Country Roads Magazine "Embrace Your Place Issue" May 2023

Events

11

MERRY MAY-KING Paddles & powwows celebrating culture region-wide

6 REFLECTIONS

Bloom Where You’re Planted by James Fox-Smith

NEWS & NOTEWORTHIES

IN GOOD HANDS

At only seventeen, Kylie Malveaux envisages the future for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe by

Alexandra Kennon

LA PRIERE

Jourdan Thibodeaux’s latest album is an exhortation for French Louisianans to preserve their culture by Jonathan Olivier & Télé-Louisiane

THE STORIES OF LOS ISLEÑOS

Authors Stephen Estopinal and Chad LeBlanc use storytelling as a medium to explore and preserve the history of the Canary Islanders by Catherine Schoeffler

Comeaux

On the Cover

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: MEET KYLIE MALVEAUX

Photo by Olivia Perillo

“Moving forward, we just need our heritage to live on,” Kylie Malveaux, seventeen, expresses in our feature article “In Good Hands” on page 34. “And if not the youth, then who? We have no one else to bring it forward.”

Malveaux, who serves as the Vice Chair of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana’s Seventh Generation Youth Council, represents Louisiana’s next generation of cultural warriors, individuals dedicated to staying true to their heritage and fighting for its survival into the future. Our region is such a vast tapestry of culture, the result of countless peoples who have made the Gulf Coast region their home—the explorers, the conquerors, the pioneers, the refugees, the enslaved. Malveaux’s ancestors have been here longer than all of them, and have had to fight harder than most to preserve their way of life.

This year’s Embrace Your Place issue is centered on the culture bearers, the individuals who have made it their life’s work to rage against total assimilation, to hold onto the histories and the traditions and the languages of their ancestors. As Louisiana French musician Jourdan Thibodeaux pleads in the title track of his new album La Priere, “Tu vis ta culture, out tu tues ta culture, il y a pas de milieu.”

ve your culture, or you kill your culture. There is no middle ground.”

Cuisine Culture

44

THE RIND

The story behind Hammond’s cheesemongering motherdaughter-duo by Holly

Duchmann

46

WESTFELDT BROTHERS

For almost 200 years, one of America’s oldest coffee importers has operated quietly on Gravier Street

by Poet Wolfe

48

THEY CAME BY TRAIN

Turning to the archives for a new look at the Orphan Train narratives by Jordan Richardson

50

STRANGE TRUE STORIES OF MY LOUISIANA ANCESTORS, PART II

Following “Marie Adelaide” from Paris’s Reign of Terror to French Azilum to the slave revolts of Saint Domingue by Nina

Flournoy

Escapes

54 A JAUNT TO JEAN LAFITTE

The scenic small town on Bayou Barataria holds adventure in its name by Kristy

Christiansen

57

WHERE BIG HEARTS MEET

From Beanlandia to Frady’s, a guide to the Bywater’s best by Beth

D’Addono

62

PERSPECTIVES

The Black Creatives Circle of North Louisiana by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Publisher James Fox-Smith

Associate Publisher

Ashley Fox-Smith

Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Alexandra Kennon

Creative Director

Kourtney Zimmerman

Contributors:

Kristy Christiansen, Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux, Beth D’Addono, Holly Duchmann, Nina Flournoy, Drake LeBlanc, Kimberly Meadowlark, Brei Olivier, Jonathan Olivier, Olivia Perillo, Jordan Richardson, Poet Wolfe

Cover Artist Olivia Perillo

Advertising

SALES@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

Sales Team

Heather Gammill & Heather Gibbons

Advertising Coordinator

Melissa Freeman President

Dorcas Woods Brown

Subscriptions

$21.99 for 12 months

$39.58 for 24 months

ISSN #8756-906X

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.

Reflections

FROM THE PUBLISHER

I’m writing this perched in a lawn chair in the parking lot of a Lafayette high school, where we’re waiting to watch our youngest child, a senior, defend West Feliciana High School’s honor in the regional finals of the 2023 LHSAA Tennis Tournament. It’s a cool, breezy April Monday, and for Charles, who has arrived at the pointy end of his high school journey, this is tennis-playing, finals-cramming, college-choosing, prom date-inviting weather. But the end is near; at this point, I think Charles only has to show up about three more times before his thirteen-year run in the West Feliciana Parish school system comes to an end. I’m proud to announce that this fall, he’ll start college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, leaving his parents in the unfamiliar position of having no children at home for the first time in two decades. Twenty years is both a long time and a shockingly short one, and it’s difficult not to dwell on the end of this monumental season of our lives.

Milestones have a way of making you take stock of your surroundings, and lately we’ve found ourselves reflecting on what has changed in ours during this parenting journey, and what has stayed the same. One that belongs in both cat-

egories is our hometown, which seems to be having a bit of a moment. In March Southern Living magazine named St. Francisville one of its “50 Best Towns in the South for 2023,” joining the travel/ destination website Far & Wide, which included St. Francisville in its “America’s Coolest Small Towns by State” list in January. A flurry of new businesses—from restaurants to clothing boutiques—have either opened recently or are working feverishly to do so. Brandon Branch and Jim Johnson have bought the venerable Barrow House bed & breakfast, with plans to reopen it as a threeroom inn named The Royal before the year is out. At the other end of Ferdinand Street, a different sort of St. Francisville landmark, The Oyster Bar, is open again, serving beers and tempting fate with zero regard for the rising river water creeping across the parking lot. Perhaps most exciting now that my year on the wagon is behind me: long-awaited Bayou Sara Brewing Company is set to break ground in the old Bennett Ford building next month. At risk of stretching the high school analogy to breaking point, if St. Francisville were graduating this spring, it would either win the “Most Popular,” or “Most Likely to Succeed” awards. Or possibly both.

Of course, as things grow, other things go. At the end of 2022, Grandmother’s Buttons closed the book on its astonishing, thirty-seven-year run (which you can hear us talk to founder Susan Da-

vis about in Episode 2 of Country Roads’ new DETOURS podcast). Lynn Wood is no longer a morning fixture at Birdman Coffee & Books, having passed the torch to her niece, Lexi. And enough new residents have been drawn by West Feliciana’s fresh energy and outstanding school system that familiar fields and woods are starting to be replaced by new construction (for the first time in 120 years we have neighbors!).

For our kids, born, raised, and launched from here, St. Francisville has been a charmed place to call home. When they were small, the woods and streams of rural West Feliciana supplied a canvas for unfettered exploration. As they navigated adolescence, the closeknit community and excellent public school system provided a many-layered support structure that challenged and socialized them while holding them to high standards. And as they got drivers’ licenses and tried on the trappings of

early adulthood, the town made space, provided mentors and first jobs, then wished them luck and waved them on their way. No matter how and where you grow up, a near-universal coming-ofage mantra seems to involve wanting to get out of dodge. So, now that Charles stands on the verge of leaving for college, the fact that he can’t stop talking about how much he loves St. Francisville surely counts for something.

One day about twenty-eight years ago, shortly after moving to St. Francisville from a city of four million, and still feeling very much like a fish out of water, I went to the tiny West Feliciana community of Weyanoke to interview a legendary ceramic artist named Michael Miller for one of my first Country Roads articles. A weather-beaten, unrepentant hippie with a pecan wood-fired kiln and a wooden leg, Michael had traveled far and wide, spending much of the sixties and seventies in California before returning to West Feliciana to establish Air House Pottery. After showing me around his studio and patiently answering my naïve questions for an hour or so, Michael gently asked how I was finding life in a small town. When I admitted that it was taking some getting used to, he fastened me with his twinkling blue eyes, smiled, and said “Bloom where you’re planted, man, and you’ll be fine.”

Best advice I ever got.

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

Childhood comes and goes in a blink. We’re here through the stages of your life, with the strength of the cross, the protection of the shield. The Right Card. The Right Care.

A Lifetime in Research

During her 33 years at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Dr. Catherine Champagne has contributed to groundbreaking research studies and watched the center grow by leaps and bounds

Dr. Catherine Champagne still vividly remembers passing the Perkins Road construction site where Pennington Biomedical Research Center was taking shape in the late 1980s. She was on her way to drop off her two young sons at school and had heard plans for a facility with a mission to improve human health throughout the lifespan, including a center for the study of nutrition. For Champagne, the thought stirred a longing to return to a field that she loved but hadn’t pursued in years. “That would be a really nice place to work,” the Louisiana native recalled thinking, not knowing at the time how prophetic that moment would prove to be.

Three and a half decades later, Champagne, who is Professor of Dietary Assessment and Nutrition Counseling and Nutritional Epidemiology, has been part of the team at Pennington Biomedical Research Center since its earliest days. However, the professional path this St. Martinville native took to arrive at her post was hardly a geographical straight shot along I-10 from her hometown to Baton Rouge.

After receiving her undergraduate degree in Home Economics Education from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana Lafayette), Champagne earned both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Nutrition from Mississippi State University. During her time at Mississippi State, Champagne started a family with her then-husband before moving to Arkansas, where she worked as a clinical dietitian at The University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock, serving patients across the pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatric specialties.

“I knew I wanted to be in nutrition and be recognized as a professional in nutrition,” said Champagne. Although she received her training and honed a passion for her work in Mississippi and Arkansas, for all the pieces to truly fall into place, Champagne had to return home to Louisiana.

The decision to come back home was made, in part, for the same reason many return to their roots, “after a while we were kind of homesick for the family,” said Champagne. After a short stint in Lafayette, the family moved to Baton Rouge, where Champagne became an instructor at the LSU Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory from 1984-1989. Her role was to analyze agricultural products—a process that would prove useful to the work she would ultimately perform at Pennington Biomedical, which initially involved extensive research into food composition. While her work at the Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory was rewarding, Champagne still wanted to return to the study of nutrition. So, when a trusted mentor suggested she apply for a position at the newly constructed Pennington Biomedical Research Center, she didn’t hesitate. On December 15, 1989, Champagne accepted a position as an Assistant Professor/Research, Nutrient Data Systems Scientist.

Now in her mid-seventies, Champagne has been part of the Pennington Biomedical team for 33 years and has no plans to retire anytime soon. “I find my job wonderful,” she said, “I’ve had a lot of different work experiences in terms of studies I’ve been involved in.”

One notable highlight that is a source of professional pride for Dr. Champagne is her design of the feeding trial for the D.A.S.H. (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet, an eating plan developed at Pennington Biomedical during the mid-1990s. Designed to lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, the D.A.S.H Diet has been ranked among the top three most effective diets over the past 13 years by U.S. News & World Report. As of the most recent report update, D.A.S.H ranks second only to the popular celebrity and influencer-endorsed Mediterranean Diet for healthiness, safety, ease of following, and promoting a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

Currently, Champagne and her dietitian colleagues at Pennington Biomedical are beginning work on Nutrition for Precision Health, a feeding study that evaluates the metabolic responses to three types of diets, each built around varying quantities of food groups such as fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and sugar and processed foods. Champagne is heavily involved in the planning phases, identifying the types of foods that will form the staples of each diet. Another exciting project benefiting from Champagne’s expertise is Pennington Biomedical’s Greaux Healthy program, which is developing strategies to help Louisiana’s youth to maintain a healthy weight during four specific life phases—from preconception to young adulthood.

When Catherine Champagne passed the Pennington Biomedical Research Center construction site all those years ago, as a nutritionist she was quick to recognize the positive impact on quality of life in Louisiana. She wanted to be a part of the center devoted to research into obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. In the decades since, Champagne has watched the Pennington Biomedical team expand from around 30 people at the start to numbers now that she no longer recognizes everyone she passes on campus. She is joyful about the growth and wants more people to know about the groundbreaking ways in which the center is working to improve quality of life within the Baton Rouge community, and beyond.

Information about how individual community members can get involved is available through detailed links on the Pennington Biomedical Research Center website.

The Enduring Appeal of “Antiques Roadshow”

In television, twenty-seven years is a long time. In an era when the lifespan of most TV shows numbers fifty episodes or fewer, the programs that manage to command audiences’ attention for years, much less hdecades, are rare indeed. Consider, then, the astonishing longevity of Antiques Roadshow, the beloved series that has been airing nationwide on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network since 1997. This month Antiques Roadshow, which as the name suggests criss-crosses the country inviting local antiques owners to present belongings to a team of appraisers, returns to Baton Rouge for the first time since 2014. On May 2, four thousand lucky ticketholders clutching family heirlooms will descend on the LSU Rural Life Museum, where they’ll be greeted by seventy-five appraisers primed to explain the history, provenance, and value (or lack thereof), of their cherished thingamajigs.

How much do we love our antiques in Louisiana? According to Louisiana Public Broadcasting Director of Programming Jason Viso, Antiques Roadshow consistently attracts one of LPB’s highest viewerships, and when PBS offered tickets to attend the Baton Rouge taping by lottery, more than ten thousand people signed up. Asked why he feels that Antiques Roadshow remains so appealing, Viso noted that the program indulges a universally appealing notion—that hidden treasures might lie right under our noses. “Everybody who comes has the chance to bring something,” Viso noted. “And when you think about it, everybody owns something, maybe from a relative, that they believe has value, or they’ve always heard has value. And this is a chance to know for sure.”

Antiques Roadshow airs at 7 pm Mondays across the LPB network. The Baton Rouge episodes will form part of Antiques Roadshow’s twenty-eighth season, airing in winter/spring, 2024. video.lpb.org/show/antiques-roadshow.

Culinary Connections

THE SOUTHERN FOOD & BEVERAGE MUSEUM CELEBRATES CULINARY DIPLOMACY IN LOUISIANA

Of all of the ways people can hcome together across different backgrounds and cultures, we in Louisiana are well aware that sharing food can be one of the most effective, most visceral, and most delicious methods. In April, when Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited New Orleans, the Southern Food & Beverage Museum hosted a special lunch reception to celebrate just that—particularly New Orleans’s many culinary contributions to the country and world, and the international chefs living and working in New Orleans who serve as sorts of culinary ambassadors to their home countries. The visit was part of the Department of State’s recently

re-launched Diplomatic Culinary Partnership initiative, developed with the James Beard Foundation, which highlights the ways cuisine and hospitality can serve as diplomatic tools to unite cultures and strengthen international relationships.

Deputy Secretary Sherman was introduced with a speech by Chef Serigne Mbaye of Dakar NOLA, who was recently nominated by the James Beard Foundation for its Emerging Chef Award. “I knew that I wanted people in the United States to taste the greatness of Senegalese cuisine as I learned to cook it. I want to help to put the flavor of my small West African country into a world conception of great food,” Mbaye told the

gathering. “But it’s not every day that a Senegalese-Harlem Chef gets to speak in front of the Deputy Secretary of State.”

Also among the featured international chefs were Ana Castro of Lengua Madre (also a 2023 Beard nominee for Best Chef: South); Roni Dacula of Philippine pop-up Gatâ; recent Top Chef competitor Nina Nguyen; Byron Bradley, who is passionate about New Orleans’s connections to the Caribbean; and Dee Lavigne, owner of New Orleans’s only African American-owned cooking school, Deelightful Roux. Each came to the lunch reception offering a small plate as special and memorable as the chef serving it: from Castro’s blue corn tortilla-blue crab tacos with pancetta and pistachio molé to Dacula’s

—James Fox-Smith

interpretation of Ginataang Hipon, a Filipino recipe of shrimp cooked in coconut milk served on a shrimp and squash purée with garlic rice.

“The chefs here with us are culinary diplomats in their own right,” Secretary Sherman said as she addressed the group. “These chefs contribute to this city’s, and by extension our country’s, rich culinary diversity. Collectively, their culinary expertise expands the globe, and incorporates flavors and techniques ranging from Copenhagen kitchens to Southeast Asian markets to West African homes … they are a microcosm of American food culture, whose ingredients include creativity, sophistication, and fun.”

—Alexandra Kennon

David Weiss (left) appraises a Julius Adam II “Kitten Symphony” oil, ca. 1885, in Fort Worth, TX. Photo by Jeff Dunn for GBH, (c) WGBH 2023.

Travaillons Ensemble

ANNOUNCING A NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN COUNTRY ROADS AND TÉLÉ-LOUISIANE

We’ll just come out and say it: 2023 is a strange time to be in local media. The world of independent journalism is totally unrecognizable from what it was when this magazine got its start in 1983. The economic models have been overturned, and the ways in which content is consumed have changed so drastically as to alter almost every aspect of our experience in the world. And local, in dependent journalism has undoubtedly suffered for it.

But still, we manage to carry forth—evolving as we must, but continuing to tell the same sorts of stories about place, and about culture. Because we know that these stories and the people who live and work and create in this dynamic re gion we call home are important, worth documenting, worth elevating.

And we aren’t alone! From this new and unprecedented media landscape, innovative new ways of storytelling have emerged to do this important work. One company we’ve been following since they got their start in 2018 is Télé-Loui siane —a media platform working across the spectrum in television broadcasting, podcasting, writing, and more; with a special focus on celebrating and fostering Louisiana’s Francophone heritage by creating multilingual content.

The space Télé-Louisiane occupies is one that we on occasion cross over into in our own cultural reporting. So, when their chief correspondent and staff writer (and longtime Country Roads contributor) Jonathan Olivier reached out to suggest we embrace the ways in which our companies align, and to collaborate—we jumped at the opportunity.

So, this month, we’re excited to share the first of a series of Country Roads stories produced in partnership with Télé-Louisiane, in which we will share our resources to facilitate cultural reporting that will now be shared multi-lin gually, across our audiences.

“Telling nuanced stories about Louisiana and its numerous unique communities is incredibly important,” said Olivi er. “That sort of coverage is best when it’s done by local journalists and local publications that are invested in the region. I’m excited to work with the editorial staff at Country Roads magazine, because their work has also focused on stories

co-founder and CEO Will McGrew acknowledged the importance of local media companies finding ways to support one another and collaborate, “so we can continue telling the stories of our people” and to invest in sto rytelling that is “rooted in local culture and identity, which is critical to elevating the voices of forgotten communities

, we also are eager to combine our efforts with this remarkable team, and to explore new and better ways of illustrating the intricate tapestry of Louisiana’s cultural landscape—in partnership with other talented, pas

Read our first story created in partnership with Télé-Louisiane, a feature on Louisiana French musician Jourdan

Will McGrew, co-founder and CEO of Télé-Louisiane

Jonathan Olivier, chief correspondent and staff writer at Télé-Louisiane, and longtime contributor at Country Roads.

Come Celebrate in iberia parish

MAY

May 13 – Kip Sonnier

May 27 – Chubby Carrier

May 28 – Basin Boogey Man

JUNE

June 3 – Cajun Company Band

June 10 – Blake Luquette

June 17 – Louisiana Jukebox

June 24 – La Southbound Band

JULY

July 1 – The Cast

July 8 – Ronny Sonnier Yesterday’s Hits

July 15 – Kip Sonnier

July 22 – Matthew Ewing and the All Star Band

July 29 – Straight Whiskey Band

AUGUST

August 5 – The Envies

August 12 – Kip Sonnier

August 19 – The Cast

August 26 – Loose Change Band

SEPTEMBER

Sept 2 – Matthew Ewing and the All Star Band

Sept 3 – Basin Boogey Man

OCTOBER

Oct 28 – Bad Boys Band – 7:00-10:00pm

Bands play 6:00-9:00pm, unless otherwise specified.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ISLE OF IBERIA RV PARK & RESORT!

Events

through craft demonstrations, live traditional music, and cultural exhibitions. See listing on page 31.

UNTIL MAY 20th

THE BLUFFS ARE ALIVE NATCHEZ FESTIVAL OF MUSIC Natchez, Mississippi

Every May since 1991, the Natchez Festival of Music has been making Mississippi musical, staging a monthlong whirlwind of operas, operettas, Broadway musicals, jazz, and special concerts in historic venues around the city. Here are just a few highlights:

May 2: An Evening with Ella Fitzgerald —Katrina Cox, accompanied by the David Pellow Jazz Trio, will perform Ella Fitzgerald's greatest hits.

7 pm at Smoot's Grocery.

May 4: The Glorious Sound of Brass —The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet will play some of the most exciting songs from their repertoire.

7 pm at Trinity Episcopal Church.

May 6: Spectacular, Spectacular—A journey through Broadway's greatest hits at the Natchez City Auditorium. 7 pm.

May 11: Rossini, Puccini and Martinis —

A festival favorite year after year, this one involves sipping cocktails while hearing opera's most dramatic arias sung by amazing vocalists. 7 pm at the Historic Natchez Foundation. natchezfestivalofmusic.com. k

UNTIL MAY 31st

ART COLLECTIONS

DEREK GORDON AND RODOLFO

RAMIREZ-RODRIGUEZ—A COLLECTION RETROSPECTIVE

AT THE SHELL GALLERY

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Throughout his life, Derek Gordon had an impressive career in the arts, besides being a keen collector. He did stints working for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York as well as the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., before returning to his hometown of Baton Rouge to serve as president/CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge until his passing in 2012. Recently, the

Ramirez-Rodriguez family approached the Arts Council about what to do with Gordon and his partner Rodolfo Ramirez-Rodriguez's substantial art collection—and the result is possibly the most impressive array of artwork to go on display in the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center's Shell Gallery. Fifty carefully-chosen pieces from the over-500 work collection cover lithographs, charcoal drawings, etchings, pop art, and beyond. An opening reception will be held May 11 at 5:30 pm. artsbr.org. k

UNTIL JUN 1 st

ART EXHIBITIONS

LIFE, GROWTH & WISDOM AT HAMMOND REGIONAL ARTS CENTER

Hammond, Louisiana

Erica Larkin Gaudet, Mitchell Gaudet, and Paulo Dufour are all nationallyknown artists, who who bring together their passion for the artistic process,

layered with explorations of the human experience, in a new exhibition on display at the Hammond Regional Arts Center. hammondarts.org. k

UNTIL JUN 4 th

ART EXHIBITIONS

ART & ADDICTION AT THE WEST BATON ROUGE MUSEUM

Port Allen, Louisiana

Baton Rouge artist Ben Peabody has translated his personal journey from addiction through recovery into a series of paintings titled Art & Addiction . Using a captivating carnival-reminiscent motif, Peabody's forty-piece series illustrates the invisible but firm hold substances like drugs and alcohol can have on a person—and now, that series will be on display in the galleries of the West Baton Rouge Museum. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

MEET ME AT THE ART MUSEUM / MEET ME AT THE FESTIVAL GROUNDS / MEET ME AT THE POWWOW / MEET ME AT

Image courtesy of The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana.

Events

Beginning May 1st - May 3rd

UNTIL JUL 30th

ART & ADVERTISING

UNBRANDED: REFLECTIONS IN BLACK BY CORPORATE AMERICA AT LSU MOA

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

In contemporary American society, advertising imagery constantly surrounds and inundates us. Photographer and artist Hank Willis turns his lens to the way this kind of media depicts and targets African American individuals, reflecting and commenting on what that implies about race relations and unveiling hidden stereotypes and bigotry. Through forty photographs and digitally-altered images narrowed down from his original eighty-two works in the collection, Unbranded at the LSU Museum of Art walks the viewer through half a century of print advertising intended for Black Americans. lsumoa.org. k

UNTIL NOV 5 th

WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE

YET SHE IS ADVANCING: NEW ORLEANS WOMEN AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE, 1878–1970 AT THNOC

New Orleans, Louisiana

When the 19th Amendment granting American women the right to vote in political elections was officially passed in 1920, a large swath of Louisiana's women were still disenfranchised. Louisiana laws at that point still denied Black women voting rights, and African American women would continue to fight for their right to participate in democracy until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was eventually passed. A new exhibition at THNOC— which expands upon a 2020 virtual exhibition—will explorewill explore the ways Black and white women came together during this period to pursue suffrage for all women in Louisiana. hnoc.org. k

MAY 1 st

LIGHT THE STAGE THE ADVENTURES OF TORTOISE & HARE AT THE HEYMANN

Lafayette, Louisiana

Recognized as the signature brand of electroluminescent artistry, Lightwire Theater brings the beloved children's story of Tortoise and Hare to the Heymann Performing Arts Center Stage. 6:30 pm. $9–$12. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

MAY

1st

GOSPEL CELEBRATIONS

THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FOUNDATION’S JOHNNY JACKSON JR. GOSPEL IS ALIVE! CELEBRATION

New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and Peoples Health will be hosting a free gospel celebration featuring the talents of Bobby Jones and the Nashville Super Choir, Shades of Praise Gospel Choir, and the New Orleans Council on Aging Gospel Choir. 9 am–11 am at the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. Free. jazzandheritage.org. k

MAY 1st

GROOVY FUNDRAISERS

SHORTY FEST 2023

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Trombone Shorty Foundation, the Tip-It foundation, and the Gia Maione Prima Foundation are coming together for another epically-groovy fundraising event at Tipitina's, featuring performances by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Galactic with Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph, Dumpstaphunk, Tank and the Bangas, "The Havana Experience," and students from the Trombone Shorty Academy. The "Cultural Block Party" starts at 5 pm. $100 general admission, $300 VIP including second floor access and an open bar. tromboneshortyfoundation.org. k

MAY 1 st & MAY 3 rd DOCUMENTING

TWO-STEPS

J’AI ÉTÉ AU BAL (I WENT TO THE DANCE) LOUISIANA PREMIERES

Lafayette & New Orleans, Louisiana

sJ'ai Été Au Bal (I Went To The Dance) is a classic documentary by Argot Pictures and Les Blank Films that chronicles the history of Southwest Louisiana's Cajun and Zydeco music. It features Cajun and Zydeco heavy-hitters like Michael Doucet, BeauSoleil, Clifton Chenier, Marc and Ann Savoy, and many others. Now, the newly-restored 5K film will premiere in Louisiana for the first time in Lafayette at Cité des Arts (May 1), and again in New Orleans at the Broad Theatre (May 3). Both screenings will feature a live performance by Michael Doucet & the BeauSoleil Trio. 7 pm. Find tickets for the Lafayette screening at citedesarts.org/tickets; New Orleans screening at thebroadtheater.com. k

MAY 1st - MAY 20th

LEGENDARY STAGES TIPITINA'S CONCERT SCHEDULE

New Orleans, Louisiana

The famous Tchoupitoulas venue continues bringing a wide variety of musical acts to Professor Longhair's legendary stage. Here's what's happening:

May 2: Zildjian's 400th Anniversary featuring Dennis Chambers, Stanton Moore, Doug Belote, Adam Deitch, AJ Hall, Jamison Ross, Nikki Glaspie, Herlin Riley, Joe Dyson, Pedro Segundo, Jason Marsalis, Adonis Rose, Raymond Weber, and Taku Hirano. Plus "House Band" featuring Ivan Neville, Eric Krasno, Tony Hall, Ari Teitel, Joe Ashlar, Brad Walker, and John Michael Bradford. 3 pm.

May 2: Dragon Smoke (Ivan Neville, Eric Lindell, Stanton Moore & Robert Mercurio). 9 pm.

May 3: The Daze Between Band featuring Eric Krasno, Ivan Neville, George Porter, Jr., Rick Mitarotonda, Jennifer Hartswick, Peter Anspach, Ryan Zoidis, Tony Hall, and Raymond Weber with DJ Soul Sister. 10 pm.

May 4: North Mississippi Allstars. 9 pm.

May 5: Dr. Klaw Featuring Adam Deitch, Ian Neville, Eric Krasno, Nick Daniels III, and Nigel Hall. (late Thursday night/ early Friday morning), 2 am.

May 5: Galactic featuring Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph and Eddie 9V. 9 pm.

May 6: J & The Causeways. (late Friday night/early Saturday morning), 2 am.

May 6: Neal Francis and The Psycodelics. 9 pm.

May 7: DumpstaFiya (featuring members of Dumpstaphunk and Galactic). (late Saturday night/early Sunday morning), 2 am.

May 7: Dumpstaphunk with special guests Raymond Weber, Nikki Glaspie, and Alvin Ford, Jr. and DJ Soul Sister. 9 pm.

May 8: Papa Grows Funk. 8 pm.

May 11: Boogie T.RIO. 8 pm.

May 12: Steppin' Out: Another Right On Party Situation With DJ Soul Sister and Host MC Charlie V. 10 pm.

May 20: Dirty Dozen Brass Band. 8:30 pm.

tipitinas.com k

MAY 2nd

BLOWIN' BLUES

HARMONICA FEST

New Orleans, Louisiana

Celebrate the bluesiest little instrument we can think of at the New Orleans Jazz Museum's Harmonica Fest out in the courtyard, featuring a balcony performance by the Smoky Greenwell Band. Noon–6 pm. Free. nolajazzmuseum.org. k

MAY 2nd

FLOWER ART FLORAL DESIGN WORKSHOP

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The LSU Museum of Art invites all to the museum to play with flowers, for free. Join Joel Peregrin of Peregrin's Florist for a presentation and demonstration on the elements of floral design. Bring a lunch. Noon. Free. lsumoa.org. k

MAY 2nd

HIGH NOTES

BATON ROUGE OPERA GUILD

SPRING SCHOLARSHIP RECITAL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Hear the talented voices of LSU's Voice and Opera Program with this Spring Scholarship Recital at the Baton Rouge Country Club. 5:30 pm–7 pm. $30 per person. batonrougeoperaguild.com. k

MAY 2nd - MAY 13th

MARKET VALUE

LAFAYETTE ART ASSOCIATION'S MAY ART

MARKET: YES MAM

Lafayette, Louisiana

The Lafayette Art Association will host more than ten local artists for this special spring market, including studio residents Margo Baker, Edward deMahy and Dusty Reed. Artist-vendors will be selling greeting cards, mixed media originals, jewelry, prints, glassware, pottery, paintings, ceramics, and more.

10 am–5 pm Tuesday–Friday; 10 am–3 pm Saturday. lafayetteart.org. k

MAY 3rd

TRIBUTES

ELLIS MARSALIS CONCERT/ SCREENING AT THE JAZZ MUSEUM

New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Jazz Museum is hosting a special concert of Ellis Marsalis's original music, performed by the musicians who used to play with the late legend, organized by Jason Marsalis. Following the 6:30 pm concert will be an 8 pm screening of the documentary film ELLIS and a brief Q&A, all outdoors in the Courtyard. Free. nolajazzmuseum.org. k

MAY 3 rd

PARISIAN PERFORMANCES

ROSAWAY AT JEFFERSON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Metairie, Louisiana

The striking Parisian vocal, flute, drums, and synth group RoSaWay is bringing their unique blend of pop and jazz to the Jefferson Performing Arts Center.

7:30 pm. Tickets start at $33 at jeffersonpac.com. k

Events

Events

Beginning May 3rd - May 5th

MAY 3rd

DINE & SIP PARTAKE WINE TASTING DINNER AT MIDDENDORF'S

Slidell, Louisiana

Middendorf's Slidell is continuing their Partake series of specially-curated dinners and drink pairings featuring Lorraine Streckfus of Constellation Brandswith Constellation Brands. She will showcase a selection of wines from The Prisoner Wine Company, one of Constellation's most esteemed brands, to accompany a decadent four-course meal by Middendorf's own Chef Horst Pfeifer. Arrival and wine begin at 6:30 pm, seated dinner begins at 7 pm. Seating is banquet style. $100 per person. middendorfsrestaurant.com. k

MAY 3rd

LOCAL HISTORY

LOUISIANA ORPHAN TRAINS: THE UNTOLD STORY MINI DOCUMENTARY SCREENING

Opelousas, Louisiana

Learn more about the history of the Orphan Train and its movement

across the United States, landing many orphans in Louisiana, at this informative documentary film screening presented by The Louisiana Orphan Train Museum at the Delta Grand Theatre in Opelousas. Noon–1 pm. Free, and includes a plate of jambalaya. laorphantrainmuseum.com.

Read more about the history of the Orphan Trains in Louisiana on page 48.k

MAY 3rd - MAY 20th

LITERALLY LITERARY AUTHOR TALK SERIES AT THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH LIBRARIES Virtual

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library is carrying on its Author Talk virtual series into 2023, connecting bestselling authors with their readers through interactive, live online Q&A sessions. This month, featured authors include Britt Hawthorne, author of Raising Antiracist Children (May 3 at noon); Jena Friedman, author of the essay collection Not Funny (May 10 at 7 pm); and Courtney Summers, author of the YA novel I'm the Girl (May 20 at 1 pm). libraryc.org/ebrpl. k

MAY 4th

COMMUNITY WELLNESS

PARENT 411: A HEALTHY CONVERSATION ABOUT ADDICTION, AWARENESS, RECOVERY, AND PREVENTION

Port Allen, Louisiana

Artist Ben Peabody assembles pieces of the world around him to create

mystifying works of art, telling stories especially about the experience of addiction and those it affects. As part of the programming for the West Baton Rouge Museum's latest exhibition of Peabody's work, Art & Addiction, the museum is hosting a free evening tour led by Dr. Brian Benson, targeted towards parents, young adults, and

anyone interested in learning more about the signs of addiction, code words and symbols for drugs, and resources for help, recovery, and prevention. 6 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

MAY 4th

ART & MENTAL HEALTH YOU AREN'T ALONE

LIVE ART EVENT

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The You Aren't Alone Project embarks on its third annual Live Art Event at Red Stick Social. Expect to witness a unique glimpse into local artists' mental health journeys interpreted through visual and performance art: the pain, the loss, and the triumph. The goal of this event is to facilitate and change conversations around mental health by bringing awareness to what living with mental health issues looks like, while also continuing to build a support network comprised of survivors, those struggling, supporters, and everyone in between. Small bites and beverages will be provided. Must be eighteen or older. All proceeds from the event will go toward You Aren't Alone Project initiatives. 7 pm–10 pm. $45 at youarentaloneproject.com. k

MAY 4th - MAY 5th

PERFORMANCES

LSU THEATRE'S DANCE AND PHYSICAL THEATRE SHOWCASE

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LSU Theatre's Annual Dance and Physical Theatre showcase returns to the Shaver Theatre in the MDA Building. Always reaching for the sky, this Baton Rouge favorite brings beauty and athletic prowess together into one awe inspiring artistic event. 7:30 pm. $6. lsu.edu/cmda/theatre. k

MAY 4th - MAY 6th

RIVER REVELRY

ALEX RIVER FÊTE

Alexandria, Louisiana

The Alexandria River Fête draws together hundreds of Louisianans from near and far to celebrate the arts, culture, and heritage of Central Louisiana. Set on the banks of the Red River, where it flows past downtown Alex, the threeday fest has historically encompassed several events including Dinner on the Bricks, an ArtWalk, and the hotly contested Louisiana Dragon Boat Races. Dozens of lively arts programs, colorful street performers, vibrant craft displays, food vendors, children’s activities, live music by The Suffers, Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, Shinyribs, and more. Starts at 4 pm Thursday and Friday; 10 am Saturday. Free. alexriverfete.com. k

MAY 4th - MAY 7th

MURDER MYSTERIES THEATRE BATON ROUGE PRESENTS MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Theatre Baton Rouge presents a stage adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Which suspect committed murder aboard the glamorous Orient Express? Find out when TBR brings one of Christie's greatest mysteries to the stage. Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets are $27–$32 at ci.ovationtix.com. k

MAY 4th - MAY 14th

ARRRRGHHH LOUISIANA PIRATE FESTIVAL

Lake Charles, Louisiana

The legend of the pirate Jean Lafitte and his widespread illicit activities has given Lake Charles something intriguing to celebrate for the past sixty-odd years. Local folklore has it that Lafitte buried his trove of treasure somewhere along the sandy shores of Lake Charles; so long as his haul continues to elude fossickers with metal detectors, the festival's future seems assured. A highlight is the arrival of the pirates, who sail into Lake Charles on Friday to take over the city and make the mayor walk the plank. Spectators line the seawall to see this event. The pirates' reign imposes two weeks of frivolity that runs to multiple entertainment stages with live music by a broad range of performers. What follows are walking buccaneer parades, live sharks, carnival rides, food booths, and cook-offs. There will be many, many events to participate in, including a boat parade, and a butterfly encounter—and break out your best eyepatch and captain's hat for the Louisiana Pirate Festival Costume Ball. Also, don’t miss the grand fireworks display that closes the festivities. louisianapiratefestival.com. k

MAY 4th- MAY 7th

FAIRGROUND FUN

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL

New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is the city's hallmark international festival, famous for immersing the country's most powerful entertainers in the city of New Orleans's incomparable musical legacy. Big names at Jazz Fest have included The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry, Van Morrison, and scores more. This year's festival is headlined by none other than Ed Sheeran, Lizzo, and The Lumineers. But we all know that Jazz Fest isn’t just about big names, as there are hundreds of other musicians and bands on the

THE EXPERT

Q. HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE HYPERTENSION?

A. Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, can be defined as consistently elevated blood flow through your blood vessels. Hypertension is often called the “silent killer” due to the lack of visible symptoms in most people. Some people may develop symptoms if their blood pressure is dangerously high, such as headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, chest pain, or shortness of breath. If left untreated, it could lead to the development of strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness or heart failure.

IF YOUR BLOOD

IS...

It is recommended that you have your blood pressure checked at least once a year.

Q. HOW CAN I PREVENT OR REDUCE MY RISK OF HYPERTENSION?

A. The first step of any treatment program should be a lifestyle modification. This includes dietary changes such as, reducing salt intake and/or the introduction of the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), limiting alcohol use, eliminating tobacco use, weight loss, and regular exercise, if approved by your physician. If your blood pressure remains uncontrolled, despite taking the appropriate measures, your physician may prescribe blood pressure lowering medication.

To schedule an appointment with one of our internists please call (225) 246-9240.

For more information, scan here:

Events

Beginning May 4th - May 13th

schedule this year, each bringing their unique style and following. In addition to the music, happening simultaneously on multiple stages, the Heritage Fair offers its lip-smacking array of food (more than one hundred varieties available), as well as contemporary and folk crafts. Numerous areas highlight Louisiana’s diverse influences, including the Congo Square African Marketplace, the Contemporary Crafts area, and Louisiana Marketplace. Festival parades, starring brass bands and marching clubs, begin and end in Heritage Square. Everything happens at the New Orleans Fairgrounds. Single day tickets start at $85. nojazzfest.com. k

MAY 5 th & MAY 6th

SPOOKY SCREENINGS

SOUTHERN GOTHIC FILM FESTIVAL

Lafayette, Louisiana

Cité des Arts presents its second rendition of 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, as well as local filmmaker Brooke H. Cellars, the event will feature films from all over the world, with filmmaker Q&As. Costumes encouraged. 4:30 pm–9:15 pm Friday; 4:30 pm–8:45 pm Saturday. $25. citedesarts.org. k

- MAY 7th

CONFETTI FOR ALL LITTLE RED CHURCH FOOD & FUN FESTIVAL

St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church looks larger than life during its annual fundraising pageant, when the pretty grounds play host to food vendors, games masters, and pageanry. Organizers are baking goods for the sweet booths, collecting hollow eggshells which will be filled with confetti for various games, and soliciting donations of stuffed animals, trinkets, and the like. Starts at 6 pm Friday; 11 am Saturday and Sunday. Free. scblittleredchurch.org. k

- MAY 7th

FESTIVAL INTERSECTIONS

ART, WINE AND WHEELS

Three of Ridgeland, Mississippi's mostanticipated events are coming together for one weekend jam-packed with art, wine, food, and cycling in the beautiful

outdoors. Artist vendors from Ridgeland and across the country will flock to downtown Ridgeland to display their paintings, jewelry, crafts, and more as part of the Ridgeland Fine Art Festival; which spotlights featured artist Todd Perkins this year. Then on Saturday, the Santé South Food & Wine Festival will bring delicious restaurant vendors from all over who will offer over 120 wine and food samples at St. Andrew's Episcopal School. As if all that weren't enough, on Saturday the more outdoorsy, adventurous types can participate in Mississippi's biggest spring cycling event, The Natchez Trace Century Ride, which will begin at Old Trace Park. Find more information for each event and tickets at artwineandwheels.com. k

MAY 5 th - MAY 7 th

THRIFTY ROUTES

SALE ON THE TRAIL

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Be prepared to “shop ‘til you drop” along 175 miles of the historic El Camino Real de los Tejas. Follow the trail through the Caddo region which stretches from LA Hwy 6 in Natchitoches to TX Hwy 21 into Nacogdoches, Texas, and discover new and used treasures sold by local businesses and individuals for purchase along the way. natchitoches.com. k

MAY 5 th - MAY 7 th

BELTERS DREAMGIRLS AT SLIDELL LITTLE THEATRE

Slidell, Louisiana

In Slidell Little Theatre's production of Dreamgirls, follow the iconic and inspirational tale of the African American trio "The Dreams" as they navigate the world of 20th century R&B, featuring performances of classic songs like "And I am Telling You," "I'm Not Going," "I Am Changing," and "One Night Only". 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays $28 adults, $18 children and students. slidelllittletheatre.org. k

MAY 5th - MAY 31st

FIBER OPTICS

FABRICATIONS AND INSTALLATIONS AT THE WEST FELICIANA PARISH LIBRARY

Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Fabrications and Installations is a new exhibition at the West Feliciana Library of fiber art, clay, and other mediums vibrantly utilized by five local artists.

Events

Beginning May 5th - May 6th

On display will be works by primitive rug hooker Sonia Ayo, weaver Karen Snyder, fabric artist Judith Braggs, quilter Hilda Wrangle, and potter Cecil Landry. The show is sponsored by Arts For All, West Feliciana's local nonprofit organization that encourages art and artists in the community. A festive Cinco de Mayo opening reception will take place from 5 pm–7 pm. Find Arts for All on Facebook for more information. k

MAY 5th- MAY 21st

NUNSENSE CITÉ DES ARTS PRESENTS

DOUBT: A PARABLE

Lafayette, Louisiana

At a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964 that has just accepted its first Black student, a benevolent priest must push back against the strict nun who runs the school with an iron fist, and an all-out idealogical battle to save the school and community ensues. See John Patrick Shanley's award-winning drama at Cité des Arts this month. 6 pm opening night; 7:30 pm Fridays and Saturdays; 2 pm Sundays. $30. citedesarts.org. k

MAY 5 th - FEB 4 th

UNUSUAL JEWELRY

RING REDUX: THE SUSAN GRANT LEWIN COLLECTION AT NOMA

New Orleans, Louisiana

See rings like you've never imagined before in the New Orleans Museum of Art's exhibition of avant garde rings. noma.org. k

MAY 6 th

ELABORATE PADDLES

LOUISIANA DRAGON BOAT RACES

Pineville, Louisiana

For the largest Dragon Boat Race in the state of Louisiana, you can expect participating crafts to be not just powerfully propelled, but also spectacularly adorned. Spirited racing roils the waters of Pineville's Lake Buhlow all day, while onshore art and food vendors, live entertainment, and interactive art exhibitions turn the event into a festival with something for all to enjoy. Several high-profile fitness groups have taken the trophy in recent years' photo-finish endings, and this year promises more of the same stiff competition. Begins at 8 am, closing ceremony begins at 3 pm. louisianadragonboatraces.com. k

MAY 6th

MUSICAL HOMECOMINGS

ERNIE HINES PERFORMANCE AND TALK AT THE LIBRARY

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Baton Rouge Room at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library welcomes recording artist and gospel musician Ernie Hines to the Main Library at Goodwood for a discussion on his life and music career in Mississippi and Baton Rouge. From recording a radio commercial for a local bakery with his band the Scotland Aires, to playing with Slim Harpo and signing with Stax Records—Hines has a story for the ages. After living in Illinois for over forty years, the musician is back home in Baton Rouge to share it. 11 am. Free. ebrpl.com. k

MAY 6th

GREEN THUMBS

SUNSET HERB & GARDEN FESTIVAL

Sunset, Louisiana

The Sunset Garden Club presents the chance to meet vendors and master gardeners specializing in all your favorite garden friends: hibiscus, grasses, fruit trees, bromeliads, orchids, ferns, succulents, roses, and more. Local crafts, handmade yard art, and herbal bath and body products can also be found on the grounds for sale. In the Kids Corner, children can play on fun jumps, enjoy face-painting, visit the fairy garden, or meet some of the beekeepers or agricultural vendors on site. $5, children 6 and younger free. 9 am–4 pm. sunsetherbfestival.com. k

MAY 6th

FABULOUS HATS

TCHEFUNCTE'S DERBY DAY

Madisonville, Louisiana

Tchefuncte's Restaurant overlooking the river in Madisonville is inviting all to don their finest hats for their Kentucky Derby screening party. A hat contest and mint juleps will be included in the fun, naturally. Twenty-one and over. 4 pm–6:30 pm. $65. louisiananorthshore.com. k

MAY 6th

PARKING LOT PARTY

MAMA G'S SWAMP POP FESTIVAL

Morgan City, Louisiana

A full day of live swamp pop music in the parking lot at Mama G's. Free. 11 am–6:30 pm. cajuncoast.com. k

MAY 6th

BEARY GOOD TIMES

BAYOU TECHE

BLACK BEAR FESTIVAL

Franklin, Louisiana

The annual Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival will be held on the banks of said bayou and in thoroughly historic downtown Franklin. With its focus on educating the public about the life and long-term prospects of the Louisiana Black Bear, this celebration will include birding and field trips, motorized and canoe boat outings on the bayou, an art sale, arts & crafts, food, music, nighttime fireworks, and children's activities. Suit up for the Running of the Bears 5K run/walk and Bayou Teche boat trips on Saturday. Also fireworks over the bayou on Saturday night. 10 am–11 pm. bayoutechebearfest.org. k

MAY 6th

STUDENT SCREENINGS

TAKE 9 FILM FESTIVAL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Delta Rouge, in conjunction with the LSU School of Theatre and the LSU Student Government will be hosting the Take 9 Film Festival, the annual student Film Festival, in the historic Shaver Theatre. The Take 9 Film Festival exists to promote and celebrate the films

of all undergraduate/graduate students and alumni from LSU, Baton Rouge Community College, and Southern University. The festival judges will award best Directing, Cinematography, Actress/Actor, Editor, and Writer, as well as an overall Audience award winner and Best Alumni Film. 7:30 pm. lsu.edu/cmda/theatre. k

MAY 6th

EATS ON WHEELS

MANDEVILLE FOOD

TRUCK FEST

Mandeville, Louisiana

Mobile cuisine is the star of the show at Mandeville's Food Truck Festival this Saturday at the Mandeville Lions Club. Come for the sweet eats and stay to support the Louisiana Handicapped Children's Camp and The Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation. 4 pm–8 pm. Free. Visit the Mandeville Lions Club Facebook page for details. k

MAY 6th

OUTDOOR MUSIC

BAYOU JAM CONCERTS

Slidell, Louisiana

The City of Slidell’s Bayou Jam concert series is bringing the bands and the crowds back to Heritage Park. So tuck

Local painter Carol Hallock's signature style of "loose realism" depicting the scenery and landscapes of Louisiana will be on display at Gallery 600 Julia in an exhibition titled Loose Living on the Bayou, which will open May 6 in conjunction with Jammin' on Julia. Artwork is "Red Cabin" by Carol Hallock, courtesy of Gallery 600. See listing on page 20.

Events

Beginning May 6th - May 7th

your folding chairs into the trunk and join the crowd. This month, catch the Sugar Shakers. 5 pm–7 pm. Free. louisiananorthshore.com. k

MAY 6th - MAY 20th

FAMILY FINDINGS

EXPLORATION IN AFRICAN AMERICAN GENEALOGY

Port Allen, Louisiana

The West Baton Rouge Museum introduces a new series exploring the challenges of genealogy research for African Americans. Participants will dig through their own family trees over the course of a three-week interactive workshop series, featuring notable guest speakers recognized in the field of genealogy. Research manager at AncestryProGenealogists Noah Lapidus will share how to break the barriers of Emancipation to identify enslaved ancestors. Professional historian and genealogist Ja'el "YaYa" Gordon will speak on Antebellum Era Research. And Alex Da' Paul Lee, Sr., an archivist for St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court, and will discuss his research journey, which led to his preserving thousands of family photos and documents to connect with thousands of relatives via social media. Luis Interiano of the West Baton Rouge Library will share valuable collections and research tools available to locals, and Debbie Doiron Martin "The Cemetery Lady" will discuss cemetery documentation. After the workshop, participants and experts will be invited back for a round table discussion on their experience and their families. Saturdays from 10 am–noon. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

MAY 6th - MAY 31st

LOCAL LANDSCAPES LOOSE LIVING ON THE BAYOU AT GALLERY 600 JULIA

New Orleans, Louisiana

Stop by Gallery 600 Julia to view Louisiana artist Carol Hallock's signature style of "loose realism" depicting her home state's scenery. The exhibition opens in conjunction with Jammin' on Julia on May 6, with an opening reception from 5 pm–9 pm. Free. gallery600julia.com. k

MAY 6th - JUN 3rd

ART & LAGNIAPPE ON DISPLAY AT ARIODANTE GALLERY IN MAY

New Orleans, Louisiana

Ariodante Art Gallery on Julia Street in New Orleans continues to cycle in

fresh artists and their creations. May's Featured Artist is Myra Wirtz, and other works include crafts by Jerry Hymel, jewelry by Lisa Normand, and other works by Jacques Soulas and Glinda Schafer in the Lagniappe Area. An artist reception will be held on May 6 during Jammin' on Julia from 5 pm–8 pm. Free. ariodantegallery.com. k

MAY 6th - JUN 24th

WOMEN IN ART TAKING UP SPACE AT IBIS CONTEMPORARY

New Orleans, Louisiana

Lisa Krannichfeld's bold multimedia exhibition depicting powerful women will be on display at Ibis Contemporary Art Gallery. A reception will take place May 5 from 5 pm–9 pm. ibisartgallery.com. k

MAY 7 th

LOCAL INSTITUTIONS MAY AT THE RED DRAGON LISTENING ROOM

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 the eager audience for these concerts:

May 13: Grayson Capps & Corky Hughes, opened by Patrick Cooper; $25

May 17: Jason Eady, opened by Cumberland County; $49–$69 May 19: Leroux at the Manship, opened by Gary Ragan; $49–$69 Shows usually start at 8 pm. (225) 9397783. Tickets and prices can be found at the Red Dragon Listening Room Facebook Page. k

MAY 7th

HATS ON CHAPEAUX PARTY AT THE OLD STATE CAPITOL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

You'll leave ready to travel back to the roaring twenties when you complete your beaded and/or feathered fascinator headpiece during this workshop. All materials and equipment provided. 1:30 pm–3:30 pm. $50. louisianaoldstatecapitol.org. k

Events

Beginning May 7th - May 12th

MAY 7th

TRADITIONAL CRAFTS

BEHIND THE BARN DOORS AT THE WEST BATON ROUGE

MUSEUM

Port Allen, Louisiana

Returning to the illuminating slate of cultural and arts programming offered by the West Baton Rouge Museum, "Behind the Barn Doors" will draw guests to the Big Red Barn on the museum's six-acre campus to learn more about traditional crafts and historic trades. In May, visitors will enjoy demonstrations from planer Gary Hart, making hogs head cheese with Ben Deshotels, and cotton spinning with Linda Collins. 2 pm–5 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

MAY 7th

SHOP LOCAL

BLOOMS AND BITES SHOP HOP

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Explore and support local Baton Rouge businesses while shopping for Mother's Day gifts and other treats at the Blooms and Bites Annual Shop Hop, presented by SweetBaton Rouge, Local Supply, Sosis

& Annie Claire Designs, Red Stick Spice, Baton Rouge Succulent Co., The Hope Shop, and Bites & Boards. The afternoon event will be completed by giveaways, discounts, and bouquets. 11 am–3 pm. Tickets are $35 at sweetbatonrouge.com. You will then receive an invitation via postal service, so include your current address. k

MAY 7th

TAILS & CLAWS

BOILING ON THE RIVER

New Roads, Louisiana

Prove your boiling prowess at New Roads' first ever Boiling on the River crawfish cook-off, hosted by the New Roads Chamber of Commerce. Noon–6 pm. $20 for a three pound platter, $100 to enter the boiling contest. bontempstix.com. k

MAY 7th - MAY 12th

CYCLE CELEBRATIONS

TOUR DU ROUGE

New Orleans, Louisiana

Visit historic Louisiana and Texas towns, try food along the way, and

cycle 540 miles along the Gulf Coast during this six-day ride that supports The Arc in funding services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The ride starts with a send-off party in Houston and ends with a victory party in New Orleans. Register and find more information at tourdurouge.org. k

MAY 9th - AUG 12th

ART & EMOTION

MIND FULL: AN EXPLORATION OF EMOTIONS BY LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM

Lafayette, Louisiana

This summer, the Hilliard Art Museum presents an exhibition of works created by students within the Lafayette Parish School System Talented Visual Arts programs. Each work represents a students' explorations on the topic of emotion. hilliardmuseum.org. k

MAY 10th

TRAILBLAZERS

BEAUTY WAS HER BUSINESS: THE LEGACY OF OPHELIA DEVORE MITCHELL AT THE MAIN BATON ROUGE LIBRARY

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Telling a story of remarkable African American history, women's history, and business history, Professor of History

at BRCC at Southern University Shala Washington will share the legacy of Ophelia DeVore Mitchell in a presentation at the Main Library. Mitchell's remarkable life brought her to countless historic moments, including integrating Vogue Modeling School in New York in 1938 at only sixteen years old and leading the path to a new beauty market for African American consumers. 6 pm. Free. ebrpl.com. k

MAY 10th

LIVE MUSIC

LOBBY LOUNGE CONCERT: KRISTEN DIABLE Slidell, Louisiana

Singer songwriter Kristen Diable is performing an intimate concert at the Lobby Lounge in the Harbor Center. 7 pm, doors at 6:30 pm. $18 General Admission seating, $50 for a two-seat table and $100 for a fourseat table harborcenter.org. k

MAY 10th

FAMILY FASCINATION

SEEKING THE ENSLAVED: SEARCHING THE SACRAMENTAL AND NOTARIAL RECORDS GALLIER GATHERING New Orleans, Louisiana

For May's Gallier Gathering, Sarah Waits will be joining Peter Dandridge

for a discussion of their genealogical research into the family lineages of enslaved individuals who once lived in New Orleans's Hermann, Grima, and Gallier households in the 19th century. Waits currently works in the Office of Archives and Records at the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and previously worked at the Amistad Research Center and the National WWII Museum. Dandridge is the current Curatorial Associate at the Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses, and has extensive experience searching the Notarial Archives for records regarding enslaved individuals once owned by the Hermanns, Grimas, and Galliers. 6 pm. $15 at hgghh.org. k

MAY 11 th

RECOGNIZING GREATNESS

BRIGHT LIGHTS

AWARD DINNER

New Orleans, Louisiana

Celebrate beloved Louisiana culinarian, historian, author, and restauranteaur

Chef John Folse being named the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ 2023 Humanist of the Year, alongside the other 2023 Humanities Awards winners, at the Bright Lights Awards Dinner in LEH's Turners' Hall in New Orleans. Alongside Folse, Jeremy and Abby Lavoi will be recognized for their documentary film Roots of Fire, which is receiving the award for Documentary of the Year. 7 pm–9 pm. Tickets begin at $150 at eventbrite.com. k

MAY 11 th

LEGACIES OF LEADERSHIP

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE ONGOING IMPACT OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Hosted by the LSU Museum of Art, a panel of collegiate experts will gather to discuss the Civil Rights leader's legacy in conjunction with the museum's exhibition I, Too, Am Thornton Dial. Experts include curator Paul Barrett, artist Richard Dial, art historian Paul Arnett, cultural curator and art historian Anne Collins Smith, and director Michelle Schulte. 6 pm. Free. lsumoa.org. k

MAY 11 th

TRIBUTES ONSTAGE AT THE FUHRMANN: SAMUEL WARREN AS RAY CHARLES

Covington, Louisiana

Samuel Warren captures the essence and sound of Ray Charles in his tribute performance, presented at Fuhrmann Auditorium. 7 pm. $20. bontempstix.com. k

MAY 11th - MAY 13th

HOP TO IT

FROG FESTIVAL

Rayne, Louisiana

Watch your step on the Rayne Fair Grounds this weekend since there are bound to be frogs underfoot as this toad-ally awesome festival celebrates fifty years. When not rooting for their favorite fleet-footed frogs in the racing/jumping contest, festival-goers enjoy great food (including fried frog legs, of course), huge carnival rides, arts and crafts shows, accordion and dance contests, frog cook-offs and frog eating contests, and musical talent. 5 pm–midnight. $5 for adults (free on Wednesday night); free for children twelve and younger. raynefrogfestival.com. k

MAY 11th - MAY 25th

GREEN THUMBS

MASTER GARDENER TALKS AT THE LIBRARY

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The East Baton Rouge Master Gardeners Association has partnered with the East Baton Rouge Parish Libraries to offer free educational talks and workshops on various gardening topics.

May 11: Kerry Hawkins on Soil and Bob Clary on Edible Plants; 5:30 pm at the Central Library.

May 25: Mark Mese on Bromeliads; 6:30 pm at the Bluebonnet Library. Free. ebrmg.wildapricot.org. k

MAY 12th

SPRINGTIME ON CANVAS

ELIZABETHAN GALLERY SPRING ART SHOW

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Right as Louisiana's flora is vibrantly blooming, the Elizabethan Gallery hosts the work of several Baton Rouge artists for its annual Spring Art Show. The show includes works in mediums like oil, acrylic, pastel, watercolor, ceramic and mixed media; by artists Carol Hallock, Keith Douglas, Kay Lusk, Krista Roche, Justin Patin, Nancy Smitherman, Carol Creel, Diego Larguia, Cathy Smart, and Claire Pasqua. The gallery will hold a meet-the-artists reception in conjunction with Hot Art, Cool Nights for the opening on May 12 from 5 pm–9 pm. Free. elizabethangallery.com. k

MAY 12th

KEEPING IT CLASSICAL BRSO PRESENTS TCHAIKOVSKY, STRAVINSKY, AND RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Acclaimed guest maestro Mariusz Smolij is joining the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra as part of their Orchestral

Events

Beginning May 12th - May 13th

Series to conduct a performance of selections from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, Stravinsky's suite from The Firebird, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $19 at brso.org. k

MAY 12th

OUTDOOR CONCERTS

MANDEVILLE LIVE!

Mandeville, Louisiana

Mandeville has planned another stimulating spring season for its live music series, Mandeville Live! As usual, these concerts at the Mandeville Trailhead are free. Gates open at 6 pm for 6:30 pm performances. Coming up is After Party. Food and beverages will be available for purchase, so please leave all outside sustenance at home. cityofmandeville.com. k

MAY 12th

HOMEGROWN TUNES

OZONE MUSIC FOUNDATION

SPRING SOUNDOFF

Mandeville, Louisiana

A special concert of original music by local songwriters and musicians Greg Barnhill, Claire Kellar, Ocie Crowe, Mary

Broussard, and Ricky Windhorst at the Pontchartrain Yacht Club. 7 pm–10 pm. $25 in advance, $30 at the door. ozonemusic.org. k

MAY 12th

ART AROUND TOWN

HOT ART, COOL NIGHTS

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Sculptors, painters, jewelry designers, photographers, live musicians, and other artists are coming together for the annual spring art festival "Hot Art, Cool Nights" sponsored by Mid-City Merchants. Both well-established artists an emerging talent will come together in the unique art and design district of Mid-City to offer an evening of art, music, shopping, and other fun. 6 pm–10 pm. midcitymerchantsbr.org. k

MAY 12 th - MAY 13 th

MUSIC FESTS

JAZZ/R&B FESTIVAL

Natchitoches, Louisiana

For the twenty-sixth year, the downtown historic district surrounding Cane River Lake will be filled with a

variety of live music from jazz, to rock, to soul, and even country. There will be three stages of music on the riverbank and plenty of local food vendors. 11 am–11 pm. natchjazzfest.com. k

MAY 12 th - JUL 13 th

CREATIVE COMPETITIONS

THE ART GUILD OF LOUISIANA'S SPRING SHOW

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Art Guild of Louisiana presents its annual Spring Judged Show, showcasing member works which will be awarded prizes at Independence Park Theatre Gallery. Artists who would like their work to be included can submit works on May 11 from 11 am–1 pm. Entry is $20 per painting, $10 for Guild members. A reception will be held June 4 from 2 pm–4 pm. Free to view the exhibition. The Gallery is at the BREC Independence Park Theatre and is open Tuesday–Friday, 10 am–5 pm. artguildlouisiana.org. k t

MAY 13th

BLOCK PARTIES

SHOP ST. DENIS FEST

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Louisiana's oldest settlement is proving it knows how to party at Shop St. Denis Fest—a block party featuring live music,

food trucks, and other local vendors. 10 am–5 pm. Free. natchitoches.com. k

MAY 13th

LOCAL HISTORY

MEMORIAL DAY AT ROSEDOWN STATE HISTORIC SITE

Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Rosedown State Historic Site is honoring those who have served and lost their lives with a Memorial Day tour about the members of Rosedown's TurnbullBowman Family who served. 9 am–5 pm. $12, $10 seniors; $6 students. lastateparks.com. k

MAY 13th

SOULFUL SATURDAYS

GOSPEL IN THE PARK

Gonzales, Louisiana

The River Road African American Museum invites all for an afternoon of gospel music in Jambalaya Park. Noon–7 pm. africanamericanmuseum.org. k

MAY 13th

BOTTOMS UP

NEW ORLEANS BEER FEST

New Orleans, Louisiana

Food, live music, and so many varieties of craft beer to be found in Louis Armstrong

Park. 11 am–8 pm. Free. eventbrite.com. k

MAY 13th

ISLAND TIME CARIBBEAN FILMS

New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Film Festival has partnered with Miami-based organization Third Horizon to present six short films, plus the feature length Freda, all of which celebrate Caribbean filmmakers and artists, at the Broad Theater. Shorts begin at 4:30 pm, Freda begins at 6:30 pm. $16. neworleansfilmsociety.org. k

MAY 13th

FLORAL FESTIVITIES

MOTHER’S DAY FLOWER WORKSHOP

New Orleans, Louisiana

Learn the art of creating a floral centerpiece and sip a complimentary glass of champagne at this fun workshop led by local florist Doris Ione at the Virgin Hotel. When you're finished, you can take a dip in the rooftop pool or order cocktails from The Pool Club bar. 11 am–12:30 pm. $150 per person. virginhotels.com. k

MAY 13th

HISTORIC HALLS

THE DEW DROP JAZZ HALL SPRING CONCERTS

Mandeville, Louisiana

The historic Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall, the venerable century-plus-old rural jazz venue, will host special Saturday concerts throughout the spring. This month, it's the Jump Hounds. 6:30 pm–9 pm; all on the 400 block of Lamarque Street. $10. dewdropjazzhall.com. k

MAY 13th - MAY 14th

CHOIR CONCERTS

COME FLY WITH ME NPAS CHORALE CONCERT

Covington, Louisiana

Northlake Performing Arts Society presents a medley of jazz favorites for Mother's Day weekend at the Christwood Episcopal School Theatre. $20 for adults, $5 for children under thirteen. 7:30 pm–9 pm. npassingers.org. k

MAY 13th & MAY 20th

KID STUFF

CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND MUSIC SERIES

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Join local organization Kids' Orchestra in this experiential program that draws together literacy with music-making. Each month, children ages five to eleven will explore different themes from books at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library while learning about instruments, singing songs, dancing, and playing games. In May, it's all about songs as books. Some examples are "Imagine" by John Lennon and "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. Students will learn about rhythm by dancing and melody by using solfege syllables. This month, this program will take place on May 13 at 11 am at the Main Library and May 20 at 11 am at the Jones Creek Regional Branch. Free. Registration is required at ebrpl.com. k

MAY 13th - JUN 30th

STUDENT ART FONTAINEBLEAU HIGH SCHOOL

SENIOR ART EXHIBIT

Covington, Louisiana

Original artwork by eleven seniors at Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville will be displayed in Christwood's Atrium

National pop icon Billy Porter is bringing his first-ever career-spanning concert tour, The Black Mona Lisa Tour, to the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans on May 15. See listing on page 26. Image courtesy of the Saenger Theatre.

Elizabethan Gallery

More Than Just A Frame Shop

ONE DAY FRAMING AVAILABLE

Hot Art, Cool Nights

A SPRING ART EVENT

Friday, May 12th • 5-9pm Customer Appreciation Wine & Cheese • 5-7pm Free and Open to the Public

Bring Mom to the show and gift her with a lovely piece of new art for Mother’s Day!

Events

Beginning May 14st - May 18th

Gallery, in what will no doubt be the first of many exhibitions for these young artists—some of whom are going on to pursue visual art majors at college. There will be an opening reception on May 13 from 4:30 pm–6:30 pm. fontainebleauhigh.stpsb.org. k

MAY 14th

POP OFF

BILLY PORTER AT THE SAENGER

New Orleans, Louisiana

Billy Porter is bringing his first-ever career-spanning pop concert tour to the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. 7 pm. Tickets start at $49.50 at saengernola.com. k

MAY 14th

HOME TOURS

Show hangs until June 24th

OLD MANDEVILLE HISTORIC ASSOCIATION MOTHER'S DAY HOME TOUR

Mandeville, Louisiana

Old Mandeville is chocked full of lovely historic homes, and four of them have opened their doors so those enthralled by historic architecture and fine antiques can appreciate their loveliness. Each tour will delve into the architecture, restoration process, antiques, and artwork; highlighting each owner's unique space and personality. This year's tours have the theme "Stepping Back in Time: 100 Years in Architecture," and are sponsored by the Old Mandeville Historic Association. $25 for adults, $15 for students 10 am–5 pm. oldmandevillehistoricassociation.org. k

MAY 14th - MAY 28th

OUTDOOR CONCERTS

MUSIC IN THE GARDEN AT NOMA

New Orleans, Louisiana

Enjoy laid-back afternoon concerts in NOMA's Besthoff Sculpture Garden. 2 pm. Free. noma.org. k

th

LITERARY LAUNCHES

KINGFISH U BOOK LAUNCH AT CAVALIER HOUSE BOOKS

Denham Springs, Louisiana

Bob Mann's new book about Huey Long and LSU will launch with a signing at Cavalier House. 5 pm. Free, $34.95 for a copy signed by the author. bontempstix.com. k

MAY 17th

TASTY READS

CLASSIC RESTURANTS OF NEW ORLEANS BOOK TALK WITH ALEXANDRA KENNON

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Spend your Wednesday evening learning about the history of New Orleans's best-loved restaurants from Country Roads' own Arts & Entertainment Editor Alexandra Kennon, who will discuss her book Classic Restaurants of New Orleans at the Main Library. 6 pm. Free. ebrpl.com. k

MAY 18th

STAND-UP

JIMMIE WALKER AT THE ACADIANA CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Lafayette, Louisiana

Jimmie Walker, who coined the phrase "Dyn-o-mite!" and was named Comedian of the Decade in the '70s by TIME magazine, will be performing a stand-up set at the Acadiana Center the for Arts. 7:30 pm. $20–$30. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

MAY 18th

STARRY NIGHTS

DINNER UNDER THE STARS

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Support LASM with a Van Gogh-themed dinner beneath the starry-night dome of the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium, catered by City Pork. A percentage of the proceeds will go towards LASM's “Light LASM: The Star of BR” campaign, which has the goal of lighting the museum's planetarium dome. 7 pm–9 pm. $250 at lasm.org. k

MAY

18th

CAR SHOWS

- MAY 20th

CRUISIN' CAJUN COUNTRY

New Iberia, Louisiana

Classic and muscle cars motor into Louisiana's Cajun Country to enhance the experience of New Iberia's awardwinning Main Street historic district, local food, and live music—all the while showing off their rims and revved up engines. Excursions take visitors to experience local culture and business: visit a shrimp peeling plant, the Cajun Heritage Museum, the Military Museum, and Earl's Palace—where everyone will get the chance to learn the secrets to Cajun dancing. Other stops along the itinerary include: Bayou Classics and Customs, Champagne's Swamp

Day’s End, 30x24 Oil on Canvas by Janice Evans

Solace, 40x30, Oil on Canvas by Carol Hallock

Events

Events

Beginning May 18th - May 20th

Tour, Lagniappe Village Antique Mall, Bayou Teche Brewery, Musson Patout Automotive Superstore, the Albania Mansion, Schexnayder Art Gallery, Legnon's Antique Engines, The Pie Bar, and Church Alley. All to conclude with a true fais do do at the Ramada Conference Center on Saturday night. $60. cruisincajuncountry.com. k

MAY 18 th - MAY 31 st

ON STAGE

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME AT LE PETITE THEATRE

New Orleans, Louisiana

This Olivier Award-winning play based on Mark Haddon's novel follows a gifted but unusual teenage boy as he seeks to uncover his neighbor's dog's strange murder, uncovering secrets about his own family and himself along the way. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will be presented at Le Petite Theatre. Thursdays–Saturdays at 7:30 pm, 3 pm Sundays and Saturday, June 3. $35 adults, $15 students. lepetittheatre.com. k

MAY 19th

CONCERTS

HISTORICAL HAPPY HOUR: ASHLEY ORLANDO AND THE FLORIDA STREET BLOWHARDS

Port Allen, Louisiana

For its Historical Happy Hour series this month, the West Baton Rouge Museum is presenting vocalist and ukulele artist Ashley Orlando, accompanied by the Florida Street Blowhards. 6 pm–8 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

MAY 19th - MAY

BAYOU BASHES

21st

MID-CITY BAYOU BOOGALOO

New Orleans, Louisiana

Before the sizzling summer heat sets in, the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo returns to invite all to the banks of beloved Bayou St. John for a family-friendly festival of live music, delicious food, art, and all kinds of other fun. The festival strives to be a "zero-waste event" by reducing the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserving and recovering all resources, and not burning or burying

waste—all the more reason to join in. If that's not enough, this year's lineup includes acts like the Yonder Mountain String Band, Juvenile, and Reverend Horton Heat. On Bayou St. John where Orleans Avenue meets Moss. Experience by water or by land. $35 weekend pass; $15 per day. Visit thebayouboogaloo.com for a full schedule. k

MAY 19th - MAY 21st

STRETCH & BREATHE

BHAKTI FARMS YOGA FEST

Covington, Louisiana

In the secluded haven of Bhakti Farms in Covington, yogis will convene for a weekend of restorative wellness. Workshops by local teachers will encourage education as well as healing. And local vendors will be offering

"Bonjour Max Ernest" by Dorothea Tanning is just one of many pieces from Baton Rouge-raised Derek Gordon's extensive art collection, now on display at the Cary Saurage Community Art Center's Shell Gallery. See listing on page 11.

their wares. Noon–4 pm. $10–$250. bhaktifarms.com. k

MAY 19th - MAY 21st

BEACH BASH

THE HANGOUT MUSIC FESTIVAL

Gulf Shores, Alabama

With a name like The Hangout Music Fest and a setting on the sugar-white sand beaches of Gulf Shores, we’re pretty much there, even before learning that this year the festival will feature headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, SZA, Calvin Harris, and Paramore. Dozens of other noted musicians are in the lineup across five stages—including two located just steps from the Gulf of Mexico. Fans enjoy access to amenities including a comfortably shaded relaxation area named Hammock Beach; the Sky Bar tower, which offers 360-degree views of the festival; a plethora of amusement rides and games; varied dining options, including favorites like fresh grouper, snapper, tuna, crab, shrimp and oysters in the festival's Alabama Gulf Seafood pavilion. Worth a drive! Weekend passes start at $349. hangoutmusicfest.com. k

MAY 19 th - MAY 26 th

OUTDOOR CONCERTS

DOWNTOWN AT SUNDOWN

Lake Charles, Louisiana

Beat a retreat to the Lake Charles

lakefront on Fridays in May and June as Downtown at Sundown, an outdoor concert series, heats up. The street-fair format features live entertainment, visual art, food and beverage, and more. Lawn chairs suggested, but no ice chests or pets. Rainy day plans move the concerts inside the Lake Charles Civic Center. 6 pm–9 pm. Free. Details at the Downtown at Sundown page on Facebook. k

MAY 19 th - MAY 28 th

COMEDIC PLAYS

PLAYMAKERS OF COVINGTON: SAVANNAH

SIPPING SOCIETY

Covington, Louisiana

Four Southern women with very differernt backgrounds and personalities come together for an impromptu happy hour and help each other problem solve in this hysterical comedy at Playmaker's Little Theatre in Covington. 7 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. $20, $15 for children. bontempstix.com. k

MAY 20 th

VINEYARD TUNES

JAZZ'N THE VINES Bush, Louisiana

With the bunch grapes fattening

on the vine, so the Jazz'n the Vines Concert Series is back. Wild Bush Farm + Vineyards' long-running outdoor concert series brings celebrated Louisiana musicians to a gorgeous pastoral setting. Entertaining assembled picnickers this May is Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys. 6:30 pm–9 pm at 81250 Highway 1082. Gates open at 5 pm. Bring a picnic blanket, lawn chairs, and bug spray. Wine from Wild Bush Farm + Vineyards and various foods will be available for sale from local vendors. $12 admission at bontempstix.com. wildbushfarmandvineyard.com. k

MAY 20 th

MENTAL HEALTH

Y'ALL MEANS ALL NATCHEZ GREEN RIBBON RUN 5K Natchez, Mississippi

Don your favorite green clothes and accessories (ribbons, shirts, shoes, dresses, wigs, etc...use your imagination) and head to the Natchez Bluff to join Y’all Means All Natchez for their new annual fundraising run for Mental Health Awareness Month in May. 7:30 am–10:30 am. $35 to register for the 5k, which includes a Green Ribbon Run t-shirt and other swag from sponsors. yallmeansallnatchez.org. k

MAY 20th

BOIL BASH

RIFF RIDGEL

CRAWFISH COOK-OFF

Tickfaw, Louisiana

Come indulge in all the boiled crawfish you can eat from twenty boilers all seeking the title of the "Best Crawfish" in the area, while enjoying live music from Trio and Omega. Adult beverages, soft drinks, water, and other food items will be available for purchase. There will also be a Children's Tent offering snowballs, hotdogs, popcorn, and water. $30 in advance for adults, $35 at the gate. Children eleven and younger are free. Proceeds will benefit individual/ families in the area whose lives have been impacted by catastrophic illnesses or injuries. riffridgelcrawfishcookoff.com. k

MAY 20th

MERRYMAKING FOOLS FEST 3

Covington, Louisiana

Noting the absence of proper Twelfth Night merrymaking on the Northshore, the St. John Fools of Misrule marching club was formed in 2011 to herald the arrival of Carnival season in St. Tammany Parish. The organization's rituals are derived from an ancient English men's group that clamored along the evening

Events

Beginning May 20th - May 25th

streets, creating unruliness with cowbells and whips while delivering jeers and spankings to those caught on the street unaware. The Fools of Misrule integrated into its name homage to the historic St. John District of old Covington (1813) where the group was founded and annually conducts its bawdy procession. Their slogan: Vivere Vitam Omnino!— Live Life Completely! For this spring event, Fools Fest 3, the fools invite all to enjoy a free concert at the Covington Trailhead, featuring a lineup of: Cowboy Mouth, Eli Howard & The Greater Good, Will Vance & the Kinfolk, Christian Serpas & Ghost Town, Cypress Creek and Byron Daniel & the 5DD. 1 pm–9 pm. Free. foolsofmisrule.com. k

MAY 20th

ARTFUL EVENINGS

ART & SOUL GALA

New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts' (NOCCA) annual Art & Soul Gala will give you an opportunity to support a wonderful cause for the arts, as well as enjoy food from local restaurants and

enter a raffle. This year's theme is "On the Edge," a reference to the boundarypushing artwork NOCCA's students create. There will be entertainment provided by NOCCA alumni including Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, portrait drawings, and more. Tickets begin at $100. 7 pm. For more ticket options and details, visit one.bidpal.net/nocca. k

MAY 20th - MAY 21st

NATIVE HERITAGE

TUNICA-BILOXI POWWOW

Marksville, Louisiana

Each May the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana hosts its Powwow—the annual celebration of Native American culture that brings dancers, musicians, and artists representing Indian nations from all parts of the United States and Canada to Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville. Powwow spectators come to experience the “old ways” and to get a glimpse of ancient traditions as artists, musicians, and dancers gather in traditional regalia to celebrate thousands of years of cultural heritage. A packed agenda offers drumming and dancing demonstrations, gourd dancing, and the

telling of traditional stories and songs. The event will feature vendors selling Native American-inspired food and crafts. Gates at 10 am both days. $8 adults, $5 children six and under. tunicabiloxi.org.

Read more about the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe's history, and future, on page 34. k

MAY 20th - MAY 21st

GOOD EATS

BATON ROUGE SOUL

FOOD FESTIVAL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Southern cuisine, live music, competitions, vendors, and more are coming to the Riverfront Plaza for the fifth annual Baton Rouge Soul Food Festival. It all kicks off on Thursday at Henry Turner Jr.'s Listening Room, with a sneak peak of some of the weekend's musical talent, plus a Greens, Beans, and Chicken Wings Soul Food Buffet. 7 pm–midnight. Tickets are $25 in advance at bontempstix.com; $30 at the door. Live music and entertainment will raise downtown Baton Rouge throughout the rest of the weekend, including acts by Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor, "LZ" Dillon, Jim Masters and Ervin "Maestro" Foster, and many many more. Meanwhile in the Plaza, find cooking competitions, and of course all of the soul food you can handle. The festival is free to the public, but $25 Soul Foodie tickets

get you two food and soft drink tickets, plus photo ops; $100 VIP tickets include four food and soft drink tickets, two T-shirts, CDs, and additional perks. Both are available at bontempstix.com. brsoulfoodfest.com. k

MAY 21 st

LITERARY LECTURES

WRITERS TALK WITH OLIVIA CLAIRE FRIEDMAN

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Olivia Claire Friedman, Baton Rouge author of the story collection Disasters in the First World , the poetry collection The 26-Hour Day, and the novel Here Lies , is currently a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Join her at the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library for a discussion on the craft of writing. 5 pm. Free. ebrpl.com. k

MAY 21st

CHURCH MUSIC

CHRIST CHURCH'S THIRD SUNDAY CONCERT SERIES

Covington, Louisiana

The historic Christ Episcopal Church in Covington presents its Third Sunday Concert series, a tradition of free onehour concerts held on the third Sunday of each month for the past thirty-two

years. This month's performance is by Opera Festa. Following the performance, all guests are invited to a wine and light hors d'oeuvres reception at the Parish Hall. Doors open at 4:30 pm for 5 pm performances. Free. christchurchcovington.com. k

MAY 22 nd - MAY 26 th GET CRAFTY SPLIT WHITE OAK BASKETS WORKSHOP

Port Allen, Louisiana

Spend a week immersed in tradition with Washington artist Geraldine Robertson, who will guide a group through the process of making split white oak baskets. Participants will start by gathering materials in the woods, then learn to split the tree, and then will learn the steps to construct the basket to completion. Funded with support from the Louisiana Folklore Society, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, this workshop is being offered for free. Registration is required by calling (225) 336-2422. Registered participants must commit to completing all five days of the experience. 9 am–3 pm. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

MAY 23rd - JUN 2nd

CARNIVAL TIME CAJUN HEARTLAND STATE FAIR

Lafayette, Louisiana

Now over thirty years old, this massive, eleven-day midway carnival attracts more than 175,000 people to the heart of Cajun country. Bring the kids out for a whirl on the giant Ferris wheel and the Mega Drop; try your hand at a prize-winning ring toss. If the Ferris wheel is too tame, try out a Zipline & Warrior Challenge Park, where you can cruise down a zipline like Indiana Jones, for free! Get your sweet tooth ready for eleven days of funnel-cakefueled fun. Located on the grounds and parking lot surrounding the Cajundome. Free admission; $10 for parking. Gates open at 5 pm on weekdays and noon on weekends. cajundome.com. k

MAY 25th

SONGWRITERS

MARY GAUTHIER AT THE ACADIANA CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Lafayette, Louisiana

Named by the Associated Press as "one of the best songwriters of her generation," Grammy-nominated folk musician Mary Gauthier presents a special concert as part of the Acadiana Center for the Arts

Louisiana Crossroads series. Mary’s songs have been recorded by dozens of artists, including Jimmy Buffett, Dolly Parton, Boy George, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Bettye Lavette, Mike Farris, Kathy Mattea, Bobby Bare, Amy Helm and Candi Staton and have appeared extensively in film and television, most recently on Yellowstone. Catch her concert at the ACA at 7:30 pm. $35–$55. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

MAY 25th - MAY 28th

SOMETHIN' FISHY

CYT BATON ROUGE PRESENTS: THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Plunge into this hilarious, dynamic musical that brings the Nickelodeon favorite to the stage. Thursday–Saturday at 7 pm, Saturday at 2 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm at LSU's Shaver Theatrer. $19 online, $22 at the door, $16 for children younger than twelve. cytbatonrouge.org/shows. k

MAY 25th - MAY 28th

CRAWFUN

MUDBUG MADNESS FESTIVAL

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport's Mudbug Madness Festival promises much more than mudbugs, though the bugs are certainly worth

mentioning. Head down to Festival Plaza downtown, where three stages of live entertainment, arts & crafts, children's activities, and more await. And of course, there's the mudbugs themselves—from crawfish eating to crawfish calling, there's more than enough mudbug merriment to go around. Moreover, there's gumbo, jambalaya, boudin, and other Cajun and Creole staples. With three days of performances by some of the best local bands on the schedule, you won't regret the drive. mudbugmadness.com. k

MAY 26th - MAY 28th

BIG FAT GREEK FESTIVAL NEW ORLEANS

GREEK FESTIVAL

New Orleans, Louisiana

This family-friendly festival takes place on the banks of Bayou St. John at the Holy Trinity Byzantine Cathedral, which was the first Greek Orthodox church in the country and which visitors can tour. There'll be plenty of homemade traditional Greek food and wine, desserts, live traditional Greek dancing performed by the Hellenic Dancers; and a live Greek band will be playing on the bayou so you can get your Greek on! Saturday also brings the Greek Festival Run/Walk Race. Begins at 5 pm Friday; 11 am Saturday and Sunday. $10. greekfestnola.com. k

Events

Beginning May 26th - May 29th

MAY 26 th - MAY 28 th

RICELY YOURS

JAMBALAYA FESTIVAL

Gonzales, Louisiana

Gonzales, the self-proclaimed "Jambalaya Capital of the World," will host a festival dedicated to your favorite regional meat and rice concoction (and surely, around here, there are plenty). The event is free to the public and features a jamba-cooking contest, carnival rides, and live music by Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition, Gregg Martinez, The Mojoes, and more. Free. Friday bands play from 5:30 pm–midnight, Saturday bands play from 11 am–midnight, and Sunday bands play from noon–11 pm. Full schedule at jambalayafestival.net. k

MAY 27 th

HORSIN' AROUND BOOTS & HOOVES DAY

Opelousas, Louisiana

Head over to the stables at Coasting Z in Lawtell—the Equine Capital of Louisiana, where guests of all ages can delight in stick horse rodeos, boot scrambles, a cookout demo, and horseback riding. Local vendors will be onsite selling leatherwork and custom art, and musicians will provide a spirited backdrop. Day's end brings a marshmallow roast at the firepit. 9 am–5 pm. Free, $10 to ride horses, and $5 for certain games. facebook.com/coastingzstables. k

MAY 27 th - MAY 29 th

SOAK UP THE SUN GIMME GIMME MORE SUMMER! AT VIRGIN HOTELS NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans, Louisiana

Spend your Memorial Day weekend poolside browsing special creations by local artist vendors slinging everything from swimsuits to popsicles, while bopping to disco-funk and sipping cocktails. virginhotels.com. k

MAY 29 th

PATRIOTIC MUSIC BATON ROUGE CONCERT BAND MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Baton Rouge Concert Band presents a concert of patriotic music and lively marches, along with some more solemn songs, to honor and remember those soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect our country. Come

out for a free concert in their honor at the East Baton Rouge Main Branch Library on Goodwood. 7 pm. ebrpl.com. k

MAY 29 th - JUN 14 th IN STITCHES

NORTH LOUISIANA

QUILTERS’ GUILD NORTHERN EXPOSURE SHOP HOP

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The North Louisiana Quilters' Guild is hosting their first Shop Hop, which will feature thirteen quilt shops across North Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi participating with special deals and prizes over the course of four weekends. Find more information and participating shops at nlqg.us. k

For our full list of May events, including those we couldn’t fit in print, point your phone camera here.

A Special Advertising Feature from Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

Noninvasive Treatment for Brain Cancer? Seriously?

May is National Brain Cancer Awareness Month and Here’s What you Should Know…

Your diagnosis requires brain surgery. These are words no one wants to hear.

But advanced technology at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is making it possible for some patients to achieve dramatic results with a painless, noninvasive treatment method called Gamma Knife Icon. Highly accurate, the procedure is quick and involves no cutting.

Denise Bennett knows first-hand Gamma Knife Icon’s effectiveness. In 2021, Bennett experienced a head injury due to a fall. An MRI revealed a subdural hematoma, which was successfully treated surgically, but it also showed a benign meningioma, the most common type of brain tumor.

“One of the options that was presented to me was Gamma Knife Icon,” said Bennett, 55, Deputy Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and a mother of three. “While it was benign, I had a family history of brain cancer, and I didn’t want to worry about it.”

Moreover, Bennett is a widow, having lost her husband in 2012.

“That was all the more reason for me to stay healthy,” she said.

Bennett was sent to Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center radiation oncologist Dr. Konstantin “Kos” Kovtun, a credentialed Gamma Knife Icon physician who joined the cancer center in 2018 from his previous post at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Working with a team that also included Bennett’s neurosurgeon and a medical physicist, Kovtun developed a treatment plan that would irradiate Bennett’s meningioma and gradually over time reduce its size.

“Gamma Knife is a form of stereotactic radiosurgery,” Kovtun says. “It’s very focused. Traditionally you had two options for something like this, surgery or whole brain radiation, which came with a number of side effects. This is very focused.”

Mary Bird Perkins recently marked a major milestone in treating 1,000 patients using Gamma Knife Icon. The Cancer Center has offered the latest version of the revolutionary technology at its Essen Lane location since 2016. Used to treat a wide variety of brain tumors and neurological disorders, including complex cases, the innovative method delivers treatment only to the affected brain tissue. Its precision keeps the surrounding tissue intact and unaffected, enabling many patients to resume their normal routines almost immediately.

A chemical engineer, Bennett was fascinated by the science behind the procedure. She researched it on her own and was encouraged by what she learned about its effectiveness and ease.

Prior to the treatment, a plastic mold was made of Bennett’s head, which she wore during the procedure to stabilize her head’s position. The process was quick and painless.

“I slept through most of the procedure,” Bennett says. “I took a Children’s Benadryl, and it was over in about 15 minutes.”

Kovtun follows up with each of his patients to closely monitor how the tumor is dissipating. Many patients require just one treatment, but others might have several. The cancer center’s team of radiation oncologists have overseen more than 2,000 individual procedures to date.

Following her successful procedure, Bennett was able to resume her normal activities, including taking care of children and continuing her work as LDEQ’s first Black female deputy secretary.

“It was extremely comforting to my family and me to have access to the most advanced technology in tumor treatment available right here in the great State of Louisiana,” Bennett said. “To have this procedure performed in my hometown meant that my family was not troubled with traveling out of state and making lodging accommodations. An added benefit was that I remained surrounded by a larger support base of family and friends.”

For more information on Gamma Knife Icon, visit: marybird.org/gammaknife.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, in partnership with Our Lady of the Lake, is among one of the first treatment centers in the country to lead a new way of healing for brain tumors, brain cancer and many other brain conditions via the Gamma Knife Icon.

marybird.org

Today, in the tiny prairie town of Moreauville in Avoyelles Parish, Kylie Malveaux, like many high school seniors, is completing her last semester of classes, touring universities, attending cheer practice. She’s volunteering in her community, organizing drives for the food pantry, and was recently selected as the Rotary Club’s debutante—around the same time that her classmates voted her the Avoyelles High Homecoming Queen. And in April, she took home the title of Prom Queen, too. Like her peers, Malveaux is looking to the future, but she is doing so with a deep appreciation for the past—and with a dedication to honoring her own Tunica-Biloxi heritage.

Malveaux currently serves as Vice Chair of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana’s Seventh Generation Youth Council, a group of seven fourteen to twenty-two year olds who help serve as a voice for the younger tribal members, and organize and assist with educational opportunities to help move Tunica-Biloxi culture forward into the future.

When we spoke, Malveaux and the Seventh Generation Youth Council were looking forward to and helping prepare for the Tribe’s 25th annual Powwow on the Reservation in Marksville, coming up May 20–21. “While the annual Powwow serves as a much-needed homecoming for Tunica-Biloxi citizens throughout the nation, the upcoming 25th-anniversary celebration is especially important after being separated by time and pandemic for the past three years,” current Tunica-Biloxi Chairman Marshall Pierite said in a statement. “This year’s celebration is a reminder of our fellowship with other Native American Tribes and the importance of honoring our native cultures while our reach continues to grow nationwide.”

“So that's basically why I want to be involved,” Malveaux said. “I actually want to be a voice for the youth.”

This level of appreciation for one’s own culture, and drive to preserve and share it—especially from the tribe’s youth—is crucial for the Tunica-Biloxi way of life to carry forward. It’s especially important when one considers the Tribe’s long struggle for economic equality and land retention in Louisiana, which at points pushed the language and culture to the brink of oblivion.

When writing or speaking on the cultural tapestry of Louisiana, credence is usually given to the French, Spanish, Africans, Germans, and Acadians; contributions from the Native Americans are often mentioned in a passing acknowledgement of those who first called the land home and established their way of life here. This generalized assessment neglects to acknowledge that the Native Americans who first settled Louisiana, and those who still do, established their own distinct, long-held tribal cultures, which wove together to create a landscape of lifeways more indigenous to Louisiana

than any European imports.

While many of the Native tribes who first called Louisiana home were systematically forced to relocate, especially after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, four Louisiana-based tribes maintain federal recognition today: the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, and the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana; with eleven additional tribes that are recognized by the state. As Jim Crow laws were imposed in Louisiana at the end of the 19th century, Native Americans were further disenfranchised,

by being labeled as “mixed race” and grouped with Black individuals.

Over the course of the last century, Louisiana’s Native tribes have struggled against almost-insurmountable odds to preserve their ways of life. By 1925, Chief Eli Barbry succeeded in unifying the Tunica, the Biloxi, the Jena Choctaw, the Coushatta of Allen Parish, and the Chitimacha of St. Mary Parish. A document from the Department of the Interior naming Barbry Chief of these groups states their reason for unification was “… union of the people of our race, to promote our welfare and to secure for our-

selves and our descendants’ educational and religious training, to the end of our becoming better citizens of this American Nation…”

Though this union brought federal recognition and unity among Native Americans in Louisiana, the Tunica culture continued to dwindle against the threats of discrimination, which spurred migration out of Louisiana, and assimilation into western culture. Efforts to secure federal protection of ancestral lands and economic aid to increase educational opportunities and improve conditions were largely disregarded. Even as many of the last surviving fluent speakers of the Tunica language passed away, the Tunica-Biloxi ensured that their language and cultural traditions lived on, "sometimes in bits and pieces, and sometimes in the minute threads of everyday existence,” according to the tribe’s website.

Following decades of government neglect and absence from federal and local politics, Chief Joseph Alcide returned the Tunica-Biloxi to the national consciousness in the 1970s, joining the national wave of Native American activism. This allowed Chairman Earl J. Barbry, Sr. (the previous title of Chief was changed to Chairman), to continue the work begun by his grandfather and secure the Tunica-Biloxi’s official federal recognition in 1981.

In the summer of 1994, the Tunica-Biloxi opened Grand Casino Avoyelles, today the Paragon Casino Resort, which

“Cherishing Our Past”

transformed Avoyelles from one of the least-prosperous Louisiana parishes into a successful local economy—Paragon today is one of the largest employers in Central Louisiana, and has enabled the Tribe to distribute over $40 million in funds to local governments since its recognition in 1981.

This revitalization has encouraged many of tribal descent to return to their rightful land in Central Louisiana, both to live and to carry on the torch of preserving tribal culture. According to the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana’s website, “New generations are taking up the mantle of responsibility for business, government and community leadership. They face the rigors of self-rule and daily challenges to tribal sovereignty, while honoring the Tunica-Biloxi motto: ‘Cherishing our past and building for our future.’” Today, there are over 1,500 tribal members of the Tunica-Biloxi in and around Avoyelles Parish, as well as living in Texas and in Chicago.

Malveaux herself is descended from generation upon generation of Tunica-Biloxi. She grew up attending the Tribe’s educational summer programs and language camp, which were established with the mission of forwarding tribal culture and fostering knowledge and appreciation in kids with tribal heritage. “We would learn the Tunica language, we would also go on tours, learn more about where we've come from and our background,” Malveaux explained. “And it's really a great opportunity. Also with summer camp, all the cousins, the family members, would all go on the Reservation, like hang out … It was really cool.”

These educational opportunities have fostered in Malveaux a pride and appreciation for her Tunica-Biloxi heritage, which she hopes to help instill in others through her work on the Seventh Generation Council, which she has served on since fall of 2022. “Me and the other chairman, we actually plan meetings, we talk about things that we want to see in the future … Also we set up calls, we make arrangements for the other Youth Council to go out and do things for the youth,” Malveaux told me. “We set up meetings with the Elders Council, or to get their point of view on some things and actually reach out to them for, you know, just moral support or help.”

To be selected as a member of the Seventh Generation Youth Council, nominated young people go through a process of interviewing with members of the Tribal Council (the Tribe’s leadership also includes the regular Tribal Council, as well as an Elders Council or “Wisdom Keepers” made up of leaders over the age of fifty-five). Terms on each council last for two years.

“Leadership, unity, and relationships within our Elders Council, Youth Council, and Tribal Council are incredibly important to the Tribe’s success. We are a reflection of one another,” explained Elder Council Chairwoman Joanie Arteta. "Kylie Malveaux and our Seventh Generation Youth Council are a great significance, as they are not just representatives of the Tribe they serve, but they represent the younger generations and leaders of tomorrow. If we want to build strong leaders, we must provide them with mentorship, support, and the life skills that help build and encourage confidence, growth, productive relationships in life, both personally and professionally, and how to navigate through challenges of life and profession.”

Looking into the future, Malveaux plans to attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and to major in business before attending law school, perhaps then becoming a family judge or attorney. “Moving forward, I think I actually want to come back and work for the Tribe,” Malveaux told me, mentioning that she’s considered how rewarding it would be to return to serve as the tribal judge, who helps with swearing-in ceremonies and other legal proceedings. “And I think maybe in the future, I actually want to seek to be on the ‘Council Council’.”

Malveaux’s ambition and commitment to her community emerge from a tradition of women leaders within her family. Her grandmother, Beryl Holmes, is currently Moreauville’s first female mayor, and the first mayor of Native American/African American ancestry. Her mother, as well, has always demonstrated deep community involvement. Malveaux explained that her mother Richella’s uncle is the Tribe’s current Chairman, Marshall Pierite. “Anything that he needs, events, we’re there.”

“[I’m] so impressed with Kylie. She is the epitome of [an] extraordinary young leader,” Arteta said. “We look forward to all the amazing things Kylie will do, as our Tunica-Biloxi future leader of tomorrow.”

While Malveaux enjoys helping with any needs that arise within the tribal community or larger Avoyelles Parish, she hopes that in the future more young people will be encouraged to get involved with the Tribe and its leadership, too.

“Maybe get more people involved, have everyone lend a helping hand, because, if you think about it, really the only people that are really involved is the Council,” Malveaux told me. “And moving forward, we just need our heritage to live on—because if not the Youth Council, then who? We have no one else to bring it forward.” h

The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s 25th-Annual Powwow will be at the Chief Joseph Alcide Pierite Powwow Grounds on the Marksville Reservation on May 20–21. There will also be an Education Day on May 19, where local school children are invited to learn more about Native American traditions. Learn more at tunicabiloxi.org.

“Building for Our Future”

“Tu Vis Ta Culture ou Tu Tues Ta Culture”

WITH HIS LATEST ALBUM, JOURDAN THIBODEAUX IMPLORES FRENCH LOUISIANANS TO HOLD ON TO THEIR HERITAGE

Story by Jonathan Olivier • Photo by Drake LeBlanc

Published in Parnership with Télé-Louisiane

This article was published in partnership with Télé-Louisiane. Read more about our collaboration with the bilingual Louisiana media platform on page 9, and find the French version of this story at telelouisiane.com.

Last October, Lafayette’s Festivals Acadiens et Créoles closed out Saturday night with a performance by Jourdan Thibodeaux and his band Les Rôdailleurs. The set included hits from Thibodeaux’s 2018 debut album, hwhich has earned him a following at home and afar, as well as a mix of new tunes anchored by his French lyrics.

His last song of the night, also the title from his sophomore album released this spring, La Prière, didn’t conform to typical closers. Instead, it was slow, rhythmic, solemn. The crowd, which had spent the day two stepping and waltzing, turned to the stage in reverence. Many swayed back and forth. Among those who could understand Thibodeaux’s French lyrics, there were even tears.

In the first lines, dubbed over an interview with Thibodeaux’s late grandfather Charles Herbert, he chants: “Tu vis ta culture ou tu tues ta culture, il y a pas de milieu.” You live your culture or you kill your culture, there isn’t any middle ground.

In the song, Thibodeaux acknowledges the young Louisianans who cannot understand his lyrics, people who have forgotten Louisiana’s traditions and its language, and those who only speak, as he sang, “la langue de les conquis,” or the language of the conquered—English.

At the core of “La Prière,” which means “The Prayer,” Thibodeaux invokes that the French language—and the culture that sustained it—will not fade away into history. He prays that people continue to actively participate in Louisiana’s rich cultural heritage. And he prays that his generation won’t be the last to live it.

While “La Prière” is a somber reminder of how much Americanization has changed Louisiana, it’s also a rallying cry to assemble all the cultural pieces that former generations left behind, in order to preserve and perpetuate the qualities that make Louisiana so unique. This call to action, in large part, is Thibodeaux’s life’s work.

“People are always saying, ‘I’m Cajun’ or ‘I’m Creole.’ And they’re really proud of that,” he said. “But you can’t only have the title. If you want the title, you need to keep everything associated with it. You need to keep the language, the culture, the religion—because it’s all connected.”

Thibodeaux learned French from his grandmother, Lucille “Hazel” Blanchard. In order to pass the language to his two daughters, he speaks French to them at home, ensuring that in his family the over-three-hundred-year-old linguistic chain remains unbroken. He sticks to traditions that he was raised with—such as Roman Catholicism, hunting and gardening, and local customs like “pâquer,” which features knocking eggs together in a game played at Easter.

“We need to pass all that we have been given from other people to the next generation,” he said

La Prière

La Prière’s original 2020 release was delayed due to COVID-19. Thibodeaux, who plays fiddle and sings, released the album with Eunice’s Valcour Records with his band Jourdan Thibodeaux et Les Rôdailleurs, which he founded in 2018. Today, the band consists of renowned musicians Cedric Watson, Joel Savoy, Alan Lafleur, and Adam Cormier.

While many local artists who sing in French today record remakes of older songs, or stick to traditional notions of what Cajun or Zydeco music ‘should’ sound like, Thibodeaux writes his own music, on his own terms. His songs are heavy on the fiddle and feature prominently his raspy Louisiana French lyrics. For La Prière, Thibodeaux and his band cut songs from a list of around forty that he has written over the course of the last several years. “I recorded the songs I feel the most at the moment,” he said.

The resulting album represents snippets of the musician’s life in Cypress Island in rural St. Martin Parish, much of it spent tending to horses and working outside. When people ask him what sort of music he plays, Thibodeaux usually responds: “Louisiana French music.”

“When I was younger, that’s what my grandmother called it,” he said. “It was just French music, and it was the music of the country. It was never ‘Cajun’ or ‘Creole’. Because everyone here was the same people. We were one culture.”

Many French and Creole-speaking Louisianans were ushered into mainstream America only a few decades ago; the remnants of the once-isolated, regional culture of South Louisiana are dwindling, but they do still survive. Thibodeaux believes holding fast to these old traditions—the language, food, music, and cultural practices— serve as a guide to approach the future. And perhaps that’s the lasting message of La Prière —respect heritage traditions, and continue them with all that you’ve got.

“How are you going to know where you’re going,” Thibodeaux said, “if you don’t know where you come from?” h

Keep up with Thibodeaux’s upcoming performances on Instagram, @jourdanthibodeaux where he also creates a series of entertaining and educational language videos titled “Louisiana French du jour”.

The Storytellers of Los Isleños

AUTHORS AND HISTORIANS STEPHEN ESTOPINAL AND CHAD LEBLANC SHARE

THE HISTORY OF LOUISIANA’S CANARY ISLANDERS THROUGH THE WRITTEN WORD

Story by Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux • Photos by Kimberly Meadowlark

Stephen Estopinal of Saint Bernard, Louisiana can trace his ancestors back to the first ships of Canary Islanders to arrive in Louisiana. He has long been involved in both of the Canary Islanders’ historical societies and has performed extensive research into Los Isleños heritage. He’s volunteered at Jean Lafitte National Park’s “Living History” events wearing the traditional military dress of the Canary Islanders, and has written many books on local history. He is currently working on the tenth book in his historical fiction series, The De Melilla Chronicles—which focuses on the contributions of Canary Islanders to Louisiana history.

The cultures of Louisiana, like its intricate web of waterways, lace this region with their enduring traditions and histories—interconnected but distinct. The mainstream is fed by the rivulets of native cultures and those of the peoples who migrated here. One lesser-known filament in this web can be found in Saint Bernard, southeast of New Orleans, where each spring the descendants of Spanish Canary Islanders who arrived in South Louisiana between 1778 and 1783 celebrate their culture at Los Fiesta de los Isleños with traditional dance, Spanish wine, and dishes such as ropa vieja, arroz con pollo, and croquettas.

Louisiana’s Isleño (“Islander”) community traces its history to the late 18th century when Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish governor of the Louisiana Territory, recruited inhabitants of the Spanish archipelago off the coast of Morocco to populate, cultivate, and defend the deltaic lands south of the Mississippi River. Today, the descendants of these immigrants are able to learn about and live out their cultural identities thanks in large part to the preservation work performed by the Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society of Saint Bernard (founded in 1976); and the Canary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana (CIHSL) of Baton Rouge (founded in 1996). With a common mission spanning the two main regions of historic Isleño settlements, the organizations work together to offer educational programming and events throughout the year. Frequently at the helm of this work are cultural champions Stephen Estopinal and Chad LeBlanc.

Estopinal, whose family has been in St. Bernard Parish since 1778, traces the Estopinal name back to the ship manifests of the original Isleño settlers. Before retiring, he worked as a civil engineer and land surveyor—which granted him up close access to property records dating back to the Isleños’ first settlement of Saint Bernard, which he spent over forty years researching. He explained how the lands granted the soldier recruits and their families were chosen primarily for their strategic locations on the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche—waterways that accessed New Orleans and needed to be defended against invasion. These were mosquito-infested, flood-prone areas, often in the direct path of hurricanes. Three of the four original settlements of Isleños were unsuccessful, but Conceptión, now called Saint Bernard, was.

The Isleños were and continue to be adaptable people. When Estopinal first visited the Canary Islands with his family in 2008, he was amazed at the difference between the terrains of the mountainous Islands and that of low, wet Louisiana. Those first immigrants to Louisiana had to learn to farm this strange new land, as well as to trap and fish in the productive marshlands and bays. There, they developed a resiliency to the constant barrage of hurricanes and flooding with strong extended family connections to aid them in their recovery. “This resiliency after natural disaster and the practice of of looking out for our neighbors are Isleño traits,” claimed Estopinal. These values persist today, especially in those who continue to make their home in the low-lying lands so deeply affected by environmental degradation.

Living in such difficult terrain at the far edges of Louisiana, the early Isleños remained relatively isolated, allowing their folkways to persist. They continued to speak Spanish and make the foods they knew from home, though the influence of their new environment crept into those traditions in its own way, too. Paella, the rice and seafood dish of Spain, morphed into jambalaya, and the Spanish spoken by the Isleños evolved into what is now known as Louisiana Isleño Spanish. The Isleños of Saint Bernard, more geographically isolated than their counterparts near Donaldsonville, continued to speak this Isleño Spanish as a first language into the twentieth century; a handful of native speakers are still alive today. Estopinal’s own grandfather spoke the 18th century Canary Islander Spanish as his first language.

While traveling in the Canary Islands, Estopinal met a musician named Fernando who had once traveled to Louisiana to play La Fiesta in Saint Bernard. He spoke no English but quickly made a call to a friend who could serve as interpreter between he and Estopinal. A familiar voice on the line called out, “Steve, where are you?” It was Estopinal’s friend Wimpy Serigne back in Saint Bernard—he knew Fernando and was happy to keep the conversation flowing between friends an entire ocean away.

Leblanc, current President of the CIHSL and a generation younger than Estopinal, spoke about the historical loss of language in the Isleño communities near his hometown of Pierre Part, which had not been established for long before throngs of Acadians started arriving in 1785. “Almost overnight, the language disappeared, and the names got ‘Frenchified,’” he said. As the Acadian culture overwhelmed the Isleños, Spanish words of the Isleños and other Spanish speaking settlers became part of the everyday parlance of the Acadians as their own language was transformed to include words like lagniappe (a little extra), cocodrie (alligator), and cabri (goat).

As an author and avid genealogical sleuth, passionate about history and knowing where people come from, Leblanc wrote about this cultural interfacing in his recently published historical novel The Roots of the Bayou . “I wanted people of Cajun and Isleños descent to know their intertwined history. It’s based on people from my family tree,” he said, explaining how he brought the tree to life by

comingling facts with imagined stories inspired by the baptismal records, sailing dates, and other genealogical data he has collected over the years.

For his 2018 nonfiction book, The Isleños of Pierre Part, LeBlanc looked up every kid in his kindergarten class to find out their potential connections to the Isleños. When he investigated his co-workers’ ancestry, he found four out of the ten people working in his small IT office in Baton Rouge were of Isleños heritage. “Once you get into genealogy, it’s addictive,” he said. He puts his “addiction” to good use through his work with the CIHSL helping people understand their ancestry.

“If your family has been in South Louisiana for two hundred years, and you go back on your family tree ten generations—you do the math, how could you not have those names?” he asked, referring to names like Aguilard, Acosta, Domingue, Falcon, Hernandez—which were listed on the manifests of the ships that carried the original Canary Islander immigrants to Louisiana.

Estopinal, who shares Leblanc’s obsessions with history, and especially Isleños history, is also a writer. Influenced by his own military background and his family’s oral history, he is currently working on the tenth book in his de Melilla Chronicles series—which tell the stories of the Isleños and their involvement in various military battles throughout history.

“All during school we were taught that the battles of the American Revolution were fought mainly on the East Coast,” said Estopinal. “But I discovered that Galvez and his Louisiana Spanish Regiment drove the British out of Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola and the entire Mississippi River Valley. Without Galvez, America could not have succeeded. The Isleños were brought here specifically for Galvez’s military campaigns. This is a story that needs to be told.”

By way of storytelling and their enthusiasm in sharing their Louisiana Isleño culture, Estopinal and Leblanc inspire a closer look at our own heritage, wherein lies stories that connect us not only to our own ancestors but to the greater history of this place, and to each other. h

I recommend the following two books to those interested in further reading about the Isleños of Louisiana: Gilbert C. Dinn’s The Canary Islanders of Louisiana (1999) and Samantha Perez’s The Isleños of Louisiana (2011). You can also find Estopinal’s body of literary works at estopinal.com, and LeBlanc’s at chadleblanc.com.

To learn more about the Isleños, upcoming events from the two societies, and resources for genealogical research, visit canaryislanders.org and losisleños.org.

Chad LeBlanc is a historian and writer from Pieere Part, Louisiana—whose research into the history of Louisiana’s Canary Islanders has resulted in a novel and a nonfiction work telling their story. He also currently serves as the President of the Canary Islanders Heritage Society.

CHEDDAR DAYS

The Rind

Cuisine

Ashley Pecquet was a teenager when she got her start in the cheese industry, spending her weekends at grocery stores in New Orleans peddling samples to curious customers.

Her mom, Lori Lucas, had been working with cheese for over thirty years— first for importers, connecting them with family-owned groceries, then later as a solo cheese broker, L&L Brokerage. When Pecquet was old enough to drive, she planned on getting a casual part-time retail position at a local pharmacy. But her mom had other plans.

“She had me become her demo girl,” Pecquet recalled. “I stood in the grocery stores with a tray of cheese asking people, all day long, every Saturday, if they would like to try cheese—and had to tell them all about it, where it was from, how it was made. At the time, I was not happy about it—it was horrible, but that’s how I learned all the cheeses.”

Twenty years later, Pecquet has now made her own career in the cheese industry. She owns The Rind Cheese and Sandwich Shop, nestled in downtown Hammond, with her former boss—her mom. The business wears many hats— retail shop, lunch-time restaurant, caterer, wholesaler—and now stocks more than two hundred cheese varieties.

“The cheeses that are popular now, that everyone thinks [are] brand new, it’s the same cheese I was sampling at sixteen,” said Pecquet.

And even then, many of those cheeses have roots dating back sometimes hundreds of years. Mimolette, for example—a bright orange, nutty-tasting cheese that features a brown casing, enjoyed recent fame on TikTok, but first found notoriety hundreds of years ago in France after it was made at the request of King Louis XIV.

In 2007, Pecquet was living in Hammond, attending Southeastern Louisiana

University, where she was studying entrepreneurial management. Two years after Hurricane Katrina, her mom was busy working to rebuild L&L Brokerage’s grocer network in the Greater New Orleans area when the business lost one of its largest customers—Rouses Markets. Pecquet felt compelled to rejoin the business with her mom—but this time, she wanted part ownership in the company.

“I told mom, I’ll help you rebuild,” Pecquet says. “We’ll start new. But I want to be a partner, not a worker.”

Over the next decade, the mother-daughter duo rebuilt the business’s network, bringing in new customers, remaining flexible. The industry was shifting—grocers were moving away from working with cheese brokers—instead opting to source their stock directly from warehouses or producers.

Eventually, Pecquet and Lucas realized that if they wanted to remain part of the cheese industry, they had to pivot.

In 2016, they closed L&L Brokerage to launch a retail and distribution company, The Rind, near Southeastern’s campus, in Hammond.

With the new venture, Pecquet says they were saying “yes to everything,” making sandwiches and cheese trays, operating a retail shop for the general public as well as a warehouse for larger distribution orders. Quickly, they realized they had to pump the brakes.

“We made every decision wrong in business that you can possibly make,” Pecquet said. “We started this business not knowing how to run a business— what we knew was cheese and how to sell it. The invoicing, the billing—it was all new to us.”

Pecquet and Lucas began brainstorming how to streamline their new business venture, and in early 2018, the pair closed their retail shop to focus on distribution with restaurants, casinos, and grocery stores across the region. In 2019, the pair

44 MEET THE HAMMOND CHEESEMONGER MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO // 47 ALMOST TWO HUNDRED YEARS LATER, WESTFELDT COFFEE ENDURES ON GRAVIER STREET

MAY 2023

THE STORY BEHIND HAMMOND'S LITTLE CHEESE SHOP

Story by Holly Duchmann • Photos by Brei Olivier

partnered with a warehouse to house their two hundred different cheese varieties and make deliveries.

In early 2020, at the suggestion of a few business friends, Pecquet and Lucas moved The Rind downtown, into a space along Railroad Avenue.

“We moved here, and COVID immediately hit,” said Pecquet.

But as the world seemingly came to a halt, and other food industry businesses saw sales sputter, Pecquet and Lucas watched as their sales jumped upwards of forty percent. “Grocery sales skyrocketed during the pandemic—everyone was eating at home,” said Pecquet. “We were in the grocery stores setting up all the cheese cases.”

Over the next seven months, while dining rooms of restaurants were

quiet, Pecquet built out the kitchen and retail displays in the new shop. She offered curbside pickup for local cheese orders as well as virtual cheese classes, during which she taught about wine and cheese pairings.

The Rind re-opened their doors to the public in April 2021 as a lunch-time restaurant, as well as a retail shop. They started offering in-person classes and catering, while maintaining a healthy wholesale client list. Always looking to evolve, Pecquet recently installed a candy display in the shop and is optimistic about The Rind’s future.

Customers entering the shop today are greeted with a refrigerated case overflowing with a colorful assortment of cheeses, such as a blueberry cheddar or the Port Salut, a French soft cheese in the Brie

family that was developed by monks in the early 1800s. The bright green marbled block is the popular Sage Derby, an English cheddar blended with its namesake herb, while Drunken Goat semi-soft goat cheese bears a bright purple rind after being bathed in red wine.

Pecquet’s personal favorite cheese is the mango and papaya Wensleydale, made from milk drawn from cows grazing the limestone pastures of Upper Wensleydale, in Yorkshire, England.

Presiding over the shop like a guardian angel, perched on a shelf behind the counter safely away from climbing children, is Boris, a goat statue Pecquet was gifted at a food show by a Dutch cheesemaker. “We call him Boris the drunken goat,” Pecquet said. “I’ve had him since I was nineteen. The cheesemaker didn’t

want to bring him back on the plane to go back to Holland. He comes to every food show with us now—people try to steal him.”

For Pecquet, this year marks the twentieth that she’s been in business with her mom. Looking forward, she’s working to open a second location of The Rind in South Louisiana—either in Covington or Baton Rouge.

“Working with mom, we’re basically the same person,” says Pecquet. “We look pretty much the same, our mannerisms are the same—but where she’s a calm, passive person, I’m loud. She calms me down. She’s made me who I am today.” h

Ashley Pecquet and Lori Lucas, the mother-daughter behind The Rind Cheese and Sandwich Shop.

The Coffee Hub on Gravier

FOR ALMOST 200 YEARS, WESTFELDT BROTHERS COFFEE HAS BEEN IMPORTING BEANS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

Right off of the stop-and-go hubbub of Canal, Gravier Street’s sunlight is blocked by crepe myrtles instead of palms, and everything quiets. It is here that you’ll find one of the oldest coffee importers in the country.

It’s easy to miss Westfeldt Brothers. The century-old building doesn’t ask to be seen. But the business has been importing coffee from this spot since before the Civil War. On this nondescript street, the family business continues on as one of the last of its kind in the Central Business District neighborhood.

Founder Gustavus Adolphus George Westfeldt moved from Sweden to Mobile, Alabama in 1835 to act as Sweden’s ambassador in the United States. Central and South American diplomats who Westfeldt had connections with inspired him to start his coffee business in 1851, one of the first in the United States to import green, or unroasted, coffee beans. Two years later, he moved to New Orleans, where the coffee import market was booming. He invited his two brothers, who were still living in Sweden, to join him in the Crescent City, where together they created Westfeldt Brothers. The company was a quick success, thanks to the brothers’ close relationship with Brazilian importers, their diplomatic relationship with Sweden, and New Orleans’s status as one of the biggest port cities at the time.

In 2018, the current CEO of Westfeldt Brothers, Thomas Westfeldt, passed down the position of president to his daughter, Shelby Westfeldt Mills, who is

by Poet Wolfe

a sixth-generation Westfeldt in New Orleans and the first woman in the family to take on the role. Mills describes her family’s company as “a really unique niche in the industry.”

Upon arrival at Westfeldt Brothers, one is greeted by the nutty aroma of roasting coffee. Across from the “roasting room” are sacks of coffee beans bearing the names of countries from across the world. Upstairs you’ll find workers keeping a close eye on their computers and a television screen, where they watch as coffee prices rise and fall.

From Westfeldt’s international selection of coffee beans, coffee businesses can select and mix together flavor profiles to create their own distinct blend.

“We're kind of like a grocery store,” Mills said. “If you're going to make a cake and you want to buy all the ingredients for the cake, you wouldn't want to go to just one store that only sold eggs and then go to another place that only sold flour.”

International coffee importers will send samples of coffee beans to Westfeldt Brothers, which are then brought to their “cupping room” to ensure the price, taste, and appearance meet criteria. Once the samples are approved, the coffee beans are shipped to warehouses across the United States, where they are roasted, packaged, and sold to grocery stores, coffee shops, and restaurants.

The historic Westfeldt Brothers location was originally chosen because of its close proximity to the New Orleans Board of Trade, which would post the market prices of coffee on a massive chalkboard. In

the 1970s and '80s, Mills’s father would take walks there every two hours to write down the price of coffee so the family business could stay up-to-date on the fluctuating market. Before the Internet, workers from different countries would send telegrams to Westfeldt Brothers to keep them informed about poor weather conditions on the farms.

Though the company makes good use of the advanced technological resources available in this digital age, they continue to rely on face-to-face interactions to build and maintain connections with their partners. Regularly, staff members take business trips to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras to see the places where their coffee is grown and meet the farmers themselves, observing first-hand the various challenges each operation faces in the process of growing and delivering their products.

“It really starts with the relationships we have at the source, and that is how we've managed to stay relevant and in business for so long,” Shelby said, also noting the timeless perseverance inherent in a product like theirs—which has helped sustain the company through national crises ranging from the Civil War, to Hurricane Katrina, to the recent pandemic.

“Good times and bad times, people want to buy coffee,” Shelby said. “That's always gonna be there.” h westfeldtcoffee.com

Photo by Alexandra Kennon

They Came by Train

TURNING TO THE ARCHIVES FOR THE STORIES OF THE ORPHAN TRAIN RIDERS

“As names and numbers were called, the parents stepped forward to claim their child. The parents were hassured that they could return the child if they were dissatisfied or could not go through with the transaction.”

In a 1980 article titled “The Baby Train Comes South,” Louisiana writer and researcher, Rachel Lemoine depicts children being delivered as cargo. Her extensive research, published in The Avoyelles Journal and dozens of other articles, is also catalogued in the Rachel Lemoine Collection in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Special Collections Archive. It invites researchers to hop on board the narrative of one of the largest, yet least-understood, migrations in human history.

The origins of the Orphan Train Movement began as part of the larger Child Welfare Movement of the mid-19th century. Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), advocated for better conditions for the growing number of homeless children in northern port cities such as Boston and New York. He recognized that many families could no longer afford childcare, and feared the influx of immigrants flooding city streets and rising crime rates would tempt the youth to criminality. Brace used the CAS as a vehicle to relocate children to be placed with families in rural areas. With the aid of fellow reformers, civil leaders, and businessmen, Brace developed an indenture process that required prospective parents to specify the types of children they wanted and required the families to treat their new children and their natural ones equally. The first Orphan Train departed in 1854.

Initially, the CAS program did not send children to southern states and tended to favor Protestant placements (the best of which tended to be given to Protestant white boys). Starting in 1875, the Catholic Sisters of New York Foundling Hospital developed their own adoption train process, where prospective parents requested babies from the hospital beforehand (whereas CAS sent its passengers on trains unaware if they would be adopted). In her article, “The Baby Trains: Catholic Foster Care and Western Migration, 1873-1929,” Dianne Creagh establishes the connection between Foundling Hospital’s Catholicism and the significance of Louisiana—with its enormous Catholic community and

wide network of Parish priests—as a destination for the Baby Trains. While the sisters sought to save homeless children, they also saw the program as an opportunity to evangelize. Baptismal records, death records, and Orphan Interview Sheets from the Rachel Lemoine Collection confirm these children’s entries into the Catholic church. Baby Train “conductors” began moving children to the South in vast numbers; one of the largest recorded moves was in 1909 when three hundred children were

On Thursday, December 18, 1980, Lemoine published the second of thirteen feature stories titled “The Avoyelles Journal. She writes that “[t]here was an air of festivity as the trains arrived in the South. Eager crowds awaited the arrival of the ‘orphan train’ and local bands played at the depot.” The general mood for the newcomers’ arrivals was excite-

Accounts contained in the Lemoine Collection complicate the oft-romanticized legacy of the Orphan Train as a benevolent system, a metaphorical journey towards a better life for unfortunate children. Some criticisms of The Orphan Trains Movement debate the validity of the title “orphan,” and point out frequent evidence that children were often mistreated by their new families. Author of The Orphan Trains Kristin Johnson states that “one of the criticisms … was that the program separated families in which parents and other siblings were still alive.” This was part of the reformers’ efforts to recruit the offspring of families that could no longer afford childcare, who were coerced or forced to give up their children for adoption. Johnson’s book includes the account of Claretta Miller, who reflected on her experience as an 'orphan' and recalled her family struggles before the Orphan Train relocated her.

“We were hungry. I don’t ever recall taking a bath in a tub of water. We slept on old, dirty mattresses on the floor and the rats ran over our heads and through our hair lots of nights we’d wake up screaming with it. We didn’t know where our parents were. We never did know.”

In Louisiana, towns such as Opelousas, Ayoyelles, Rayne, Morgan City, and Loreauville were designated by Orphan Train organizers as “safe zones”—places where children would be well cared for. However, records demonstrate that these simplistic assignments could not account for the various difficulties children might face in their new South Louisiana homes.

Within her body of research, Lemoine collected accounts in which orphans often described experiencing a sense of isolation because of language barriers in this French-speaking region. Orphan Ernest LeDoux experienced culture shock due to his new environment, recounting his fear of chickens especially, and the farm animals his adoptive family owned and worked with. In a journal entry addressed to Lemoine, one woman apologized for her mother’s refusal to answer any questions about her experience as a child of the Orphan Train Movement: “Please understand, many of these children were made to feel less than equal to their friends during ‘growing up’ period. Even as they became adults the stigma was still there. The hurt was very deep then and to some it still remains.”

Also documented in Lemoine’s research are examples of babies being placed with the wrong families. R. David Lognion sent a letter to Rachel Lemoine documenting that such an occurrence happened to his grandmother, Margaret Henkel. Henkel arrived in Louisiana at just eighteen months old and was the last child on the 1908 train to Louisiana. She was supposed to be delivered to the Fassbender family in Jennings, Louisiana, but because she was an ill infant, the Dronet family decided to adopt her instead of the child that they were to receive.

The Orphan Train Movement is tucked away inside the history of the Child Welfare Movement, obscuring the narrative of the individuals affected, as well as the generational implications for families and communities here in Louisiana and across the country. Within Lemoine’s collection is a rare invitation for the orphans themselves to become the primary actors in this history of large-scale migrations. h

An indenture record for a child named Agnes Carroll, from Foundling Hospital on June 16, 1910. From the Rachel Lemoine Collection at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Strange True Stories of My Louisiana Ancestors, Part II

FOLLOWING MARIE ADELAIDE FROM PARIS'S REIGN OF TERROR TO THE PLANTATIONS OF SAINT-DOMINGUE

“I’m searching for the French identity of my fourth great-grandmother Marie Adelaide Guerne de Tavane (Tavanne), who I believe was a countess in the court of Marie Antoinette . . .”

Like the proverbial message in a bottle tossed into the ocean, I lobbed these feelers into the online genealogical ether, hoping someone could help me discern the French origin of my Charpantier family of Patterson.

A 2015 trip from my home in Dallas to St. Martinville, Louisiana provided the name of my storied ancestor—who the records had confirmed lived in Patterson on Charpantier Plantation with her husband Joseph Charpantier beginning in 1797, and died in 1819.

But I still had so many questions. Did Marie Adelaide really come from France, from the Palace of Versailles, as family lore claimed? Could she possibly be Alix de Morainville, immortalized in the memoirs included in George W. Cable’s 1888 Strange True Stories of Louisiana?

In her memoir, Alix (or Marie Adelaide) wrote that she grew up in Le Château de Morainville in Normandy, as the daughter of Count and Countess de Morainville, who served in the court of Louis XV and Louis XVI. Her mother was among the ladies of the palace during the reign of both Queens Maria Leszczyńska and Marie Antoinette. Alix married her cousin, Abner Benoit Count de Morainville at age sixteen before joining her mother in Versailles as one of the dames de palais in 1788.

Story by Nina Flournoy

When the French Revolution broke out, Alix’s mother fled to England, while Alix stayed with her husband at Versailles. During a violent attack on the palace, he was captured, along with her father, and both purportedly faced their ends at the guillotine. (I haven’t found any record of a “Tavanne” or “Morainville” on the official list of those guillotined at that time.)

Alix’s memoir describes being rescued by the son of the gardener who managed the family’s Normandy chateau. Changing his name to Joseph Charpantier, he and the young countess, disguised as a peasant couple, sailed to London to join Alix’s mother—whom, they learned upon arrival, had died. They then fled to America, arriving in New Orleans, where they covertly journeyed to the Bayou Teche in south Louisiana. They then settled in St. Martin Parish and built a sugarcane plantation.

Louisiana parish records give their names as Joseph M. Charpantier and Marie Adelaide Guerne de Tavane—the same names that are on their tombstones in the St. Joseph’s cemetery in Patterson. Joseph retained the Charpantier name, as did their son and his children and their children, etc. Marie Adelaide, though, remained Tavane.

Researching the names Morainville and Tavanne (or Tavane) and Guerne among the nobles in the

royal court at the dawn of the French Revolution, I found only one possible match: Gabrielle Charlotte Eléonore Saulx de Tavanne. Much of her life story lines up with my ancestor. Gabrielle’s mother, Marie-Éléonore-Eugénie de Lévis de Châteaumorand, Comtesse de Saulx-Tavannes, was a countess in the court of two queens, just as Alix’s mother was. But records indicate Gabrielle died in France in 1827. Marie Adelaide (Alix) died in Louisiana in 1819.

Without concrete records to confirm the claims in the Morainville memoirs, or to connect my family names back to France, my relative’s identity and that of her noble parents in France remain a mystery. Is there a chance that Marie Adelaide (Alix) is Countess Gabrielle Charlotte Eléonore of Saulx de Tavannes?

I compiled everything I knew into my online queries, crossed my fingers, and pressed send. A few months passed before I got a bite.

Frenchman Guillaume de Wailly, specializing in royal genealogies of the Ancien Regime (people born before the French Revolution), responded that, yes, Viscountess of Castellane, Gabrielle Charlotte Eléonore Saulx de Tavanne was named Lady of the Palace of Queen Marie Antoinette from 1786-1792, replacing her mother as a lady of the palace for Marie Leszczynska (1759) and later for Marie Antoinette. So far, the shoe fit.

However, he said, “During and after the revolution, the viscountess remained in France. There are papers in the National Archives concerning Gabrielle and her

An artistic rendering of Versailles during the time at which the author's fourth great grandmother might have been a part of the court of Louis XIV. " Exp[é]rience a[ë]rostatique faite Versailles le 19 sept. 1783." From the Library of Congress.

Part I of Flournoy's "Strange True Stories" series can be found in our April 2023 issue and on our website at countryroadsmag.com.

family, the Saulx-Tavannes. Their family ties, allies, and letters were visibly monitored. After the revolution, several branches of the Castellane family appear alongside Napoleon and certain members of the family make marriages with great figures from the imperial court (Talleyrand, among others).”

Guillaume agreed that Gabrielle almost perfectly matched the description of my ancestor, except Gabrielle definitely did not immigrate to America—her activities in France being well documented as they are. So, Gabrielle couldn’t be Marie Adelaide Guerne de Tavanne (Alix).

Back to square one.

I doubt Marie Adelaide (Alix) imagined that her memoir would become a source of literary debate, or that more than 220 years later, her great, great, great, great granddaughter would become obsessed with tracking down her story.

My mind darted. Maybe her memoir was an elaborate tale conjured by a French emigrée stuck in the Louisiana bayou backwoods, homesick for Paris, writing to pass the time, figuring no one would bother to check the facts. Or it could be a case of Occam's Razor, which holds that the simplest explanation is likely correct. Maybe I simply hadn’t found the right records.

Weeks later I came across a buried post submitted by M.M. Loeffler in a genealogy forum dated 2003:

“In a Louisiana cemetery is the tombstone of one of my French ancestors, Charles Michel CHAPANTIER, whose place of birth is given as Pittsburgh, PA, 29 Sept. 1795. His parents were refugees from France and Santo Domingo and only stayed briefly in PA. His father was Count Joseph Michel de Tavanne, who changed his name to Joseph CHARPANTIER, when he arrived in the U.S. Mother’s name was Countess Alix de Morainville. I would appreciate any clues about finding documented records of the birth of C.M. Charpantier.

Thanks!”

Wait, what? Joseph Michel Charpantier was Count de Tavanne? I circled my desk. So, why did he keep his assumed name of Charpantier, while Marie Adelaide identified herself as “de Tavanne?”

I tracked down Ms. Loeffler, who kindly shared what she knew. The “Countess story” was passed down by her grandmother, Louise Charpantier Meynier of New Orleans (1883-1967), the granddaughter of Abner Benoit Charpantier. Abner was Joseph and Marie Adelaide’s (Alix’s) grandson, named for Alix’s guillotined husban from her memoir, Count Abner Benoit de Morainville.

According to Loeffler’s story, Countess Alix de Morainville married her cousin at age sixteen. Both members of the court of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, they lived with their infant daughter Olive in Versailles. When the Revolution broke out, Alix’s father and husband were taken prisoner, while her mother fled to England. Alix and Olive escaped with her maid’s help. She was then rescued by the gardener’s son (of Chateau Morainville). He helped disguise her as a peasant and escorted Alix and her baby onto a vessel bound for America. No one is sure, but the theory is that en route, the ship stopped at the French colonial island of SaintDomingue (today known as Haiti), where Count Joseph Michel de Tavanne served as an emissary to the French Crown, sent there to quell the revolt. When it developed into an all-out massacre, Count de Tavanne slipped onto a ship disguised as a laborer, giving his name as Charpentier (French for carpenter). On board he recognized Alix from the royal court, despite her peasant disguise. From here Loeffler is not sure what became of Olive, and the child is entirely lost to all available records. But following Loeffler's account, we might assume that Alix and Joseph stuck together during the journey to America and were married under their assumed name Charpantier in Pennsylvania, where they had a son, Charles

Michel Charpantier.

Word that the Louisiana governor was awarding free land to French refugees settling in Louisiana might have prompted Joseph and Alix to journey to New Orleans and then down to St. Martinville.

Although Loeffler’s story somewhat differs from Cable’s, her family’s version seems more plausible. She explained, “The Charpantier name remained our family name, while the de Tavanne title and nobility were buried in oblivion.” The Morainville and Guerne names disappeared, too.

The earliest evidence of Marie Adelaide (Alix) and Joseph’s life in St. Martinville are found in records kept by a local priest, Father Hebert, as well as in articles and census lists from the time. As sugarcane took hold in the region, agricultural records confirm that the Charpantier family owned a successful sugarcane plantation on the Bayou Teche. It remained in the family for generations—first passed to their son Charles Michel Charpantier, Loeffler’s direct ancestor. Records and the inscription on his tombstone verify Charles was in fact born in Pennsylvania on September 29, 1795.

Why Pennsylvania? Cable’s book doesn’t mention Pennsylvania, nor does it include mention of any children. Perhaps Alix left the children out of her memoir for reasons of propriety.

Following the story to Pennsylvania, though, led me to an obscure historical place I’d never heard of— French Azilum (Asile Français).

In 1790, Americans followed the volatile situation unfolding in France with a sense of indebtedness, recalling France’s hefty financial support during the American Revolution, a debt carried by the commoners who would violently overthrew the oppressive French regime. Yeah, my relatives were the villains.

A handful of the French nobles who escaped the guillotine by fleeing to America after 1790 met in Philadel-

phia and hatched a scheme to construct a hidden refugee colony where aristocratic French exiles could hide out. Their haven could also house wealthy French planters fleeing the island of Saint-Domingue, where a bloody slave revolt erupted in 1791.

Tucked inside a three-hundred-acre meadowed hamlet in the Pennsylvania wilderness 150 miles southwest of Philadelphia, situated on the banks of the Susquehanna River, they set up a mini-Versailles. They built houses, a town square, shops, a chapel, even a distillery—all designed to accommodate hundreds of blue-blood French émigrés.

Word of French Azilum (asylum) traveled through back channels into France, drawing escapees beginning in 1793, around the time Alix and Joseph sailed to America—though I have not found a ship manifest carrying their names, real or fake, from France, England, or SaintDomingue (now Haiti).

Azilum included a 3,600 square foot “Le Grande Maison,” built to house Queen Marie Antoinette and her children when they escaped. Of course, they didn’t.

When Azilum refugees learned King Louis and Marie Antoinette were guillotined, many of the estimated 200 families—royal relatives, former French courtiers, officers, clergy, and other royal liaisons—remained cloistered in the secret community, some for ten years. Records kept by French fugitives in Azilum do not include the name Charpantier, Tavanne, or Morainville, nor did I find a record of a baby named Charles born on Sept. 29, 1795. Stumped again.

The secret settlement was exposed by 1796, when the king’s son, Louis Philippe, the last king of France, visited Azilum. By 1800, the refugees had moved on, and in 1803, when Napoleon declared amnesty for French aristocrats, some returned to France, leaving the settlement abandoned.

Did Marie Adelaide or Joseph ever venture back to Azilum, or France, or Haiti?

I hadn’t paid attention to the history of Saint-Domingue until Loeffler mentioned Joseph Charpantier being a planter who fled the island during the same time Marie Adelaide (Alix) fled France. This threw another wrench into the Cable story—which happened frequently during my research, supporting the literary nay-sayer claims that his book, and Alix’s memoir within it, is more fiction than fact.

The island’s history became immensely relevant after I found two articles in the New Orleans Times-Picayune from 1883, identifying Joseph Michel Charpantier as a wealthy Parisian with sugarcane plantations in Saint-Domingue, who fled to Pennsylvania during the slave uprising and moved to Louisiana where he again became a wealthy sugarcane planter, active in local and state government, including serving in the state legislature.

Random clips, buried in the Times-Picayune, dated June 19, 1883, and May 8, 1883, are the only accounts of Joseph Michel Charpantier’s life I’ve found thus far. The articles make no mention of his wife, or the title Count de Tavanne. Could his real name in France have been Charpantier?

Based on these articles, Joseph was not a French emissary trying to calm the revolt in Saint-Domingue, nor was he the lowly son of the gardener who helped Alix escape to America. Rather, Joseph was a wealthy French plantation owner on the island, who fled to America during the slave revolt and made his fortune growing sugarcane on his south Louisiana plantation. I turned my attention to the West Indies.

Saint-Domingue is the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the Americas—claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain in 1492. France captured Saint-Domingue in the mid-

The plan for French Azilum in Pennsylvania, where aristocrats escaping the Reign of Terror in Paris retreated during the Revolution. Image is from page 178 of "The story of some French refugees and their 'Azillum,' 1793–1800" (1903) by Louise Welles Murray. Library of Congress.

1600s. To promote the development of cash crops on the fertile French colonial island, France imported thousands of enslaved Africans to labor on the plantations. By 1767, Saint-Domingue, no bigger than the state of Vermont, had become the wealthiest colony in the world, exporting millions of pounds of raw and refined sugar, cotton, indigo, and most of the world’s coffee.

Called “The Queen of the West Indies,” “The Pride of France in the New World,” and “The Pearl of the Antilles,” this jewel in the crown of the French Colonial empire bolstered France’s wealth and supported the French navy—almost entirely upon the backs of thousands of enslaved people, controlled by hundreds of French masters, who used violent measures to maintain their control. This abuse resulted in France’s 1685 establishment of the Code Noir, which was meant to regulate the treatment of enslaved people in the colony. It didn’t work.

Rampant reports of brutality, torture, and inhumane treatment of the enslaved continued, leading to an uprising that went on from 1791 to 1804—the largest revolt by enslaved people in history. When the tables turned, many of these plantation owners and overseers fled to New Orleans.

Was my fourth great grandfather a brutal planter/enslaver in what is now Haiti? Most records for sugar plantations in Saint-Domingue were destroyed during the uprising. But, I found the name Joseph “Tavern” linked to Charpentier (different name spellings) in a 1789 list of plantation owners in Saint-Domingue; as well as a “Count Jsf. De Tavane” listed as an inhabitant of Saint-Domingue pub lished in the Gazette De St. Domingue.

A breakthrough? Yes, and though that’s the only mention I found of Count de Tavane, it underscores the signifi cant interconnection of France, SaintDomingue and Louisiana running through my roots.

If the articles are accurate, and Joseph was a rich French count with sugarcane plantations in Saint-Domingue who fled in the 1790s and began raising sugarcane around Bayou Teche, that would make him among the first successful sugarcane planters in American history—though his success must also be attributed to the labor of the people he enslaved. The fact that he ended up in Louisiana, armed with experience in overseeing a sugar plantation at the exact time the sugar industry emerged on the continent, was either incredibly lucky, or shrewd, or both.

He and Alix, having arrived in Louisiana seven years before Napoleon sold the vast Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803, beat the flood of immigration to the fertile region. They arrived just in time to take part in Louisiana’s role filling the void in the global sugar market left after the uprising in Saint-Domingue.

And thus, a new door opens in my family history: sugarcane. Following the route through the “Sugar Parishes” of Louisiana, along River Road, to Algiers and New Orleans, I spotted familiar names from Alix’s memoir, like De La Houssaye. Sidone De La Houssaye handed off her great-grandmother’s story about Alix to Cable in the 1880s, which set my quest in motion in the first place. So how could I dismiss the story in Cable’s book as mere myth?

Seems a consistent theme in my project—stumbling across unexpected ancestor connections. As the list of names mounts upon my family tree, I push away from my desk, wondering, “Where is this going?” h

An excerpt from an article in the Times Picayune, dated June 19, 1883, which names Joseph Charpantier as a man living in Pattersonville in St. Mary, who was born in Paris and moved to Saint-Domingo—where he was a planter at the time of the slave revolts of 1791.

A Jaunt to Jean LaFitte

By Kristy Christiansen

"THE PEOPLE HERE EXUDE THE DISTINCTLY DEFIANT RESILIENCE THAT HAS COME TO DEFINE SO MANY SOUTH LOUISIANANS, AND THEY EMBRACE THEIR SWAMPY SURROUNDINGS WITH GOOD NATURE AND CHARACTERISTIC WHITE SHRIMP BOOTS."

The Wetland Trace in Jean Lafitte, a little-known gem that is one of the best boardwalks in the state.

Images courtesy of Paul Christiansen and the Town of Jean Lafitte

Early morning on a cloudless day in March, I clung to my youngest and oldest sons on the front row of an airboat skidding over the bayous encircling Jean Lafitte. Our ears were clamped in canary yellow soundproof earmuffs, and the three of us hung on tightly as we swooped to the left and skimmed across the water. Our youngest, Bryce, whooped with joy while his older brother, Charles, sat stoically still in clichéd teenager fashion. Behind us, middle son August buried his head in his father’s chest, silently praying for the thrill ride to stop. My cheeks ached from the enduring smile plastered on my face.

Tic Toc, our fearless captain, had started out slowly in the Bayou Barataria, leaving the home of Airboat Adventures and steering us past an old cemetery with white-washed tombs clustered around an Indian mound. Chitimacha, Houma, and other Native American tribes lived in this area for thousands of years before European contact, living off the marsh and bayous in much the same way as the small town’s residents do today.

While the vital waters here often bestow an abundance of seafood, they also put the town’s residents on the front lines of rising seas and increasingly violent hurricanes. Just beyond the cemetery, an open refrigerator floated on its side. Tic Toc grimaced, “We had twelve to fourteen feet of water from Ida. Any debris you see is from then.” Despite the 2021 hurricane’s mass devastation, time and nature have hidden much of the storm’s remnants strewn across the waterways.

Beyond the no-wake zone, Tic Toc ramped the airboat to top speed, and we bounced across the water, shivering against the cold wind overcoming the warm morning sun. Entering a narrow channel overhung with tree branches, he slowed to a crawl and pointed at a six-foot alligator sliding silently into the water. “This is where we go swimming,” he announced with a grin, but before August could reach heart attack mode, the boat raced off again.

Our destination was Lake Salvador, one of Louisiana’s largest lakes. Along the way, we admired massive snakes and great blue herons against the backdrop of giant palmettos and cypress trees, accented by the delicate white blooms of bulltongue arrowhead. At one point, a flock of white pelicans circled overhead as three alligators drifted toward our bobbing boat. “The biggest one I’ve seen was sixteen feet, but the largest alligator on record out here was nineteen feet, two inches,” Tic Toc noted while placing a marshmallow on the end of a stick and giving each kid a turn at feeding them.

We docked on a strip of land, and two raccoons—Mama and Spooky—skittered over to take a marshmallow straight from Tic Toc’s mouth. When an alligator hauled out onto dry land behind him, our guide shooed the raccoons out of harm’s way and then leaned over and scratched the reptile on his head.

Returning to the boat, Tic Toc drove us beyond the cypress trees into Lake Salvador and ran a short jaunt along the lake’s edge. Weaving around the crab traps, he turned back inwards to the marsh where the female alligators build their nests. Many of the eggs laid here will be harvested and hatched at a farm, where baby gators are raised until they reach three to four feet long. A portion are then released back into the wild through a program that has boosted alligator numbers over the years.

The airboat tour was the first stop on our day trip adventure in Jean Lafitte, which lies on Bayou Barataria, just south of New Orleans. Named for the notorious privateer, the town exists on the edge of civilization in arguably one of the most scenic, albeit vulnerable, spots in Louisiana. The people here exude the distinctly defiant resilience that has come to define so many South Louisianans, and they embrace their swampy surroundings with good nature and characteristic white shrimp boots.

Much of the town’s two-hundred-year history is typically told at Lafitte’s Barataria Museum, which traces the town’s roots as a historic fishing village through artifacts, exhibits, and wildlife specimens. Sadly, the museum has been closed since Hurricane Ida, instead housing a temporary town hall within its space. Next door, though, progress is being made on the new Louisiana Wetlands Education Center, slated to open in late 2023.

Behind the construction zone is the half-hidden entrance to the Wetland Trace, a little-known gem that is one of the best swamp boardwalks in the state. Here, green anoles and blue-tailed skinks scurried along the boardwalk underneath moss dripping from cypress trees. Clumps of iris sprouted from the wet soil below, flanking the trail leading to docks and a pavilion overlooking an inlet. Charles threw a few quick casts in the water, pulling up several bass before we completed the one-mile loop back.

During weekdays, the town’s food trucks line up at the Fisheries Market, but on a Saturday afternoon, Tewelde’s Family Market makes for a quick, delicious stop. Newly opened since Hurricane Ida, the grocery store filled our empty stomachs with a buffet of fried seafood, hot wings, and fries. Down the road, we popped in at Higgins Seafood to admire the day’s offerings of crawfish, shrimp, crabs, oysters, and catfish.

Retracing our drive along the town’s main thoroughfare, we then crossed the high bridge spanning Bayou Barataria/Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and made our way to the Barataria unit of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and

Preserve. At the Visitor’s Center, the ranger quizzed the kids on the animal hides on display while we browsed the museum, reading about the importance of Louisiana’s swamp. A twenty-minute, in-and-out boardwalk behind the Visitor’s Center brought us once again up close to the swamp, where enormous pig frogs and chirping cricket frogs serenaded our walk. Every ten feet, we spotted another snake soaking up the afternoon rays, and near the trail’s end, a six-foot alligator lay protectively close to a smaller female in what Bryce explained to us is called “team bonding.”

The park offers several trails throughout its twenty-six thousand acres, including marsh and swamp boardwalks and hiking trails through hardwood forests. One of our favorites is the Bayou Coquille Trail, a pleasant stroll along Bayou Coquille to the Kenta Canal. The trail meets up with the Marsh Overlook Trail, which normally leads to an expansive viewpoint of the marsh, but unfortunately has been closed since Hurricane Ida. The Bayou Coquille portion remains open, though, and features several interpretative signs detailing the area’s history. As we walked, large clumps of tiny black creatures scattered before us, revealing tiny, newly-hatched lubber grasshoppers, which will grow to several inches in length by late August.

Across Leo Kerner/Lafitte Parkway opposite the park sits Restaurant des Familles, serving Creole and Cajun fare inside an Acadian-style building overlooking Bayou des Familles. It felt appropriate to end our family outing here, sharing the crabmeat au gratin and alligator stuffed mushroom appetizers. As we dug into our main course of red beans and rice, chicken and sausage gumbo, and the customer-favorite, soft shell crab sandwich, we watched an egret alight from a cypress tree out back and fly gracefully home down the bayou. We heeded the sign that it was time to return to the lights of the big city, but we enjoyed knowing that the swamp will be here waiting for our return. h

Disclosure: Airboat Adventures hosted our writer on their airboat tour free of charge, though the thoughts and experiences described in the above article are hers alone, and expressed independently from this fact.

townofjeanlafitte.com • airboatadventures.com

facebook.com/teweldespig • nps.gov/jela/index.htm desfamilles.com

The little swamp town of Jean Lafitte is teeming with wildlife. The writer saw plenty of gators on her Airboat Adventures tour, and one of her sons found this bullfrog on the path of the Wetland Trace, then finished the day with softshell crabs at Restaurant des Familles.

Where Big Hearts Meet

FROM BEANLANDIA TO FRADY'S, A GUIDE TO THE BYWATER'S BEST

Story by Beth D'Addono

• Photos by Alexandra Kennon

Here is everything I found in just one bar in in the Bywater: A dressmaker to whip me up some copycat frocks; a bon vivant lawyer turned tour guide with a vast knowledge of NOLA lore; an Australian-born artist who recently had a hshow of local landscapes at a swanky Julia Street gallery; a guitar player who is also a wizard at restoring tarnished copper pots; a playmate for my dog Pearl named El Chapo, and an artist who painted the duo’s portrait, a piece of folk art that is one of my most treasured possessions. And on some Mondays, some of the best red beans around, prepared by one of the owners—a gentle giant of a man who cooks for the cadre of oddball regulars as well as anyone else who happens to wander in.

The repository for all of this astonishing neighborhood intel is Vaughan’s Lounge, just one of the winning tap rooms that stitches an eclectic community together in this historic slice of New Orleans, bordered roughly by the Mississippi River and the Industrial Canal, St. Claude Avenue and the railroad tracks that abut the Marigny rectangle.

In the early nineties, when I first discovered New Orleans, this section of the Upper Ninth Ward seemed like the hinterlands—even though it was less than two miles from the Marigny where I would eventually settle when I (finally) moved to the city in 2011 from Philadelphia. In the early days, I’d venture to see Kermit Ruffins at his then-regular Thursday night gig at Vaughan’s and worry, with good reason, about the likelihood of getting a cab to show up in this part of town at the end of the night.

Now, this ramshackle neighborhood along the river is beyond discovered, though its boho character is still, for the most part, intact. Folks tend to be drawn to the Bywater for its hodgepodge of Creole cottages and shotguns, keeping company with the small, locally-owned businesses that thrum with New Orleans vitality.

In recent years, real estate prices have skyrocketed, and locals fret about the area losing its NOLA-specific cache, as hulking condos and big apartment developments crowd out river views. I’m happy I bought when I did, almost five years ago, on a block that is a mix of long-time residents and transplants like myself.

Despite changes, the neighborhood’s funky charm endures. This is where the Krewe of Red Beans steps off on Lundi Gras and where its official Beanlandia krewe den and community center is located. It’s where Grammy award-winning musician Jon Cleary has long called home and where James Beard award-winning chef Nina Compton lives and opened her second restaurant, Bywater American Bistro.

Here are some of my favorite places in my neighborhood, spots that bring Bywater’s eclectic appeal into sharp focus.

Eats, Homey to Haute

Begin your feasting at Bywater Bakery, a deeply-embedded neighborhood hub thanks to Chaya Conrad’s irresistible cakes, Friday bagels, and menu of savories like shrimp and grits and a killer Cuban. But it’s her love of community and her husband Alton Osborne’s deep connections with local musicians that elevate the space to a community staple. There’s live music most weekends around midday.

At Alma, Chef Melissa Araujo pays homage to her Honduran roots with polished Latin fare. The pretty little café serves breakfast and lunch every day and stays open for dinner Thursday through Sunday. The homemade Fritas Hondureñas—fried flour tortillas with refried beans, crema and queso—is stellar; same for the Pastelitos de Carne (a Honduran take on meat pies) and the fried chicken sammie.

What’s not to like about the cheap eats at Frady’s, a hole-in-thewall on the corner of Piety and Dauphine? What’s important is that the breakfast sandwiches and po-boys are made to order, and the sides are pure comfort (mac and cheese, deviled eggs, fries with gravy). Plate lunch options change daily, and the service is real deal New Orleans friendly.

Elizabeth’s has long been a brunch go-to for its terrific Bloody Marys, praline bacon, and copious portions. Try the “Red Neck” eggs with fried green tomatoes and Hollandaise.

Expect a crowd at The Joint, the popular barbecue lunch and dinner spot where lines can snake out the door along with whiffs of smoky, porky goodness. Dig into platters of burnt brisket ends, ribs slathered in house-made vinegar-based sauce—and heck, why not top that dinner salad with more meat?

Pair craft beer with Chef Anh Luu’s trademark Viet-Cajun cuisine at Bywater Brew Pub, where even the gumbo delivers a hint of her family’s homeland, with flavor notes of fish sauce, lemon grass, and ginger.

For a date night, Bywater American Bistro is a must. At the stylish bistro, Chef Nina Compton brings the likes of rabbit curry, charcuterie, fresh pasta, and classic cocktails to a former rice mill by the railroad tracks.

On St. Claude Avenue, Saint-Germain offers a modern take on French cuisine. One side of the double shotgun is a reservation-only sixteen-seat bistro with a chef’s tasting menu; the other is devoted to the wine bar and small plates—which you can also enjoy on the lush backyard patio.

Located in a circa-1884 Italianate manse, The Country Club is another neighborhood gem worth discovering.Executive Chef Chris Barbato (formerly of Commander's Palace) energizes the locally-inspired menu, with its nod to Italian French and Creole-Southern heritages. Try barbecue shrimp and grits, truffled mac and cheese, jumbo sea scallops, and debris and eggs.

Popular Bywater bar Bud Rip's is an old head bar turned hipster hangout that draws pool players, neighbors and their dogs, and the occasional DJ.

For After Dinner

Potent cocktails flow at bar rooms all over the Bywater. Order one at Bud Rip’s, an old head bar turned hipster hangout that draws pool players, neighbors and their dogs, and the occasional DJ.

It’s easy to fall off the radar at one or all three of the dive bars that form a veritable Bermuda triangle of taverns within stumbling distance between Dauphine and Burgundy streets. It’s cash only at Vaughan’s, where drinks are strong and cheap, and Cory Henry and the Treme Funktet play late night on Thursdays. There’s a robust music program around the corner at B.J.’s, which also offers ample outside seating. At J&J’s, conversation is always lively and there’s a resident cat named Cheddar Bob, who has his own costume closet.

T. Cole Newton, the cocktail guru who opened Twelve Mile Limit in Mid-City, is the man behind The Domino, a casual dive with terrific drinks on St. Claude. Stocked with games (yes, including dominoes) this chill spot also features a rotating menu of trivia and live music.

For wine by the bottle or glass and one of the best cheese plates in town, head to Bacchanal on Poland, beloved for the festive yard party out back, with live music most days starting around noon—expect anything from gypsy swing to jazz. You are right next to the train tracks here, so expect some locomotion beyond what might happen on the grassy dance floor. Across the street, Bar Redux serves good bar food late and offers a variety of entertainment, from burlesque to live music, outside in the tiny courtyard.

Begin your feasting at Bywater Bakery (top left), a deeply-embedded neighborhood hub thanks to Chaya Conrad’s irresistible cakes, Friday bagels, and menu of savories like shrimp and grits and a killer Cuban. Or grab cheap eats at Frady’s (top right), a hole-in-the-wall on the corner of Piety and Dauphine, where the breakfast sandwiches and po-boys are made to order, and the sides are pure comfort. Then head on down to Tiger Rag Vintage (bottom)

where vintage duds keep company with a resident luthier and his stringed instruments.

Strolling About

You can’t get the measure of a place without a walkabout. A pub crawl is one way to see it all, while staying well lubricated. Or just wander the Bywater’s streets to stumble upon historic markers, quirky street art and oddball shops like Tiger Rag Vintage, where vintage duds keep company with a resident luthier and his stringed instruments.

Cross the curved rusted rainbow bridge at Piety Street to Crescent Park for a 1.5 mile stretch ideal for walking and biking—with great views of the river to boot. You’ll end up on the edge of the Quarter at the French Market.

Wandering the neighborhood, you’ll undoubtedly come across the stop-you-in-your-tracks murals by artist Brandon “BMike” Odums. On Royal Street, you can immerse yourself in his work at Studio BE, a 35,000 sq. ft. warehouse where the artist works his magic, usually using spray paint to create brightly colored, wall-sized works that depict historical figures, contemporary creatives, and everyday people. Be sure to walk across the tracks where five blocks of Press Street are called Homer Plessy Way. A plaque tells the story of Plessy, who challenged a segregationist law in Louisiana in the late 19th century.

On Chartres, tour Dr. Bob’s art studio, a place for Be Nice or Leave! signs and large folk art Louisiana landscapes by the famously cranky artist. His work is also all over Elizabeth’s. JAMNola is an immersive series of seventeen exhibits that showcases the iconic art, music, food and theatrics of the city through the eyes of more than thirty local artists.

And all this is just the tip of the Bywater iceberg. What about Chance in Hell Snoballs, Pizza Delicious, Piety Market at Beanlandia, pop up street parades…? You’ll just have to come see for yourself. h

kreweofredbeans.org • bywateramericanbistro.com • eatalmanola.com

elizabethsrestaurantnola.com

• alwayssmokin.com

• saintgermainnola.com

• facebook.com/bjs.bywater jjssportslounge.com • dominola.com • bacchanalwine.com

thecountryclubsneworleans.com

facebook.com/barredux • facebook.com/tigerragvintage

crescentparknola.org

• studiobenola.com

drbobart.net • jamnola.com

• pizzadelicious.com

One of the most iconic parts of the Bywater are the murals by Brandon"BMike" Odums, as well as his warehouse Studio BE (top). Dr. Bob's art studio (bottom) is another must-stop for arts lovers.

Sponsored by Tangipahoa Parish Tourism

PERSPECTIVES: IMAGES OF OUR STATE

Black Creatives Circle

ELEVATING BLACK ARTISTS IN NORTH LOUISIANA

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

For decades now, mixed media artist Vitus Shell has been firmly established as one of the South’s most compelling artists, and certainly one of NorthLouisiana’s. He’s been honored in residencies across the country, and his work has been exhibited in venues that include the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, NOMA and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the Houston Museum of African American Culture, and various other institutions from New York to Minneapolis and beyond.

In 2019, Shell was back living and working in his hometown of Monroe, within its own emerging arts scene. But he, whose body of work is a multi-layered study of the Black experience, struggled to totally embrace his place within the North Louisiana artist community, where he was consistently one of four or five Black artists in any space at any time. “I knew that it was more than just myself and my friends,” he said. “For this to be a majority Black area, and for there not to be that representation at these events … so we started talking about the idea of getting other Black creatives together, just to have conversation.”

Those initial meetings quickly confirmed what Shell and his friends had suspected: Black creatives in North Louisiana were, as multidisciplinary artist Rodrecas Davis put it, “hungry”. “People are hungry for outlets and hungry for community,” he said. “We realized that was something we needed individually, but there are other people that needed it obviously as well.”

To meet this need, and foster a community for local Black artists like themselves, Shell and his creative partners K’Shana Hall and Erin Davenport officially founded the Black Creatives Circle of North Louisiana (BCCNL)—holding their first visual arts exhibition at The Palace in February 2020.

Davenport, a multi-media artist and the host of A Daydreamer’s Podcast who currently serves as BCCNL’s Communications Coordinator, explained that one of the most powerful benefits of a collective like this is linking people together to amplify opportunities and explore new ideas, developing new solutions to old problems.

“Let’s get to the root of why there are only a few of us here at these art spaces in this majority Black area,” she said. “It’s not because we don’t know or aren’t talented. There are reasons why, reasons why people don’t feel comfortable. Black people don’t know other Black people in the arts. Or they don’t know this is something that is good, something you can make money off of.”

Shell emphasized that in order for North Louisiana to grow and move forward, that gap needs to be filled. “People that look like us have to have some kind of representation in the area, and to have a platform for ideas, to figure out ‘What does change look like?’ And I think that had to come from creatives,” he said.

The unified front that BCCNL offers individual Black creatives grants their work and ideas a larger presence and louder voice. “It’s about visibility,” said Hall, a mixed media artist and photographer who now serves as the Vice President of BCCNL. “In Monroe, people have been working very hard to create a much better art scene that didn’t yet exist in general, but there just weren’t a lot of people who looked like us included in that.” So, here we are, she said. “And with BCCNL, it’s a safe space,

where people can feel welcome to express themselves, show their work, and voice whatever it is they want to say.”

Four years since the Circle got off the ground, it is now one of North Louisiana’s foremost arts organizations, offering free monthly programming that includes a “Kids Art Club,” “Creative Convos”—where creatives convene to discuss art and community—and facilitated meetups for visual artists, fiber artists, and literary artists. The organization also presents regular workshops hosted by its members or in collaboration with organizations like Springboard for the Arts, offering educational opportunities in everything from hair arts to floral arranging to songwriting, as well as business-oriented classes on subjects like “How to Price Your Work”.

Hall emphasized accessibility is a key facet of everything that BCCNL does. Most events are free, or lowcost. “We want to make it as easy as possible for people to be able to reap the benefits of what we are doing,” she said. Davenport agreed, saying that in the past Shell has often reminded them that “We’re for the people, we need to do this for the people.”

This spirit extends beyond breaking down financial barriers to general inclusivity. “Everyone is welcome,” said Hall, so long as they understand and respect that these are Black spaces, designed to uplift Black voices. When it comes to the term “artist,” too—the identifier is meant to be an invitation to creativity, rather than a strict career or vocation. This is not just a place for accomplished visual artists, but for artists in every medium and during every stage of their creative journey.

Erika McFarland, for example, considers herself an “art appreciator” often drawn to the administrative work that “allows artists to be artists.” “For someone like me, who I consider to be a creative, but I haven’t found what that outlet looks like, being able to be part of a group that accepts me for where I am and encourages me to be better and to grow in that area, and gives me examples on how I can do that—it’s just really beneficial to have that space. And people who look like you who can say, ‘It’s possible.’ Because creativity is within everyone, and it’s so awesome to have a space where the doors and hearts of people are opening in order for you to be able to do those things.”

Singer/songwriter and poet Ronny Smith Jr. is one of the group’s newest members, and explained that the support he’s found in BCCNL is what gave him the confidence to embrace live performance. “Before I joined, the most I did was perform poetry,” he said. “I had friends who knew I made music, but I would never sing, never share my voice. And then just recently, through this group, I had my first performance as a songwriter, and it was really powerful for me. Having a group like this, I really feel like it opens up a l lot of doors, a lot of avenues, because you can really sit with other creative individuals—and that alone is inspiring—but then you also have the fact that, you know, they look like you, and they share the same culture, and we are able to share that in a safe space. It just feels like a fellowship of amazing artists just being, and I think we need more of that.” h

Learn more about the Black Creatives Circle of North Louisiana, and their upcoming programming, at blackcreativescirclenl.org

President of BCCNL Vitus Shell, “Ice Cream Man: White Anxiety”

BCCNL Board Member Brandon Virgil, Sr. “Free Mind”.

BCCNL Vice President K’Shana Hall, “The Freedom of Refusal”

BCCNL Member Ansell Jordan, “Colorized”