real way our shared appreciation of nature.”

I was only two years old when my great-grandmother Dulcie died, and never had the opportunity to know her. But any time I’d go for ventures through the woods with my dad, he’d bring her name up—“You know who else loved to go on walks through the forest?” Her memory, for me, has always hovered in the tangled, brilliantly-ordered worlds beneath Louisiana’s trees.

“I’ve always loved the earth,” she said in her Gazette interview. “[My husband and I] were farmers. We both had a deep, deep love of the earth. I don’t know how to express that. And of the woods, the forest.”

During the arboretum’s first thirty years in operation, Dupré devoted much of her life to advocating for its use and its betterment—particularly in the realms of education. Let it be part of [students’] education,” she told the interviewer. “And to teach them an appreciation of what we have.” She lobbied for legislation that promoted a curriculum in Conservation Education for Evangeline Parish school children, and frequently spoke to school and Scout groups encouraging them to visit.

In 1992 Dupré was seventy-eight years old and had just had a stroke, when she realized she needed to oversee the final crucial component of her ideal arboretum. Since her visit to the Strybing Arboretum over twenty years before, she had dreamt of creating an outdoor classroom. Following her health scare, she wasted no time in creating the Louisiana State Arboretum Development Committee. “I appointed myself chairman, because I knew what I wanted to do,” she said in an interview in the Alexandria Town Talk in 1993. Partnering with fellow member of the Magnolia Garden Club Corine Roberie, she “bombarded” the Office of State Parks with telephone calls. By the end of the year, she had her classroom.

The Outdoor Conservation Education Classroom, now called The Dulcie D. Dupré Outdoor Classroom, features a collection of pine benches cut from beetle-damaged trees, arranged amphitheater-style around a permanent wooden podium and table. Over the last forty years, it has served as a memorable feature of the Arboretum, hosting hundreds of school groups, walking tours, awards ceremonies, and various other educational functions. It has been enjoyed by strangers, by local regulars, and by dozens and dozens of her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, and her great-great-grandchildren now, too.

For her dedication towards this project, Dupré was awarded the next year with an Unsolicited Citation as an Outstanding Conservationist by the Louisiana Garden Club Federation at their annual convention.

Today, the part of the Arboretum that includes the old Dupré property and Dulcie’s classroom is now considered the “old section”. Largely unchanged, with its old wooden sign and its original plantings maintained, the roadside entrance lends a certain sense of nostalgia for those of us who have been visiting for over twenty years now.

Since 2009, though, most people enter the park via its six-thousand-square-foot J.D. “Prof” Lafleur Nature Center, with its interactive exhibitions on the Arboretum’s five distinct habitats and the species you might find there—all centered by a life-sized replica of an old-growth oak. The multi-billion dollar project that is the “new arboretum”—as many of the locals refer to it—is accessible only through Chicot State Park, and includes an additional six miles of trails and three hundred acres of land that were designated to connect the Nature Center to the old trail system.

Cared for by a small but passionate team of three full-time employees—today the State Arboretum’s six hundred acres are visited annually by roughly ten thousand people. Despite this, it still very much feels like one of Louisiana’s very

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A NEW LIVE REGIONAL DAILY RADIO PROGRAM ABOUT SOUTH LOUISIANA Monday through Friday live at noon and rebroadcast at 7:30 p.m.

Above: Dulcie Dupré’s Outdoor Classroom. Left: Dulcie Dupré pictured leading a presentation on Caroline Dormon (whose framed photograph is featured) in her outdoor classroom in 1997. Pictured to her right are then-Chief of Operations for State Parks and now-President of the Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum Jim Robinson. Image courtesy of Robinson.

In Baton Rouge on WRKF 89.3 FM In New Orleans on WWNO 89.9 FM and on wrkf.org and wwno.org

best-kept secrets. Even on one of Chicot State Park’s busiest weekends in 2021 (Halloween weekend), my husband and I did not cross a single soul along the old Backbone Ridge Trail—a serenity that allowed us to see not one, but two white-tailed deer crossing over the pathway. The well-maintained trails lead from swampy cypress wetlands to pristine Cajun prairie to deep cut ravines and gulleys—all drenched in the quiet mystique of the old-growth forest’s canopy. Informational signage set subtly along the way gives names to the mysterious greenery that encloses you in: American Sycamore, Blackgum, Buttonbush, Devil’s Walkingstick, Horsesugar, Sassafras.

In January, the Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum compiled its seventy-two signs, which document much of the plant life within the arboretum, into a book titled Louisiana’s Arboretum: A Selection of Woody Plants. In the book’s dedication, Louisiana naturalist Bill Fontenot writes of the arboretum’s trails: “Wandering beneath these skyscrapers is as holy an experience as going to church! My work has taken me to hundreds of forests throughout the eastern U.S.—some with trees rivaling those of the Louisiana State Arboretum in size.

But nowhere have I experienced so much plant and bird diversity in a single locale—and in a single day. Yes, there’s something very special going on at this arboretum. . .”

It’s been at least fifteen years since those spring days spent skipping school with my grandmother, and she doesn’t move quite as well as she used to. For this interview, I had originally imagined taking her along the short, paved walk from the old Arboretum entrance to “MeeMom’s School”. But when the time came, she was recovering from a recent surgery. We made plans to reschedule our stroll for a future date, and I headed out there on my own.

Stepping under that entryway still elicits that same rare feeling of oasis, of escape—as though you are leaving the rest of the world and its routines and obligations on the other side. I walked the quiet lane leading to the classroom, soaking in the silence, tuning into each feathery rustle. I settled into a seat in the back of the classroom, and I thought of my great grandmother’s words, delivered at the dedication of this spot thirty years ago: “When the problems of daily life, 1992, become overwhelming, drop everything, take a drive to the Arboretum, sit down, rest, be still, and pray. It’s as though the pain of the moment flows out, and God flows in.” h

Returning Sunday, March 20 at 8PM

THE CONDUCTOR

Wednesday, March 2 at 7PM

Friday, March 25 at 9PM

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For more information on the Arboretum, including an interactive trail map and list of featured species, visit friendslaarb.org. The book Louisiana State Arboretum: A Selection of Woody Plants can be purchased on amazon.com.

HIKING

A Long Trail for Louisiana PROPOSING A FOUR HUNDRED MILE TREK ACROSS THE STATE

Story by Ruth Nasrullah • Photos by C.C. Lockwood

I

n hikers’ circles, Louisiana’s diverse and surprising terrain is frequently overlooked in favor of higher profile recreational destinations like the Ouachita National Recreation Trail in Arkansas, or the Lone Star Hiking Trail in East Texas. But people like Eric Heber, who runs the website louisianahikes. com, have long advocated for Louisiana’s hiking trails—which can take adventurers to hilly vistas and swampy lowlands, through piney forests and longleaf savannahs. Since the summer of 2020, Heber and digital marketing specialist Brian Chriceol have been collaborating on something big for hiking in Louisiana— something long.

When Chriceol first reached out to Heber—a real estate agent and avid backpacker from Baton Rouge—he hoped to find a like-minded partner to help him bring his project to life: a long distance trail for Louisiana. What he discovered was that Heber had already been pursuing the very same vision, at the very same time.

A long distance trail can be loosely defined as a continuous path of at least one hundred miles in length, taking the traveler through a bigger sampling of a region’s geography and culture and providing access to the communities along its path. Currently, the sixty-mile-long Louisiana Trail from Minden to Winnfield is the longest official trail in the state.

When they first spoke, Heber described his self-directed trail-building project, which connects the forty-mile Kisatchie Loop (made up of Kisatchie’s Sandstone Trail, Backbone Trail, and Caroline Dormon Trails) to its twentyfour-mile Wild Azalea Trail by way of a thirty-four-mile road walk, then contin-

ues on to the Camp Claiborne Trails at the southernmost part of the National Forest to form a roughly 150-mile long trail, which he unofficially calls The Kisatchie Trail.

“After talking to Eric, it became quite obvious that we need something for the entire state,” Chriceol said in one of several Rotary Club presentations he has given over the last two years seeking support for the official creation of an even longer trail, running from New Orleans all the way to Shreveport.

Chriceol envisions the four hundred-mile Bayou State Trail, as he has christened it, catering to cyclists as well as hikers and capturing the state’s many cultures and terrains along the way.

“The thing about Louisiana is that it’s so geographically and culturally diverse,” said Chriceol. “Most people across the country, when they think about Louisiana, they’re going to think about New Orleans and swamps. A lot of people don’t realize that once you start getting out of South Louisiana, the geography changes quickly [and] you start getting into some hilly areas.”

A long distance trail of this scale should also prove an economic boon to adjacent communities, according to Chriceol. This prediction is supported by data from numerous sources, including the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the National Park Service, whose nonprofit partner American Trails reports that in many places having a trail nearby provides a town with a revenue increase to the tune of millions of dollars annually as a result of tax revenue, licenses and fees, and in-town use of services.

In addition to day hikers who would be able to take advantage of various sections of the Bayou State Trail, the

proposed route would also draw more serious backpackers interested in longer trips, particularly those from less temperate climates looking for comfortable hiking during winter months. This class of hiker routinely goes off trail into local towns to replenish supplies, relax in a hotel room, and otherwise engage in revenue-generating activities.

So how does one go about building such a trail?

Whereas Heber created his decidedly unofficial Kisatchie Trail by simply introducing connections to existing sections of the Kisatchie National Forest, the Bayou State Trail will require an intense effort over the course of several years to become an official trail. What will make it official? That can vary depending on who’s using, sponsoring, or maintaining the land it is on. Wesley Trimble, the American Hiking Society’s Communications and Creative Director, explained that it’s generally up to landowners and caretakers.

“In the basic sense, a trail becomes ‘official’ when it’s recognized and designated as a trail by the corresponding land manager(s),” said Trimble. “In the case of a state-long trail, several land agencies and other organizations are often involved in the process of developing and designating a trail.”

Chriceol envisions creating a Bayou State Trail Association to oversee this process, with regional groups taking the lead on the ground for their area.

Though the concept is still in the early stages of advocacy and development, and thus subject to change—Chriceol’s original proposed route utilizes eight existing sections, starting at New Orleans’ Audubon Park on the Mississippi River Trail, moving up through Baton Rouge

to the Atchafalaya Levee Trail from Morgan City to Lafayette, then to the Chicot Park Trail in Ville Platte and the Wild Azalea Trail in Kisatchie, moving up to the Caroline Dormon/Backbone Trails, the Gum Springs Trail, and the Louisiana Trail. Chriceol even has hopes to extend the trail as far north as Arkansas by way of an abandoned railroad that once traveled from Little Rock to South Louisiana. Heber has volunteered to assist with the Baton Rouge section, which would need to be developed to serve as a spur trail between the Mississippi River Trail and the Atchafalaya Levee Trail.

The biggest challenge to the endeavor will be, Chriceol said, acquiring access to suitable land. Creating a new trail ideally involves using sustainable land with sufficient points of interest and easy access and exit. Water sources and campsites or shelters are a must for backpackers. For a trail to serve both hikers and cyclists, there are even more requirements. And, of course, the land should be available and allowed for use as a trail. To that end, in his rotary presentations Chriceol proposes a more complex version of Heber’s trail-building technique—using present resources to serve as connectors between existing parks or trails. Possible connectors include the river levee system; railroads, both abandoned and existing; gravel roads; and for limited stretches, rural highways. He anticipates needing minimal to no private property.

It may take several years and a lot of planning, work, and funding, but when it’s finished, the Bayou State Trail could well be become a centerpiece of Louisiana’s recreational offerings.

Stay tuned! h

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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

Preservation Press

ANNE AND HANNAH VENABLE REVEL IN THE CREATIVE MAGIC OF DRIED BOTANICALS

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

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n college, Anne C. Venable was a ture-regulated press room, which fea- ture content is as low as possible as the flower thief. “I was stealing them,” tures Anne’s custom wooden presses, flowers are squeezed flat, a particular said the founder of Preservation which were hand-crafted by her father challenge in humid South Louisiana.

Press, laughing. “If I was just rid- in five different sizes. With the excep- The general rule of thumb for pressing ing around town on my bike, I would tion of a rogue petal sticking out here is two to three weeks, but to ensure the just stop and pick flowers.”

At the time, Anne was studying Exercise Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and was just pressing flowers as a hobby—“I saw something in a magazine, and I couldn’t afford it, so I just started learning the trade.” She said she remembers sitting at home on Friday nights with two computer monitors open to Youtube videos demonstrating different techniques, taking notes. “I just found it so fascinating. I was so intrigued that I just wanted to learn, learn, learn.”

Over a decade later, Anne’s initial curiosity has turned into a full-blown botanical preservation business with four employees, five hand-made flower presses, and a brand-new retail space in Downtown Lafayette.

Anne’s very first employee was her wife, Hannah Venable—who is now a vital part of the business as the Lead Designer of Preservation Press. “Hannah was born to do flower work,” said Anne. “She is a true talent in this business, and it shows. Whenever she started dabbling, I was like ‘Wow, you’re really good’—her little razor blades, just cutting and trimming. I’m still fascinated when I watch her.”

Artwork by Hannah Venable. Image courtesy of Preservation Press.

Leading me through their new location on Vermilion Street, the couple reveled in the sheer space it of- and there, the room is filled almost to best possible results, Anne and Hannah fers—with designated rooms for each the ceiling with what appears to be keep flowers in the press for six to eight. step of the process and a stunning, stacks of paper and cardboard. “What After the flowers are fully dehyhigh-ceilinged retail area. When I visit- we do is we kind of deconstruct every- drated, they are moved to “Hannah’s ed, they were still getting things set up, thing by petal, and then place them in Room,”—the “design territory, as I like but the exposed brick wall was already the paper,” said Anne. “Then you wrap to call it,” said Anne. The magic takes adorned from floor to ceiling in Pres- it around the cardboard and put it in place on a drafting table, where Hanervation Press’s signature mixed-media the press. We change the paper every nah spends most of her days recreating pieces: flower pelicans, alligators, balle- Monday, Wednesday, Friday over the bridal bouquets in the two dimensionrinas, and even a sweet rose petal pig— course of like six to eight weeks, de- al and transforming funeral flowers interspersed with minimalist herbarium pending on the type of flowers.” into bluebirds. Once she has arranged boards centering a palmetto frond, a Pressing, at its simplest form, is a pro- the hundreds of delicate petals in a fern, a single orange poppy. cess of removing water from flowers. way that the client is happy with, she The process begins in the tempera- The paper changes ensure that mois- sweeps them off of the drafting paper 74

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to begin the final process of reconstruction. Picking up a stray peony petal, she points out how thin it is—“I use backings that I cut out and glue to every single petal before laying it down for the final arrangement,” Hannah said.

A peony, mind you, can have up to one hundred petals to layer on top of one another in order to recreate the flower. “It’s definitely a very delicate, very tedious process,” she added.

“I think it is undervalued by a lot of people,” said Anne. “They don’t realize quite the level of intensity and attention to detail that this art form requires, and the time.”

This spirit of careful craft carries through to the very end of the process, to the framing area—where Anne offers custom framing for each and every piece.

Though weddings and funerals are Preservation Press’s bread and butter—“We’re like deep in the funeral industry,” said Anne—both women continue to be creatively inspired, and challenged, by the art form’s range. “I’ve made like one thousand birds,” said Hannah.

“Like I could do it in my sleep. I’m not even sure how I got into the birds. I just love tiny, very detail-intricate themes.” In her hands, leaves and flower petals re-emerge as butterflies, playing cards, Frida Kahlo, sugar skulls, and even Darth Vader.

For Anne, it still goes back to that initial fascination with the process of pressing. “The magic of it … seeing a flower go from three-dimensional to flattened,” she said. “I think it’s always so exciting taking the flowers out of the press and seeing how the colors turn out. I’m definitely still hanging on to that. Those little moments of magic in the press.” h

Preservation Press will host a grand opening at their new location (118 W Vermilion Street Lafayette) at the end of March. For custom orders, visit preserve-press.com.

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Saturday, March 5 at 4:00 p.m. at the Main Library at Goodwood.

FREE Kick-Off Party for the whole family!

Enjoy delicious food & refreshments, crafts, live zydeco music from RJ & Kreole Smoove, plus community organizations celebrating Louisiana landscapes, nature, cultural heritage, & more!

The Library is pleased to host author Gwen Roland for two events in April: • April 23 at 2:00 p.m. at the Main Library at Goodwood Atchafalaya Houseboat Author Talk and Q&A • April 24 at 3:00 p.m. at the Main Library at Goodwood Pass It On: Skills & Stories

Visit www.ReadOneBook.org for an Atchafalaya Houseboat book summary and author information, as well as a continuously updated calendar of One Book One Community events and programs.

Open 24/7 online at www.ebrpl.com/DigitalLibrary • All you need is your Library card!

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