Country Roads Magazine "The Arts Issue" September 2022

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM2

// SEP 22 3 45th Season Performances December 17 & 18 January 27-February 12 September 16-October 2 October 7-16 October 28-30 December 2-11 Tickets & Information at www.JPAS.org(504)885-2000 Follow Us @ JPASnola

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The beauty of such an open-hearted gesture towards the viewer’s own interpretation, for us, is that when we look at the work, we can lay upon it the stories in this issue : of dancers depicting trauma, of artists revisiting their pasts and using them to create something beautiful.

Arts & Entertainment Editor Alexandra Kennon Creative Director Kourtney Zimmerman Contributors: Kristy Christiansen, Paul Christiansen, Cheré Coen, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Kimberly Meadowlark, Lucie Monk Carter, David Simpson, Colie Plaster, Ted Talley Cover Artist Cheri Fry Advertising SALES@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM Sales Team Heather Gammill & Heather Gibbons Advertising Coordinator Jen de Mers Raney President Dorcas Woods Brown Country Roads Magazine 758 Saint Charles Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802 Phone (225) 343-3714 Fax (815) 550-2272

For our 2022 “Arts” issue, we wanted a cover that, somehow, said it all; that spoke to the impact of the visual arts, the storytelling prowess of the performing arts; that posed our region’s creative work as integral to its identity, to our identity. And, as always, we wanted a cover that elicits curiosity, that makes you want to know more.

Currently on display at the West Feliciana Library’s exhibition Unique Perspectives/A Singular Passion (learn more on page 15), the work emerged from Fry’s practice of figurative expressionism. Painting from a model, Fry stands before an easel and follows her instincts, allowing the water colors to drip down the standing canvas as they will. “When I paint these, I never really know what’s gonna happen,” she says. “The idea is that the figures have this internal movement. I try not to include too much information, so that the viewer can enter into the piece and fill in.”

Escapes

Publisher James Fox-Smith Associate Publisher Ashley Fox-Smith Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

On the Cover

But the fact, reader, is that you’ll see the cover before you read the pages within, allowing you the chance to lay your own stories upon it, first. So, tell us: what do you see?

11 SETSEPTEMBERTHEUP

Baton Rouge’s new theatre troupe brings diversity to the stage. by Lucie Monk Carter 60

Murals and sculptures adorn the Hub City streets. by Cheré Coen PERSPECTIVES Alexa Pulitzer by Kristy Christiansen BEEN BENTONVILLE?TO The South’s new hotspot for art, cycling, and cuisine by Ted Talley 65

LE GRAND HOORAH

8 NEWS &

The annual fais do do heads to Lakeview after a two-year hiatus. by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot 58

Remarkably, it is through its own restraint that artist Cheri Fry’s figure study, one of many in her series “Existence,” manages to hold all of this and more.

MEET ANDERSONSTHE At Shearwater, coastal Mississippi’s artistic dynasty endures. by Kristy Christiansen

SACRED SPACES?

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM4 Contents VOLUME 39 // ISSUE 9SEPTEMBER 2022

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.

The longest mural in the country will illustrate the history of New Orleans. by Alexandra Kennon Features “EXISTENCE” Cover image by Cheri Fry

54Events

EDITORIAL@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COMWWW.COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

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RAVINGMAKING FANS

CultureCuisine50

The fall festival season we’ve been longing for returns full force.

Out of the ashes comes a new dance work inspired by the 2019 arsons of Black churches in Opelousas. by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

NORCO Louisiana’s industrial jungle is reimagined as a point-and-click adventure game. by Colie Plaster THE MURAL OF THE STORY

225 COLLECTIVETHEATRE

A PUBLIC WONDERLANDART IN HATTIESBURG

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REFLECTIONS Baby (Dance) Steps by James Fox-Smith NOTEWORTHIES

Rethinking fine dining in Baton Rouge by Lucie Monk Carter

// SEP 22 5

more

SATURDAY, OCT 29 | 9 AM – 4 PM

Downtown Baton Rouge Artwork: “Magic in the Bayou Atheneum” by Nonney Oddlokken FREE ADMISSION

—James Fox-Smith, james@countryroadsmag.compublisher play-by-the-rules kind of place. It was, of course, The Magnolia. So far as origin stories go, the Mag nolia Café has a good one. Opened in 1982 by Robin Marshall as a health food store in a town where no-one had ever seen a bean sprout, The Mag be came a restaurant when Robin learned that sandwiches made with fresh-baked pita bread sold better than the pita bread itself. By the late nineties, lunch at The Mag was equal parts commu nity institution and cultural treasure. The Friday night music started as a kind of informal jam session for mu sically-inclined locals, a core group of whom gradually coalesced to be come the Magnolia House Band. By 1999 or 2000, those back room Friday nights had attained a mythic qual ity—more community-wide house party than gig—that a visiting friend once described as “something you wish you could bottle, so that anytime you need cheering up, you could just open the bottle and take a sniff.” One

In the late nineties, the most fun you could (legally) have in St. Francisville on a Friday night was found in the back room of an old gas station. In a corner, a gaggle of locals with instruments (early on it was a stretch to call it a “band”) would be gamely tearing strips off “Piece of My Heart,” “Proud Mary” or some oth er American classic. The room would be thronged with singing, laughing, danc ing people in varying stages of intoxi cation. It was one of those rare, neutral grounds where bluebloods and hippies, rednecks and tourists all seemed to peacefully coexist. Many were the same folks you might also have spotted in the same spot at lunchtime, gossiping and holding court over Turkey Specials and French dip poboys. Always there was singing. Some nights it seemed like so many people were singing along that the whole crowd became part of the band … like a Greek chorus amplifying everything that’s good about a place. Always there was dancing too: in front of the band, in the aisles, between the tables, sometimes on the tables, peo ple would dance. And among it all would inevitably be one strawhaired little girl, no more than three or four years old, whirling joyously right in front of the band, weaving in and out of the grownups’ legs and somehow managing never to get trodden on. To some, the presence of so small a child on a crowded dancefloor probably seemed wrong, or against the rules. But this wasn’t a night in 2003, a fire started by a wiring fault burned the old gas station to the ground. But home-grown spirit isn’t combustible. The Mag moved across the parking lot and much changed. But the menu, and the Friday night music, stayed the same. By the late 2000s, the Magnolia had a proper, purpose-built music stage, the house band had a name (The Delta Drifters); and on a Friday night you couldn’t find a park ing spot within half a mile. Back to the straw-haired little girl tearing up the backroom dancefloor on Friday nights in 1999: Her name is Lexi Pendley, granddaughter of Magnolia founder Robin Marshall, daughter of Skye Willis. Lexi’s accidental presence at the Mag made bringing your kids in to dance on a Friday night a cherished St. Francisville tradition that bonded families together, and taught children not just some dance moves and the words to “Proud Mary,” but also the priceless value of community. So, in early 2020, when COVID closed The Mag and everything else, it felt like losing the use of a limb. Later that year when the restaurant reopened it was only for lunch. The hard reali ty of post-pandemic restaurant staff ing seemed to have finished off Friday night’s Music at the Mag tradition once and for all. So, it feels good to report that, be ginning September 23, the stage lights at The Magnolia will be on again for “Magfest,” a fourth-Friday return to shared tables, high spirited sing-alongs, and the Delta Drifters onstage, timed to mark the Mag’s fortieth anniversa ry this year. The creative kudos go to Lexi, who grew up on the dancefloor of the old Mag, and who now has daugh ters of her own. On a Friday night in late July, Lexi and her husband, Trey, opened the Mag for a trial run and the place—no surprise—was packed. At one point, all four generations of Magnolia women were together on the dancefloor: Robin, Skye, Lexi, and her little girl, Ember—joyously whirl ing as her mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother looked on. If you want to know what community looks like, look no further. And get your tick ets. On the fourth Friday of any given month, this will be the hottest table in town.

Editor’s note: A longer (and bet ter) version of this article appears at countryroadsmagazine.com.

For info: LouisianaBookFestival.org

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM6 Reflections FROM THE PUBLISHER

Fall Market on the Alley (October) celebrates the best of homemade and homegrown. An opportunity to enjoy local homegrown treats, including a food truck, and handmade artisanal goods. Kids can get creative at the pumpkin decorating station and bring their pumpkins home as souvenirs.

The Brilliant Twin Cities Beckon this Fall Plan your next weekend getaway this fall (and beyond) at monroe-west monroe.org.

// SEP 22 7

you’re more drawn to comedy or tragedy, chances are that Strauss Theatre Center (September & October), one of Louisiana’s leading not-for-profit theaters, has just the ticket. The fall lineup includes crowdpleasing productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Irving Berlin’s rousing tale of sharpshooter Annie Oakley; and Hamlet, Shakespeare’s classic saga of family rivalry, revenge, and madness.

The Restaurant Scene: All those can’t-miss events and must-do activities will generate a hearty appetite, and in this, the sister cities do not disappoint, with over 100 locally-owned spots to try. Catfish to po’boys, Italian to Indian, craft beers to hand-crafted cocktails, there is something to please every palate. Try the oysters and champagne at Warehouse No.1; duck wraps and cocktails at Cotton; the carefully crafted menu of fresh, local ingredients at Chef Cory Bahr’s Parish Restaurant; and Honduran fare and Cuban coffee at Alex’s Latin Restaurant & Cafeteria. For fried catfish (grilled, blackened, or wrapped up in a taco), try Catfish Charlies; there’s also Cajun-style pizza with andouille and crab at Johnny’s Pizza House. Head to Lea’s of Lecompte for homemade pies and biscuits with gravy; get cappuccinos and cinnamon rolls at The Coffee Bean; or visit The Good Earth Juice and Salad Bar for acai bowls and smoothies.

Vineyard concerts and gallery crawls. Arts festivals and artisanal markets. Globallyinspired cuisine and handcrafted spirits. For those seeking the perfect fall getaway, look no further than the vibrant twin cities of Monroe-West Monroe. Nestled against the picturesque Ouachita River and Bayou Desiard, this northeast Louisiana destination also offers treasure-filled antique hunts, scenic nature trails, and plenty of adventure. So consider this your official invitation to join us for a weekend escape this autumn. Shake off that picnic blanket and grab a few chairs before heading over to the Landry Vineyards Concerts (September & October). From country to jazz to classic rock, this outdoor music series fills fall evenings with good vibes to suit every musical taste. While you’re there, sample any of the 20+ wines produced by this beloved family-owned hillside winery, which has been crafting Louisiana-native wines since Whether2002.

A Special Advertising Feature from Monroe-West Monroe Visitor’s Center

Live music is a particularly enticing highlight of visiting Monroe-West Monroe –– every night of the week. From old-world pub vibes at Enoch’s Irish Pub & Grill to live music and karaoke nights at Brass Monkey –– an array of venues spotlight the talents of local musicians across multiple genres and styles, be it acoustic guitar, jazz saxophone, or piano ballads.

Downtown Gallery Crawls (October & December) spotlight the works of artists both within the region and from all over the country. Multiple galleries throughout historic downtown Monroe and West Monroe offer art enthusiasts access to everything from exterior exhibitions at The Outdoor Gallery to newly created pieces by a selection of rotating artists at Sugar Gallery.

The Northeast Louisiana Celtic Festival (October) features live renditions of Irish and Scottish music and dance. Bring the kids along for this one-day festival, held on the 150-acre grounds of Kiroli Park, to enjoy activities ranging from Celtic dance demonstration, to caber tossing, to artisan crafts.

A special holiday sneak peek: What better way to start the holiday season than by coming back for the annual Christmas on the River (November 11 - December 31) festival? Parades, outdoor movies, ballet performances, lights festival, fireworks, shopping galore, and so much more –– make this holiday season your merriest and brightest yet!

C

2. A guy with an Australian accent (our Publisher James Fox-Smith, of course).

This fall, Twin Steeples

As folks who work in print publishing who quite enjoy podcasts, but have nev er produced one ourselves, we weren’t exactly sure where to start. What we did know is that an engaging theme song can do wonders to grab an audience’s atten tion, and draw them into the intrigue of a story. So, we outsourced our motivation and hired a couple of musicians to get the train chugging down the tracks.

3. A theme song (!!!) That, and a whole lot of excitement— which, in our past experience, has been enough to get plenty more outlandish ideas than this off the ground.

Podcast Pending

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM8 Noteworthy LOOK CLOSER NEWS, TIMELY TIDBITS, AND OTHER CURIOSITIES W SEPTEMBER 2022 CR’S EDITORIAL TEAM HAS A NEW PROJECT UP ITS SLEEVE

TWIN STEEPLES CREATIVE ARTS CENTER’ UNVEILS ITS INAUGURAL VILLAGE ARTS MARKET

Shopping at the Steeples

“Flight to New Orleans,” by surrealist Loveday Funck, who is just one of the nationally-beloved artists who will be featured at the inaugural Village Arts Market. Image courtesy of TSCAC. (held annually in Covington) and hope each year it will build,” said TS CAC Board President Kim Howes Zabbia. “Ponchatoula already has a reputation for treating its artists like royalty, so we think on that end, we’ll be super TSCACsuccessful.”isstillaccepting applica tions from artists and craftspeople. “We want the real thing,” said TS CAC Executive Director Erin Wal lace. The Twin Steeples Village Arts Mar ket will be open Friday, September 30 from noon–5 pm and Saturday, Octo ber 1 from 9 am–5 pm. Admission is free. twinsteeples.org. —Jyl Benson

Creative Arts toula’s(TSCAC)—PonchaCenternewly-opened arts organization and destination— will host its inaugural Village Arts Market, the newest juried arts market in the South. TSCAC is, itself, a work of art composed of two steepled his toric churches-cum-galleries—the in timate Gallery 1893 and the majestic Gallery 1901—that were physically moved in 2021 to face each other across an outdoor pavilion surround ed by a garden. The arts center often hosts visual and performing artists. The market will feature more than fifty vendors of fine arts and crafts.

Featured artists include jeweler Bet sy Meyers, painters Nancy Susaneck and Loveday Funck, sculptor Rebec ca Burt, and woodcarver John Green. There will be live music on three stag es during the two-day event—which will also feature favorite area food trucks—Fire King, Louisiana Beig nets, Cajun Trinity, and NOLA Mia Pizza.The arts market is the brainchild of Lee Barends, a board member respon sible for booking the center’s regular musical happenings. The idea was en thusiastically embraced by communi ty members and the board. “We want our Village Arts Mar ket to be a mini Three Rivers Festival

Heading towards Country Roads’ fortieth anniversary—which we’ll be celebrating throughout all of 2023 as we lead up to the big day next Sep tember—we’re excited to share our ambitions to create the official Coun try Roads podcast (name TBA, got any ideas?). We’re still in the early stages, but this is what we’ve got so far : 1. A full internet’s worth of resources on how to make a podcast.

Drummer and percussionist Sam Sha hin and guitarist, producer, and owner of New Orleans’ Wild Child Studios “Wild Bill” Daniel regularly bring their complex, completely shreddin’ musical sensibilities to their progressive jazz-funk sextet Naughty Professor—so we figured they could apply those skills to our theme song.Knowing even less about musical com position and recording than we do about making podcasts (you do the math), the guidance we gave them was fairly vague.

“Country with a sly smile,” was James’s primary note. I asked them to think about the content of the magazine, which the podcast will reflect—how it takes readers “off the beaten path,” and enlight ens them to unexpected people and plac es and experiences that can at some times be winding and down-home and weird, and at others, elevated and inspiring. After only a day spent jamming, lay ing down tracks, and mixing/mastering the recording at Wild Child Studios in Mid City, my goodness—we think they nailed it. And we can’t get it out of our heads.We hope you’ll think so, too. But we’ve got a long way to go before Coun try Roads’ new theme song will exist in its final form, in the context of our pod cast. Thankfully, we’ve got some time still to work out the kinks. But for now, we couldn’t resist sharing our excitement about our new auditory endeavor, and the song it will come wrapped up in—so be sure to keep an ear out for a whole new Country Roads experience, coming just in time for forty. Since we’ve clearly got quite a bit of work to accomplish before releasing our pilot epi sode, we’d love to hear any advice, ideas, or words of encouragement you might have to spare about our latest endeavor—just email editor@countryroadsmag.com.—Alexandra Kennon

ountry Roads magazine has a birthday coming up, and it’s a big one. Don’t tell her we told you—but it’s very close to the big four-oh Turning thirty-nine this year, our publication is old enough to be es tablished, respected. But still young enough to keep up with today’s trends—the ol’ girl is well-versed in the talents of adapting to the times (friend ly reminder that this issue is also avail able online at countryroadsmagazine. com), and has no intent to slow down now.For almost forty years, Country Roads has brought its nuanced takes on the culture of our region to mag azine stands and coffee tables across Louisiana and beyond, in the time-test ed-and-fortified form of the printed word on paper. And in our admitted ly-biased editorial opinion, flipping through an issue to read a story on the page never gets old. And yet, in 2022, the art of story telling has taken on a multitude of ex citing new formats, and is constantly challenging the limitations of prior traditions. One medium, in particu lar, has captured the heart of this edi torial team as we look to the future of our magazine: imagine a Country Roads story that you can hear Enter: dreams of a podcast. Much like the written word, podcasting al lows voices and stories to travel from their creators into homes, businesses, and vehicles across the region—simul taneously public and intimate. But the richness of sound brings with it alto gether new possibilities: music expe rienced as its meant to be, stories told straight from the mouths of those who experienced them, a celebration of the vast diversity of language and accents our region is known for.

LaHaye Fontenot

AVet School is not the first place you imagine finding an internationally-regard ed artist, but for Shelby Prindaville, the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s new artist’s residency made perfect sense. The artist, best known for her hyper-realistic depictions of various wildlife, has long been interested in the intersection between the arts and the sci ences—in particular the “human impact on the balance of nature”. This is not Prindaville’s first visit to Baton Rouge; she earned her MFA from LSU’s College of Art and Design in 2013. Since then, she’s taught and served as Art Program Director at two different universities—including Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, where she currently works. She also maintains her own artistic practice, which she nurtures by attending artist residences around the country. “They’re, for me, a very positive pressure cooker environment to create new and interesting work,” she said. Her relationship to LSU and experi ence with residencies, in addition to her work’s quality and thematic nature, led LSU Vet School Dean Oliver Garden to consult with Prindaville about develop ing the nation’s first artist-in-residency program at a veterinary school. By the end of the conversation, Garden had invited her to be the program’s first resi dent. “We think that you’re gonna forge a really good tone, and set a standard, and be successful,” he told her. Garden had conceived of the idea from his own love of art, and its role in multi-disciplinary environments. “I think art has a lot of value in delivering a message that we at the school espouse and hold dear to our heart … visual rep resentations of all our missions: teaching, healing, discovery, protection,” he said.

Long intrigued by creating art using nonconventional materials, Prindaville was particularly drawn to the idea of in corporating the various tools, chemicals, medicines, and research ephemera used within veterinary educational settings. Diff-Quick Eosin Y stain colors a paint ing of three goats; netting from the epi demiology lab adds texture to a painting of mosquitos; a sculpture of a vulture is crafted from clay and Zoo Med’s artifi cial“It’sturf.very exciting to be part of new opportunities like this to combine dis ciplines and reach new audiences, and sort of trigger passions in a lot of differ ent groups of people,” she said. “You get unprecedented access to all of these dif ferent areas, people, animals, and then— depending on what you are interested in—you potentially get access to some of these unusual materials.” At the end of the residency, Prinda ville’s body of work was presented and celebrated at a closing wantcelebration.lybrainsbrainsnity,andthepeoplebroughtreception—whichtogetherfromallacrossBatonRougeLSUcommujoiningtheleftwiththerightinadistinctmulti-disciplinary“Ireallythisschooltobe a firm member of the community, and to engage with the community in an effec tive way” said Garden. “[The artist resi dency is] such a powerful way to enrich our environment here, and to bring dif ferent interpretations of what we do and how it can be messaged to the world.” The application process for the 2023 LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s Artist-in-Residence Program will be an nounced soon, and invites artists in various genres—painting, photography, sculpture, filmmaking, poetry, music, and more—to apply. To learn more, contact Sandra Sarr at sarr1@lsu.edu and visit lsu.edu/vetmed/ artist_in_residence.—Jordan

Discover New Orleans

Orleans Collection Tennessee Williams with Amado “Pancho” Rodriguez

““Wild Card,” Shelby Prindaville. Visit www.hnoc.org for the current schedule make your reservations. New Orleans history has captivated residents and visitors from across the world for generations. This 300-year-old city has been shaped by numerous cultures, a unique environment, and international events to become a diverse community known for its distinct music, art, food, architecture, and culture. You can discover the authentic stories of the city at The Historic New Orleans Collection. With three campuses in the heart of the French Quarter, The Historic New Orleans Collection offers free exhibitions, guided tours, dynamic interactive experiences, a public research center, plus an incredible museum shop and café. Start your journey here. Start your journey today.

Photo by Justen Williams 520 and 533 Royal Street 410 Chartres Street In the French Quarter (504)www.hnoc.org523-4662 history New y

at The Historic

An Artist Walks Into a Vet School

Over the course of Prindaville’s time at the school, from June 1–July 31 this year, she created dozens of works in various media—from sculpture to acrylic to wa tercolor to ceramics. Coming in with the blankest of slates, she sought out inspira tion not only in the patients she encoun tered up close—including a pregnant goat, a baby brown thrasher, a pelican— but also within the school’s many depart ments, from the wildlife hospital to the Zoo Med labs to research.

// SEP 22 9 A TRAILBLAZING ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCY PROGRAM IN BATON ROUGE CELEBRATES THE MARRIAGE OF ART AND SCIENCE

González; ca. 1945; THNOC, The Fred W. Todd Collection, 2003.0228.1.1

ONE-NIGHT STAY · GLASS-BLOWING EXPERIENCE ART TRAIL TOUR · DINNER AT A TOP EATERY SOUTHERN PROHIBITION BREWERY FLIGHT SOUTHERN MISS FOOTBALL GAME TICKETS Must redeem between October 1, 2022 & January 31, 2023, based on availability. VISITHATTIESBURG Scan Here To Enter Win An Overnight Getaway or follow our link to enter: https://subscribe.countryroadsmagazine.com/hattiesburg

UNTIL SEP 29th ART EXHIBITIONS RIVER ROAD SHOW Baton Rouge, Louisiana

ART EXHIBITIONS THE ARTWORK OF LEAH WELCH Bossier City, Louisiana Leah Welch's watercolor, oil, and photographic works are on display at the Bossier Arts Council in an exhibition titled The Artwork of Leah Welch bossierarts.org. k

UNTIL DEC 10th

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Embrace local farmers, fresh produce, and community at BREADA's Farm Fête—which combines the Red Stick Farmers Market and Main Street Market with the glorious addition of live music and mimosas and bloody marys from City Pork. Photo courtesy of BREADA/Red Stick Farmers Market. See listing on page 34.

// SEPT 22 11 Events FESTS & FROLICS PADDLE OUT FOR A PARTY, JOIN THE AUDIENCE FOR A SHOW, OR BITE & BOOGIE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE FIRST FESTIVALS OF FALL W SEPTEMBER 2022

UNTIL SEP 18th

ART EXHIBITIONS PINK, PAINTED, PRAYER!: EXPRESSIONS OF ART, FAITH, AND JOY Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Artist Joi Whiley's exhibit at Mid-City Artisans celebrates women, and explores the power of faith during difficult times. mid-cityartisans.com. k

The River Road Show, sponsored by the Art Guild of Louisiana, is a national juried exhibition entering its fifty-second year. This year's juror, nationally acclaimed artist Frank Eber, has selected sixty-nine paintings representing eleven states to be on final exhibit at the Louisiana State Archives Gallery. A reception will be held on September 15 from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Archives. artguildlouisiana.org. k

UNTIL SEP 30th

UNTIL SEP 30th GOOD CAUSES CLARA'S CLOSET BRBT CLOTHING DRIVE

The Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre is hosting a clothing drive to raise money for their scholarship program, which allows young dancers to experience the magic of performing in The Nutcracker regardless of their family's income. They are requesting gently-worn clothes, purses, shoes, and other accessories ranging from babies through adults. Dance clothing like leotards, ballet shoes, and jazz shoes are also appreciated, as are baby items like strollers and toys. Cleaned items can be dropped off to the Dancer's Workshop office at 10745 Linkwood Court in garbage bags through September. Donations can also be made toward the fund at upcoming-fundraisers.batonrougeballet.org/ k

ART EXHIBITIONS STEPHON SENEGAL'S WHEN MONSTERS TREMBLE Lafayette, Louisiana From the starting point of modernist abstraction, artist Stephon Senegal weaves anthropomorphic imagery with the traditions of various Creole cultures, including : Senegalese, Malian, Native American, Catholic, Black, Americana, and Nihon Manga. Speaking to the Louisiana Creole's particular diversity of cultural tradition, Senegal blends reference and ancestry, exploration and emission. hilliardmuseum.org. k 417ChurchStWoodville,MS

UNTIL JAN 8th ART EXHIBITIONS

SEP 1 st TRIBUTE SHOWS THE LEGACY OF JOE AND CLEOMA FALCON

FESTIVAL

SEP 1st - SEP 24th ART EXHIBITIONS SCULPTUREWOODWORKING/EXHIBIT

Beginning September 1st

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art again presents its state-wide, juried exhibition, Louisiana Contemporary, curated this year by guest juror Valerie Cassel Oliver, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The comprehensive exhibit features works by living Louisiana artists in a showcase of contemporary art practices in the region. ogdenmuseum.org.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Twin Steeples Creative Arts Center will host a reception to unveil the works of two Ponchatoula woodworkers/sculptors. Jim Creel and Johnny Green work separately, but also collaborate on a mix of metal, wood, and clay sculptures. Most of their works are realistic, but Creel dabbles in some abstract work, too. A reception with the artists will be held September 1 at 6 pm. Free. twinsteeples.org. Read about Twin Steeples' inaugural juried arts market in Jyl Benson's story on page 8. k

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Morgan City, Louisiana Booth after booth after booth of fabulous festival food is the calling card of the long-running Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, which has which has brought celebration to Morgan City for over eighty years. Famous for its Historic Blessing of the Fleet and boat parade, which features decorated shrimp boats, pleasure craft, offshore supply boats, and some of the biggest "muscle" boats of the offshore industry, this festival has been rated a top twenty Southeast Tourism Society event. Time magazine described the festival as "... the best, the most unusual, the most downhome, the most moving, and the most fun that the country has to offer." This five-day crustacean celebration is one of Louisiana's oldest harvest festivals, and with loads of events, there is something for everyone. The entertainment includes continuous live music by local and national acts, an arts & crafts show and sale, a children's village, fireworks, a car show, bass fishing, softball tournaments, the huge Cajun Culinary Classic cooking contest, and lots more. Event locations vary, with most of the action centered around downtown Morgan City's Lawrence Park. Free.

SEPT 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM12 Events

LOUISIANA CONTEMPORARY New Orleans, Louisiana

The famous Tchoupitoulas venue continues bringing a wide variety of New Orleans' favorite musical acts to Professor Longhair's legendary stage. Here's what's happening coming up: September 1: Wet Leg. September 2: Free Friday: The Low End Theory Players + People Museum. September 3: Le Petite Fete presents

SEP 1st - SEP 5th FALL FESTIVALS SHRIMP PETROLEUMAND

Bring in your surplus greenery— whether it be flowers, vegetables, house plants, or cuttings—to exchange with other green thumbs at the Denham Springs-Walker Branch Library. Representatives from the Master Gardeners at the LSU AgCenter will be on hand, discussing the ins and outs of planting during Louisiana's fall and winter months. 6 pm. Free. mylpl.info. k

Denham Springs, Louisiana

Read more about the preview opening of Louisiana Contemporary in Arts & Entertainment Editor Alexandra Kennon's review on page 13. k

As part of Festivals Acadiens et Créoles new Legacy Series, Cameron and Michael Dupuy and others will perform a tribute to Joe and Cleoma Falcon— who produced the first commercial recording of Cajun music in 1928—at the Feed 'n' Seed in Lafayette. Wade Falcon, who has done extensive research on the Falcons' early recordings, will guest moderate. The free monthly series was created to honor local legends and their continued impacts on the cultural community in Acadiana. 7 pm–9 pm. Free. festivalsacadiens.com. k

SEP 1st - SEP 25th LIVE MUSIC TIPITINA'S CONCERT SCHEDULE New Orleans, Louisiana

SEP 1 st GREEN THUMBS FALL & WINTER GARDENING LECTURE AND PLANT SWAP

Josh Mintz' "I Can Hear Your Dirt," 2021, Wood, foam, plaster, fabric, resin, polymer clay, LEDs, Arudino, scritta, dna, porcelain, insulation, cotton. Image courtesy of the Ogden Museum. and the performer's deep red satin blazer. The music reverbereted up the tiered galleries on each floor, setting the mood for an evening that would thoroughly embrace the current moment, still with a reverent nod to the past. Up in the gallery housing the new exhibition that had everyone abuzz, I was greeted by Josh Mintz' miniature sculpture installation "I Can Hear Your Dirt," which I would soon learn recived The Helis Foundation Art Prize for Best in Show.

Tiny tributes to mundane household moments jutted from the white wall: a sink filled with hair as if someone had recently shaved, a pair of boots haphazardly taken off after a long painted self-portraits, dark-yet-complex geometric shapes, understated film photographs, and nostalgic super-8 film—their creators milling about sipping drinks and excitedly taking photos beside their works. The annual statewide, juried Louisiana Contemporary exhibition has, each year for the past decade since the Ogden and The Helis Foundation launched it in 2012, aimed to to capture Louisiana's current era via the art created here. And according to this year’s juror Valerie Cassel Oliver, who serves as the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, it’s a rewarding-yet-difficult task.

" … is it really possible to gauge the full vitality of such a dynamic community? The reality is no … it is not possible. However, what was possible to do, was to compose a cross-section, a vibrant composite of this community.” And that cross-section of Louisiana’s art community indicates a generation of (largely young) artists creating thoughtful, emotionally-poignant, often-nostalgic, (504) www.NewOrleansOpera.orgboxoffice@neworleansopera.org529-3000 Gretel Butterfly Charlie Parker’s Yardbird

By Alexandra Kennon Walking into the lobby of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art for the preview of Louisiana Contemporary 2022 the night before its grand opening, I was greeted by the sounds of TRay the Violinist's buoyant electric violin renditions of classic R&B hits, souped up with loop pedal effects

2022-2023 Season The Barber of Seville Hansel and

// SEPT 22 13 IN THE FIELD Louisiana Contemporary LOUISIANA ARTISTS OF DIVERSE MEDIUMS AND EXPERIENCES COME TOGETHER IN CONVERSATION AT THE OGDEN

Madame

Locust Alley in Natchez is hosting a slate of musical acts in the coming weeks.

BeginningEventsSeptember

September 4: Rebirth Brass Band + Vegas Cola. September 8: Benefit for the Roots of Music. September 9: Soul Sister's 16th Annual Birthday Jam. September 10: Big In The '90s + The Brightsides. September 16: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears and Cedric Burnside. September 17: Perpetual Groove. September 18: The Mountain Goats with Sweeping Promises. September 23: Big Sam's Funky Nation. 9 pm. September 24: Galactic featuring Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph. September 25: Fais Do Do with Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band. Times and ticket prices at tipitinas.com. k

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2nd- September 3rd

SEPT 22 //14

Here's who's up: September 2: Seven Year Witch, Magnolia Bayou with special guest JT McCaffrey. 8 pm. Advance Tickets $15 on Facebook. September 3: Mack Daddy. 9 pm. Free. locustalleynatchez.com . k

SEP 2nd - SEP 3rd FALL FESTIVALS SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA ZYDECO MUSIC FESTIVAL Opelousas, Louisiana Nestled in the heart of Cajun Country, Opelousas once again hosts the world's largest Zydeco music festival, celebrating the rich culture of Louisiana Creoles and Cajuns by highlighting, documenting, preserving, and enhancing their funloving heritage. Back in person for the first time in two years, the fortieth annual festival will kick off on Friday with a dance at the Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino, with performances by Lil Nate & the Zydeco Roadrunners at 9 pm. Saturday brings the main event, back at the Yambilee Ag Arena—but first don't miss the legendary Zydeco Breakfast at 9 am in the Courthouse Square. Music starts at noon, with performances by Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Corey Ledet, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Mike Broussard & NuEdition Zydeco, Jeremy Fruge & the Zydeco Hot Boyz, and

OCTOBER 20-23, 2022 benefiting mental health organizations in the miss-lou EVENTSsaturday, oct 22 BATTLE OF THE Bees & Beaus sunday, oct 23 drag Brunch thursday, oct 20 DRAG QUEENBingo friday, oct choctaw21hall Cocktail Party Josalyn R aleMrs. Kasha Davis starring hosted by lip sync competition with 8 local volunteers Al AnnCammieWalker&BillDale&RandyTillman

The Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival is convening in Opelousas for a fortieth year of kickin' up a good time in the name of Southwest Louisiana music and culture. Photo by David Simpson, courtesy of the Opelousas Museum & Interpretive Center.

SEP 2nd - SEP 3rd LIVE MUSIC UPCOMING SHOWS AT LOCUST ALLEY Natchez, Mississippi

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES/ A SINGULAR PASSION Saint Francisville, Louisiana Paintings by four West Feliciana artists will be on display in the foyer and meeting room of the West Feliciana Parish Library as part of Arts for All through the month of September. Works by Gretchen Reinike Eppling, Elaine Erikson, Cheri Fry, and Sandra Smith Ware are included— representing the four women's singular artistic visions, mediums, and styles, "united in a devotion to creating art that both delights and inspires." An opening reception with the four artists will take place Friday, September 9 from 5 pm–7 pm. Free. wfplibrary.org. Find one of the paintings featured in the exhibit, from Cheri Fry's "Existence" collection, on our cover. k

DINNER THEATRE THE BIG HIT! MURDER MYSTERY DINNER Natchez, Mississippi

ART EXHIBITIONS

The Hammond Regional Arts Center is exploring nature in the form of artwork with their latest exhibition Louisiana Wildlife, curated by Katherine Blair, Pat Macaluso, and Denise TullierHolly. An opening reception will be held from 5 pm–8 pm on September 2. The following supporting presentations bridging nature and art will be offered as well: September 8: "The Art of Taxidermy" with Larry and Cathy Blomquist. 6 pm–7 pm. September 10: ARTisTRY Kids' Class with the Junior Auxiliary of Hammond Gyotaku Class (Fish Printing Class). 10 am–noon. September 15: "Wildlife Conservation" with LA Wildlife Conservation Agents. 6 pm–7 pm. September 22: "Painting from Nature" with Headley Adelmann. 6 pm–7 pm. September 23: "Turtle Cove Swamp Talk" with Dr. Robert Moreau and Roy Dufreche. 6 pm–7 pm. September 29: "Southeastern Louisiana University Vertebrate Museum & Biology Program" with Dr. Kyle Piller, Florence Wen, and Oliver Ljustina. 6 pm–7 pm. hammondarts.org . k

MUSICAL THEATRE THE LITTLE MERMAID Slidell, Louisiana Boy meets girl, girl is also fish, octopus intervenes, crabs sing, hijinks ensue. The story is simple, for something involving a magical but embittered octopus, but the musical theatre version of the classic Disney film is sure to delight audiences all over again. The beloved songs and characters are there, now heightened by the undeniable energy of live theatre. 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. $28, students and seniors $22. slidelllittletheatre.org. k

// SEPT 22 15 Rusty Metoyer & the Zydeco Krush. $20 admission; $5 for children twelve years old and younger. zydeco.org. k

SEP 2nd - SEP 3rd

SEP 2 nd - SEP 30 th

SEP 2nd - SEP 11th

Even the most dysfunctional marriage will seem perfect compared to the couples featured in this hilariously-suspenseful interactive murder mystery play in the historic setting of Glenfield. Try your hand at sleuthing out "whodunnit?!"—if you're right, you could win a prize. 6:30 pm. $79 per person includes dinner and the performance. Add a candlelight ghost story tour with the fourth generation homeowner after for $25. glenfieldplantation.com.

SEP 2nd - SEP 11th

k SEP 2nd - SEP 3rd DRAG SHOWS COLORS BY LAVEAU CONTRAIRE

MUSICAL THEATRE ROCK OF AGES New Iberia, Louisiana

Stay away from standing water—this night's gonna be electric! Rock 'n' roll never dies, and taking the stage to prove it is the Iberia Performing Arts League presenting this larger-than-life story and cast of characters. Dynamic performances and fun renditions of power rock favorites Styx, Poison, Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, and more, are sure to strike a chord. 7:30 pm Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays; 2 pm Sundays. $20. ipaltheater.com. k

SEP 2nd - SEP 29th ART & NATURE LOUISIANA WILDLIFE Hammond, Louisiana

SEP 3rd KID STUFF NEURODIVERSITY DAY: MAMMALS ON THE MOVE Baton Rouge, Louisiana LSU's Museum of Natural Science invites neurodiverse kids to learn more about mammals through a short presentation and hands-on activity with actual specimens

New Orleans, Louisiana Laveau Contraire has been making rainbow waves for years with her vivacious, energetic drag performances. Now, she's bringing other local drag powerhouses to join her onstage at the Contemporary Arts Center just in time for Southern Decadence. 7:30 pm. $25. cacno.org. k

SEP 6 th - DEC 21 st ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE: CONTROL AND CONSEQUENCE IN LOUISIANA'S COASTAL WETLANDS Baton Rouge, Louisiana Derived from the various family papers, photographs, business records, and political and scientific publications stored in LSU Libraries Special Collections— the Hill Memorial Library's newest exhibition Water, Water Everywhere: Control and Consequence in Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands explores water and its tumultuous history in the region. l ib.lsu.edu/special. k

TRAP MUSIC AND WINE FESTIVAL New Orleans, Louisiana Bring your lawn chairs to Louis Armstrong Park for a day celebrating the favorite grape-oriented libation and Trap—a subgenre of hip-hop music that gets its name from the Atlanta slang word "trap," from "trap house"—at the new Trap Music & Wine Festival. The event will feature thirty different wines, popular local chefs, music, contests, and a market. 3 pm–8 pm. $15. trapwine.com. k

SEP 3 rd KNOWING NATURE "UNDER YOUR WING" Galvez, Louisiana

SEP 3rd - OCT 1st ART EXHIBITIONS JOAN OF ART AT ARIODANTE GALLERY

SEP 6 th CONCERTS UB40 AND THE WAILERS AT THE SAENGER New Orleans, Louisiana UB40, the evergreen English reggae/ pop band named for the British unemployment benefits card, will take the stage at the Saenger as they tour their latest album Bigga Baggariddim They will be joined by The Original Wailers featuring Al Anderson, Maxi Priest, and Big Mountain. 6:30 pm. Tickets start at saengernola.com.$49.50. k

Serving as an unofficial audition for filmmakers interested in having their work shown at Cité des Arts' annual Southern Gothic Film Festival in the spring—The Horrors of Being a Woman presents a series of submitted short films, as well performances of spoken word and poetry, and displays of visual arts. At the end of the event, the audience will vote for their favorite film and artwork, and winners will receive an award, plus two free passes to next year's Southern Gothic Film Festival. 5 pm–10 pm. $20. citedesarts.org. k

SEP 3 rd SILVER SCREEN THE HORRORS OF BEING A WOMAN Lafayette, Louisiana

This month's Featured Artist at always eclectic and jam-packed Ariodante Art Gallery on Julia Street is the Joan of Art Project, an annual competitive exhibition which showcases local artists' interpretations of Joan of Arc. Works also include crafts by Alexandra Hafner and jewelry by Delevo, along with the work of Dianne Georgy in the Lagniappe Area. An opening reception will be held on September 3 from 5 pm–8 pm. The awards ceremony, where judges will announce the 2022 Joan of Art contest winners, will be at 7 pm. ariodantegallery.com. k SEP 6 th BOOK TALKS MYRON WRIGHT AT THE THIBODAUX LIBRARY

Thibodaux, Louisiana Local author of the book Overcomer: The Life of Myron D. Wright, which chronicles Wright's journey utilizing education to overcome obstacles, will visit the Thibodaux library for a discussion and reading. 5:30 pm. Free. lafourche.org. k

Ever seen an injured wild animal and wondered if, and how, you should help? LSU's Veterinary School Wildlife Rehabilitation Program is visiting the Ascension Parish Library for a special workshop on how to handle these situations. 10 am. Free. myapl.org. Read more about the LSU Veterinary School's increased community programming, through its inaugural artist-in-residence program, in Jordan LaHaye Fontenot's story on page 9. k

New Orleans, Louisiana

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SEPT 22 //16 Events and a craft activity. 11 am–noon. Free. Register at lsu.formstack.com. k

SEP 3rd FALL FESTIVALS

Beginning September 3rd - September 8th

New Orleans, Louisiana Help fund The Roots of Music, which is continuing to carry on New Orleans musical and cultural traditions to the next generation of youth, with a benefit concert at Tipitina's hosted by Anjelika 'Jelly' Joseph. Performances will include Re-Creations BrassBand, King Bronze, Roots Studio Academy, Anjelika 'Jelly' Joseph, and TBC BrassBand. 8 pm. $27 at tipitinas.com. k

SEP 7 th

New Orleans, Louisiana

SEP 8th BOOK TALKS DEAR LOCAL AUTHOR : LINDSEY DUGA Online Livingston Parish Libraries presents a special interview—produced virtually— with local author Lindsey Duga, who will share her journey to publication and offer a reading of her most recent book Ghost in the Headlights. Readers can submit questions to ask Duga ahead of time by visiting the youth services desk at any Livingston library and asking for the question card. The interview can be viewed on all of the library's social media channels at 10 am. Free. mylpl.info/virtual. k

SEP 7 th CONCERTS THE SPIRITUALAMERICANENSEMBLE

// SEPT 22 17

SEP 8th

LIVE MUSIC CATHERINE BRITT AND COLIN LILLIE AT NUNU

Arnaudville, Louisiana NUNU Arts and Culture Collective is hosting Australian country musician Catherine Britt and Colin Lillie for an intimate evening of performance, with dinner offered, too. Doors open at 6 pm, music starts at 7:30 pm. nunu9722.eventbrite.com. k

SEP 7 th - SEP 28 th KID STUFF FALL WEEKLY ART LESSONS FOR KIDS Covington, Louisiana Kids will learn technique in a variety of artistic mediums from paper maché to watercolors, to sculpture, and beyond at the Rachael Roxanne by Hand Art Studio, and will create their own unique masterpieces to take home. 4 pm–6 pm. $120, includes supplies and snacks for each child. rachaelroxannebyhand.com. k "Wetlands" by Elaine Erikson, featured here, is one of the paintings on display in an exhibition at the West Feliciana Parish Library featuring four unique women artists who are devoted wholly to their artistic practices. See listing on page 15.

The highly-esteemed vocalists of the American Spiritual Ensemble are performing at Temple Sinai on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans for a special one-evening-only concert, presented by the New Orleans Opera. 7:30 pm. Tickets are free with registration at neworleansopera.org. k SEP 7 th CONCERTS CHARLIE WILSON AT RAISING CANE'S RIVER CENTER Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sultry-voiced Charlie Wilson will take the stage at the River Center. The man behind numerous hits and eight solo albums is known for his energetic live performances. 7 pm. Tickets start at $69. raisingcanesrivercenter.com. k

CONCERTS BENEFIT FOR THE ROOTS OF MUSIC

AUTHOR TALK SERIES AT THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH

In September the Baton Rouge Public Library System will host members of the EBR Master Gardeners Association to discuss successfully growing plants in our climate for a talk on "Herbs and Spices for Everyone" with Nancy Jurasinski and "Cool Season Lawn and Garden Care" with Leo Broders. Jones Creek Regional Branch Library, 6:30 pm. Free, but seating is limited. brmgt. wildapricot.org. k

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library continues its Author Talk virtual series, which connects bestselling authors with their readers through interactive, live online Q&A sessions. This month, featured authors are: September 8: Dr. Michele Borba, author of Thrivers: Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine, who will discuss actionable ways to help children thrive and to cope. 1 pm. September 20: Simon Winchester, bestselling British-American journalist and adventurer, will share stories of his various expeditions and explorations into history, technology, and geology. 1 pm. September 27: Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize finalist and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning writer who wrote In the Distance and Trust. 3 pm. Register at libraryc.org/ebrpl. k

DINNER & OPERA BON APPETIT! Baton Rouge, Louisiana Lee Hoiby’s comic one-act opera Bon Appétit! is a spoof of sorts of Julia Child’s popular television show, Beginning September 8th - September 10th

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SEP 22th GREEN THUMBS EAST BATON ROUGE MASTER GARDENER TALKS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

BOOK TALKS

LIBRARIES

SEP 9th

SEP 8 th - SEP 30 th

SEPEvents8th-SEP27th

Find crabs every way you can imagine, competitions, classic cars, children's activities, live music, and more at St. Tammany's annual Crab Festival, celebrating the Gulf's other tasty crustacean in a big way. See listing on page 20. Photo by Alvin Matthews.

SILVER SCREEN FILMS AT THE MANSHIP THEATRE Baton Rouge, Louisiana Leave the X-Men to the megaplex. Each month, the Manship Theatre offers a slate of films, from modern classics to engaging new documentaries and locally-produced stories. Here's what's in store this month: September 3: The Author. 7 pm. $32.50. September 8-9 : Bodies Bodies Bodies. 7:30 pm. $9.50. September 30: Manhattan Short Film Festival. 7 pm. manshiptheatre.org.$9.50.

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SEP 9th - SEP 18th

Thibodaux, Louisiana Sift through countless vintage and antique items like estate and costume jewelry, furniture, home décor, linens, original art, and far beyond at the forty-fifth annual TAWASI Antiques & Art Show at the Warren J. Harang, Jr. Municipal Auditorium in Thibodaux. There will also be a raffle of donated items and drawings for door prizes, plus glass restoration and repair. Friday and Saturday, 10 am–5 pm; Sunday, 10 am–4 pm. $10 for the whole weekend. Tickets can be purchased from any TAWASI member, through eventbrite.com, or at the door. Children in strollers admitted free. tawasi.net. k

SEP 9th - SEP 24th

It's senior prom, and it's all up to Springfield High Songleaders Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy to ensure it's a night to remember. In Roger Bean's musical comedy, The Marvelous Wonderettes, 1950s and '60s pop makes a comeback, in a story that pays homage to the high school Songleader squads of the '50s. In Cité des Arts' latest show, produced by Steva Productions, get ready to swing and stomp to era favorites like "Lollipop," "Dream Lover," "Stupid Cupid," "Lipstick on Your Collar," "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," "Its My Party," and "It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)". Performances at 7:30 pm Fridays and Saturdays; 2 pm Sundays. $20. citedesarts.org. k

MUSICALS ROCK OF AGES Slidell, Louisiana Whether you rocked through the '80s yourself or are just rediscovering the iconic hits, Rock of Ages is a high-energy, rollicking romp through '80s Hollywood, hitting its high notes, its low notes, and even its screaming falsetto notes you can only seem to reach singing alone in the shower. 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays. $32–$45. cuttingedgetheater.com. k

GOOD EATS JAMBALAYA COOK-OFF Baker, Louisiana Think your jambalaya measures up? Prove your meddle and maybe win a medal, too, at the Jambalaya Cook-off at the First United Methodist Church in the city of Baker. If you just want to sample others' jambalaya that's fine, too. 9 am–5 pm. Free. cityofbaker.com. k

ART EXHIBITIONS LEVIATHAN: SUSAN DAVID Lafayette, Louisiana Artist Susan David spends much time contemplating sea monsters. According to David, through sketches and a mural, her installation Leviathan: Susan David at Lafayette's Hillard Museum explores the evil that lurks in the hearts of humans. Since the beginning of recorded history, leviathans of various ilk have reared their beastly heads in scripture, myths, and schools of thought. David explores the symbolism of the beasts as they relate to the other-worldly, feminism, and isolation. hilliardmuseum.org. k

SEP 9th - SEP 30th

// SEPT 22 19 wherein Child teaches her audience how to make a classic Le Gâteau au Chocolat L’Éminence Brune. Opéra Louisiane is presenting a special performance of the hilarious and musically-engaging piece at Juban's restaurant, accompanied by a threecourse meal, wine pairings, and chocolate cake. 7 pm–9 pm. $150 at bontempstix.com. k

SEP 9th - SEP 11th

ANTIQUIN' ANTIQUESTAWASI & ART SHOW

MUSICALS THE WONDERETTESMARVELOUS Lafayette, Louisiana

SEP 10 th

ART EXHIBITIONS LOUISE BOURGEOIS: PAINTINGS New Orleans, Louisiana For the very first time, New Orleans Museum of Art is presenting a comprehensive retrospective of the works of French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), which traces her artistry from her time in New York through her later return to sculpture. noma.org. k SEP 9 th - JAN 7 th

CONCERTS LIVE MUSIC AT ROCK 'N' BOWL LAFAYETTE Lafayette, Louisiana It's always a lucky strike kind of night at Rock 'n' Bowl Lafayette, with plenty of fantastic live music acts sure to up your game. Find the upcoming schedule of performances here: September 9: The Good Dudes September 16: Neutral Snap September 17: The Chee Weez September 23: Sugar Shaker September 24: Nik-L Beer Band September 30: Bag of Donuts Times and ticket prices can be found at rocknbowl.com/lafayette. k SEP 9th - JAN 1st

"Broadway great" Emily Skinner is bringing her magnetic voice and stage presence to Le Petit Theatre for a dynamic, one-night concert of showtune hits. 7:30 pm. $25–$65, $15 students. lepetittheatre.com. k

Slidell, Louisiana

ROAD TRIP TO port arthur, TEXAS just across the Texas border

SEP 10th GREEN THUMBS GARDEN DISCOVERIES

SEP 10 th WALKS FOR CAUSES ONE STEP AT A TIME 5K RUN/WALK Abita Springs, Louisiana Join the Northshore community and STOPS, the St. Tammany Outreach for Prevention of Suicide, in taking a walk to increase hope and awareness of suicide prevention resources. 8 am. $20–$35. louisiananorthshore.com. k

SEP 10 th - OCT 2 nd MUSICALS GYPSY AT 30 BY NINETY Mandeville, Louisiana

It's crab time in St. Tammany, and thus, it's festival time. Join festival-goers from the Northshore and all over for tons of live music, classic cars, children's activities, and so many crabs in all ways. On the live entertainment schedule this year are Lil Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Chase Tyler, Glenn Jones, Lyfe Jennings, and heaps more over two days. Held at Slidell's Heritage Park from 11 am–10 pm both days. $20 online; $25 at the gate; $40 weekend pass; children twelve and younger sttammanycrabfestival.com.free. k

Beginning September 10th

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Retired professor from the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Buck Abbey brings an illuminating program to the Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation's free Garden Discoveries series this month, celebrating the life of Frederick Law Olmstead (18221903), who is considered to be the father of American Landscape Architecture— best known for his role in designing New York City's Central Park. Abbey will share some of Olmstead's best-known strategies, such as his use of plant materials, topography, soils, water, sun, shade, and circulation. Abbey will lead a short walk through the Botanical Garden, showing how Olmstead would have approached the space. 10 am. Free. ebrpl.com. k

SEP 10th - SEP 11th FALL FESTIVALS ST. TAMMANY CRAB FESTIVAL

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SEPEvents10th

ADVENTURES DREAM SCAVENGERQUESTHUNT II Gonzales, Louisiana Gather a team and embark on an exciting, fun-filled outdoor scavenger hunt adventure with the potential to win prizes with this special event at This That & More Indoor Flea Market in Gonzales. The Dream Quest Scavenger Hunt gives participants the chance to show off their creativity, utilize their problem-solving skills, test their knowledge, and engage in a fun competition with the chance to win a variety of prizes. Registration is required. All proceeds from the event go to Dream Day Foundation supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. $25 team registration fee. Time slots available every hour between 10:30 am–4:30 pm. dreamdayfoundation.org. k

Follow the based-on-real-life saga of Rose, June, and Louise as they tour the United States with their failing act in the 1920s, marking Mama Rose's place in history as one of the most aggressive stage mothers. See the Sondheim musical produced by 30 by Ninety Theatre. 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 pm Sundays. $24–$29. 30byninety.com. k

SEP 10th CABARET BROADWAY, HER WAY New Orleans, Louisiana

SEP 10th

Start your day with a morning stroll along the shores of McFaddin Beach or Sea Rim State Park. Then hike on shaded paths as you watch for colorful birds, experience the life and times of iconic rock ‘n roller, Janis Joplin, or soak up the sunshine as you sip on a locally made craft beer. Summer is a magical season, especially if you’re in Port Arthur. Home to a remarkable confluence of cultures and landscapes, there’s nowhere quite like this Texas Gulf Coast destination. visitportarthurtx.com

GOOD EATS LYDIA CAJUN FOOD FEST New Iberia, Louisiana In Cajun country, few things provoke a celebration more than food. A cook off heats things up as early as 7:30 am on Saturday as runners get ready for the Memorial Cancer Run. Cruisin' Cajun Country brings their Car Show at 9 am— all before the Opening Ceremonies. Then comes the music: bring your two-step shoes for performances by Corny and Friends, Hands of Time, Geno Delafose, the Bad Boys, and Side Show. Enjoy arts & crafts, carnival rides, drinks, and more. Weeks Park, 4412 Weeks Park Road. (337) 367-1192 or lydiacancerassociation.org. k

// SEPT 22 21 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH An evening celebrating local food and farms with festive drinks and food pairings by local chefs River Center Library Terrace www.breada.org THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Devera and Jerry Goss | Betty Simmons | Susan Turner and Scott Purdin | John G. Turner and Jerry G. Fischer Tricia Day and Joe Simmons | Lynne Pisto and John Hollingshead Carol Anne and Sid Blitzer | Cordell and Ava Haymon | Charles and Carole Lamar | Tracey and Ty McMains | Moo and Martin Svendson | Kim and Mike Wampold All proceeds benefit BREADA's programs. LIVE MUSIC WITH: John Gray Jazz and Friends TEXT “FARMER“ TO 79230 Register and view our unique Farmers Market silent auction featuring local farm tours, culinary gift items, and exclusive experiences! TICKETSPURCHASEAT: farmfete.org WITH CHEFS FROM: Bergeron’s City Market | Chef Celeste Bistro | City Club of Baton Rouge | Cocha | Eliza | Houmas House | Louisiana Boudin Brothers | Mestizo Emergent Method | LSU College of Human Sciences & Education | McGlinchey Stafford

“I am excited to be part of stayhelpingiscommunity.thisTherenobetterjobthanmypatientshealthy.”

SEP 11th RUNS FOR CAUSES RESPONDERS' RACE Broussard, Louisiana

SEP 10th - JAN 14th

Welcoming Krishna Sajja, MD

PHOTO SHOWS BILLIE HOLIDAY AT SUGAR HILL

SEPT 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM22

EventsSEP10th-JAN7th

Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de L'Ipséité, on display now at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, explores the way the Creole identity is percieved on an international stage. Image courtesy of the ACA.

Beginning September 10th - September 14th

Highlights Medical school at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in ResidencyDallasinInternal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in FellowshipHouston in Gastroenterology at Ochsner Medical Center in New BoardOrleanscertified in Internal Medicine and board eligible in MemberGastroenterologyoftheAmerican College of Gastroenterology and American Gastroenterological Association

ART & CULTURE POETICS OF SELFHOOD / POÉTIQUE DE L'IPSÉITÉ Lafayette, Louisiana Launching at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in partnership with La Station Culturelle of Fort de France, Martinique—the exhibition Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de L'Ipséité probes at the global understanding of the Creole cultural identity. Envisioned as a multiyear, multi-destination exhibition, the project brings together diverse artistic explorations by five contemporary artists— all contemplating Creolité from its place in communities around the world: from Martinique to Guyana to Senegal to Acadiana. Locally, the Opelousas artist and folklorist Rebecca Henry, founder of hte Creole Heritage Folklife Center, represents Acadiana's vantage. Exemplifying the ways these different, but interconnected, cultures converse—the works presented represent a range of traditional media, as well as more experimental artistic endeavors. Over the next five years, the exhibition will travel to Martinique, Belgium, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and France. acadianacenterforthearts.org. k

Port Allen, Louisiana How much of a person can you capture, in photos, during one single week of their life? In April, 1957, Jerry Dantzic devoted himself to this challenge— hoping to document something deeper than just the activities and routines and performances of one of jazz music's most iconic figures. In the fifty-six images featured in traveling exhibition Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill —displayed at the West Baton Rouge Museum through January—Dantzic elucidates a side of Holiday not observed in other archives. Using only available light as he followed her from the stage to her strolls along Broad Street, to backstage before and after her performances—his discreet and artistic approach shines, and illustrates a distinct level of trust and interaction between he and his subject. The collection also provides a revelatory documentation of her life only two years before her tragic death at the age of forty-four. The exhibition was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Jerry Dantzic Archives. westbatonrougemuseum.org.

to Dr. Sajja specializes in comprehensive diagnosis and management of the digestive tract (esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, liver, biliary tract, and pancreas), inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s, as well as liver and pancreatic diseases, including hepatitis, cirrhosis, primary biliary cholangitis, pancreatitis and other autoimmune disorders. In addition to colonoscopy screenings and upper endoscopies, Dr. Sajja is also trained in therapeutic endoscopic procedures and dilation procedures.

Care You Can Count On Dr. Krishna Sajja has joined the staff of Lane Gastroenterology. Dr. Sajja is now accepting new patients. Physician referrals are required. For more information or to make an appointment, please call Lane Gastroenterology at 225-658-6780.

Lane Gastroenterology • 6550 Main Street, Suite 3500, Zachary • 225-658-6780 • LaneRMC.org

Transportation Recreation Alternatives in Louisiana (TRAIL) presents its second annual Responders' Race—featuring a 10K, a 5K, a 1-mile Fun Run, and the Full Battle Rattle—in which runners' will compete in a 5K with boots and the thirty-pound weight equivalent of the equipment carried by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office SWAT team. Afterwards, all will gather for music, food, and beverages. Check-in begins at 7:50 am at St. Julien Park in Broussard.

STEPPIN' OUT TRI-PARISH NUTCRACKERBALLETAUDITIONS

Livingston, Louisiana Livingston's local Tri–Parish Ballet again gears up to present The Nutcracker, enchanting audiences with dancing dolls, toy soldiers, waltzing flowers, and a number of new surprises. Dancers over the age of seven interested in being part of the production, which takes place December 9 and 11, can audition this month. $10 audition fee. For more information and specific audition times and requirements by age, call (225) 665-3414 or triparishballet@aol.com.e-mail

SEP 13 th

CRAFTY CAUSES THRIFT FLIP! Covington, Louisiana Join the St. Tammany Art Association, Northshore Food Bank, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of St. Tammany for a fun two-week workshop to upcycle art, decor and accessories from the Food Bank’s Resale Shop. The revitalized artworks will then be sold at auction at STAA's Fall for Art in October to benefit the Northshore Food Bank. Held on September 12 and 19 from 4 pm–6 pm at 323 N. New Hampshire St. in Downtown Covington. Free, but reservation is required at sttammany.art/thrift-flip. k

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SEP 13th - SEP 30th CONCERTS SEPTEMBER AT THE RED DRAGON Baton Rouge, Louisiana In its modest digs on Florida Boulevard, the Red Dragon Listening Room pulls in artists who are anything but in terms of their abilities. Well-known 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: September 13: Albert Cummings Trio (7 pm) September 23: Weeping Willows with Dustin Welch & Halley Anne Finlay September 29: Rod Picott September 30: Slim Bawb & the Fabulous ShowsStumpgrindersusuallystart at 8 pm. (225) 939-7783. Tickets and prices can be found at the Red Dragon Listening Room Facebook Page. k

// SEPT 22 23 10K & 5Ks start at 8 am; Fun Run at 8:10 am. $20 for Fun Run; $25 for 5Ks; $35 for 10K; $10 for guests. latrail.org/ responders. k SEP 11th

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SEP 12th - SEP 19th

SEP 12th

GOOD EATS CHEF MEG & COMPANY DINNER SERIES New Orleans, Louisiana Commander's Palace is bringing back its Chef Meg & Company dinner series, wherein the iconic "grand dame" restaurant invites New Orleans' top chefs to join Executive Chef Meg Bickford in putting together a glorious dinner party with wine and cocktail pairings. Proceeds will support Café Reconcile, New Orleans' nonprofit restaurant that gives atrisk youth on-the-job training. This month she's teaming up with Michael Gulotta, Executive Chef and Partner of Maypop, MoPho and the highly anticipated TANA. Dinners begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $165 per person, which includes tax and gratuity, exploretock.com/commanderspalace.at

SEP 13th - OCT 18th ART WORKSHOPS MAKING IT WORKSHOPSPUBLIC Online Louisiana artists are called to explore public art making in this free, virtual fiveweek-long workshop with Forecast Public Art. In conjunction with the workshop, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, in partnership with the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, is sponsoring nine $10,000 public art-creation opportunities around Louisiana to organizations participating in the administrative track of the workshop. Tuesdays from 6 pm–7:30 pm. Deadline to register is September 2 at forecastpublicart.org. k SEP 14th LOCAL ART HISTORY DEGAS, NEW ORLEANS, AND THE COTTONTRANSATLANTICTRADE New Orleans, Louisiana Join Dr. Michelle Foa in-person at

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GOOD EATS SOIRÉE ROYALE Opelousas, Louisiana For over twenty years, the St. Landry Chamber of Commerce has formally presented its highly anticipated tasting and culinary competition, aptly coined Soirée Royale. The evening boasts wine and beer tastings and signature dishes by chefs across Acadiana in the following competition categories: appetizer, soup, seafood, meat, yam, chocolate, and dessert. 5:30 pm at the Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino. $40. (337) 9422683 or stlandrychamber.com.

To accompany the traveling exhibition Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill at the West Baton Rouge Museum, performers from the National WWII Museum's BB's Stage Door Canteen will perform a tribute to iconic vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday as part of the museum's Historical Happy Hour series on September 16. See listing on page 25. Photo courtesy of the West Baton Rouge Museum.

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Michelle Foa is Associate Professor of Art History in the Newcomb Art Department of Tulane University, and author of the book Georges Seurat: The Art of Vision . This event is made possible by funding from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. 6 pm. Free. Register at eventbrite.com. k

CajunCoast.com | (800) 256-2931 | #cajuncoast Come stay and play on the Cajun Coast! Make your reservations (and tee time) now! CajunCoast.com/Golf – 800-256-2931 • AtchafalayaGolf.com – 985-395-4653 Well Above Par! The Atchafalaya at Idlewild Golf Digest Top 10 Louisiana Course On Louisiana’s Audubon Golf Trail Enjoy Louisiana’s most unique golf experience, with championship design surrounded by the wildlife and incredible beauty found only in the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin.

the September Gallier Gathering as she discusses the French painter Edgar Degas's visit to New Orleans and the centrality of cotton and the transatlantic cotton trade to his work and European society at large. Degas stayed in New Orleans in the early 1870s, and during that time painted two paintings reflecting the farming of cotton in the South—one on comission, and one which is thought to be one of the earliest impressionist works by him—and cotton would later continue to influence later works in the form of textiles in images of dancers and beyond. Foa's talk will dive into Degas's letters and artwork from the time, exploring the connections between Old and New Worlds and Degas's early work and experiences with the remainder of his life and portfolio.

SEPT 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM24 BeginningEventsSeptember

CONCERTS ONSTAGE: HANK WILLIAMS AND MY HONKY TONK HEROES Covington, Louisiana Jason Petty will bring the classic country of Hank Williams and other legends to life at the Fuhrmann Auditorium in Covington. 7 pm. $20 at bontempstix.com. k SEP 15th

LSU Rural Life Museum and LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens invite you to kickoff fall with two great family events. Get tickets for both events or one event. Advance tickets required and available at bit.ly/HDXCM22

CREATIVE CLASSES "CONCEPT TO COLOR: SIMPLIFYING LANDSCAPES" OIL PAINTING WORKSHOP

October 1 & 2 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

CONCERTS EMMANUEL AX WITH THE BATON ROUGE SYMPHONY Baton Rouge, Louisiana Grammy Award-winning pianist and 2022 Irene W. and C. B. Pennington Foundation Great Performer in Concert Emmanuel Ax is talking the stage of the newly-renovated River Center backed by the power of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. 8 pm. Tickets start at $37 at brso.org. k

Burden Museum & Gardens

TRIBUTE SHOWS ONE NIGHT WITH BILLE AND ELLA Port Allen, Louisiana For its Historical Happy Hour series this month, the West Baton Rouge Museum is stepping back in time to stage an unforgettable blues concert—featuring some of the twentieth century's most iconic vocalists, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Starring performers from the National WWII Museum's BB's Stage Door Canteen, the show, held in the West Baton Rouge Museum Brick Gallery, will feature classics like "Give Me the Simple Life," and "God Bless the Child," along with fun, nostalgic banter and jokes. Visitors can also take part in curator-led tours of the museum's new exhibition, Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic (see listing pg. 20). 6 pm–8 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.org. k

Haints, Haunts & Halloween October 30 | 2-4:30 p.m. Wrap up the Halloween season with the sights and sounds of an old-fashioned country fair. Enjoy storytelling, cake walks, games and trick-or-treating. Tickets available at the event. Join us for some fall fun!

SEP 16th

// SEPT 22 25 SEP 15 th

One in every eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. One in forty one will die of this disease. Bluedoo is the only fundraiser of its kind in the region and benefits the prostate cancer research work of Tulane Cancer Center’s celebrated Oliver Sartor, M.D. The event will be held on the Gibson Quad in front of Gibson Hall on St. Charles Avenue across from Audubon Park and will involve food, drink, music, and a two-mile walk/run. Proceeds from

Denham Springs, Louisiana Join Louisiana artist and instructor Nanci Charpentier for a two-day workshop focusing on the basics of oil painting.

LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens | LSU Rural Life Museum | Windrush Gardens 4560 Essen Lane | Baton Rouge | 225-763-3990 | DiscoverBurden.com AND

The fun continues ... Corn Maze Saturdays 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. There’s more crazy maziness October 8, 15, 22 and 29. Advance tickets required for two-hour experiences. Tickets available at bit.ly/CornMaze22 Night Maze & Bonfire October 29 | 6-9 p.m. Grab your costumes and flashlights and find your way out of the night maze. Enjoy live music, play games and more. Advance tickets required and available at bit.ly/CornMaze22

Progressing through photos, sketches, and value studies, students will work their way gradually to achieving a beautiful full color painting while working from a limited color palette—simplifying the composition. Held at the Arts Council of Livingston Parish from 9 am–4 pm. $200, includes supplies. artslivingston.org. k

SEP 17th FALL FESTIVALS

BURDEN MUSEUM & GARDENS

k SEP 15th PADDLE PARTIES OXBOW PADDLE New Roads, Louisiana Join the False River Paddle Club for a nine-mile paddle on False River, complete with a stop at Bonnie Glen Cabin for refreshments along the way. Support boats will monitor the water to pick up stragglers who were left behind, but don't worry—they'll be equipped with music, food, and cold beverages. 9 am. $65 which includes lunch, a t-shirt, water support, a bus ride back to the start of the paddle after driving to the finish, and drinks. falseriverpaddleclub.com. k SEP 15th

NOLA BLUEDOO New Orleans, Louisiana

CONCERTS TIP JARS TO CHART TOPPERS AT THE MANSHIP Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Manship Theatre brings a host of wildly successful songwriters to its stage for a night of storytelling and singalongs. Among them are the writers behind award-winning hits sung by performers you might be familiar with (Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Jake Owen, Matt Nathanson, Rascal Flatts, Amy Grant, Jon Pardi, Citizen Cope). 7:30 pm. manshiptheatre.com.$40–$50.

SEP 15th - SEP 16th

In mid-September the UNO Lakefront

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KID STUFF LIFE SIZED CANDYLAND Gonzales, Louisiana Just for funzies, the Gonzales Branch of the Ascension Parish Library has crafted a life-sized Candyland—a thrill for all ages. Wander through the lollipop woods, or the peppermint forest. Wade into the chocolate swamp and collect candy all along the way. 9 am–4 pm. Free. myapl.org. k

SEP 17th

SEP 17th FUN FUNDRAISERS REAL SUPERHEROES OF SAFE HARBOR GALA Slidell, Louisiana Celebrate the "real" superheroes of Safe Harbor and help raise awareness of the domestic violence crisis while raising money for Safe Harbor's crucial services to the Northshore community at this gala at the Harbor Center. 7 pm. Tickets start at $100 in advance, $125 at the door at safeharbornorthshore.org. k

SEPT 22 //26 Events donations and sponsorships benefit prostate cancer research. Proceeds from walk/run registrations primarily benefit the New Orleans Track Club. Legendary local jazz musician Wendell Brunious will perform a tribute to Allen Toussaint. Lawn chairs and blankets suggested. Registration begins at 3 pm, race at 4 pm, festival follows. Festival admission is free. nolabluedoo.com. k SEP 17th

Dream without boundaries Knowing you’ve got the strength of the cross, the protection of the shield and thousands of top doctors to lift you when you need it. The Right Card. The Right Care.

FUN RUNS RUNNING OF THE BULLS New Iberia, Louisiana The excitement! The danger! The bloodshed! Okay, definitely not those last two—but excitement will certainly abound at La Asociación Española Nueva Iberia’s Running of the Bulls 10K, 5K, and 1-Mile Fun Run. Race proceeds will be dedicated to New Iberia and Alhaurin de la Torre, its Spanish twin city, as well as Spain student program activities, and more. Come dressed in a white shirt and pants/shorts, Pamplona-style with a red sash and bandana. Dogs are allowed to participate, so put some horns on your furry pal and run for a great cause. $45 to run the 10K, $35 for fourteen year-olds and younger; $30 to run the 5K; $20 for fourteen and younger and for the 1-Mile Fun Run. $5 off for military and first newiberiaspanishfestival.com.responders.

SEP 17 th FALL FESTIVALS SLIDELL JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL Slidell, Louisiana Jam to local musical acts, let the kids play and make crafts, peruse the art market, and revel in the glory of not one, but two great American genres of music at this annual festival at Heritage Park on Bayou Bonfouca. Noon–8 pm. $10 adults, kids under twelve free. slidelljazzandblues.com. k

Beginning September 17th - September 20th

LIVE MUSIC ABITA SPRINGS OPRY CONCERTS Abita Springs, Louisiana The Abita Springs Opry is devoted to preserving Louisiana's indigenous music in all its guises. Arrive early (around 5 pm-ish) and join the folks who've made a ritual of enjoying gumbo, hot dogs, and homemade pastries, not to mention the pre-show sound checks and front porch concerts. It all adds up to the good ol' family atmosphere that the Opry strives for. The lineup includes performances by the Steve Anderson Group, Spider Murphy and the Boudin Zombies, the Tanglers, and The Jump Hounds. 7 pm–9 pm. $20. abitaopry.org. k

SEP 17th LIVE MUSIC ZYDECO CONCERT AT MONCUS PARK Lafayette, Louisiana Moncus Park in Lafayette is inviting all to bring their picnic blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy a free Zydeco Concert performed by RustyMetoyer & the Zydeco Crush and the Pine Leaf Boys, all hosted by Gerald Gruenig. Food and drinks from local vendors will be available for purchase. Free. 4 pm–8 pm. moncuspark.org. k

SEP 17th WALKS FOR CAUSES NAMI WALKS YOUR WAY Natchez, Mississippi Take a stroll around the Bluff and learn how you can make a difference in Natchez Mental Health Awareness. Meet at the gazebo downtown. 8 am–noon. Free. visitnatchez.org. k

SEP 17th

SEP 17th - SEP 18th KID STUFF PAW PATROL LIVE New Orleans, Louisiana

COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

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SEP 18th STEPPIN' OUT BRBT AUDITIONS FOR THE NUTCRACKER

Arena will go to the dogs with the arrival of PAW Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure, a fast-paced musical production featuring a boy named Ryder and his pack of crimefighting, adventure-seeking pups. The kidfriendly performance has a pirate theme with Ryder and the gang seeking to find hidden treasure. Performances at 11 am and 3 pm daily. $62–$363. pawpatrollive.com. k

ARTFUL EVENTS ANNIE'S BIG PAINT WEEKEND IN NEW ORLEANS New Orleans, Louisiana

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

SEP 20th ART TALKS ART AT LUNCH Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The LSU Museum of Art is helping inject some art and culture into lunch breaks with this new program on the third Tuesday of each month. Bring a bag lunch, and the museum will provide water, sodas, and an insightful and inspiring artist talk. Noon. Free. This month, hear from Baton Rouge visual artist Malaika Favorite. lsumoa.org. k Young dancers of a variety of ages as well as their professional dancer adult counterparts are invited to audition for Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre's annual production of the holiday classic The Nutcracker. Photo courtesy of BRBT.

For its annual meeting, the LSU Textile and Costume Museum will present a special presentation by milliner, stylist, and boutique owner Yvonne LaFleur— who will tell stories from her experiences. LaFleur will also be making a donation from her fabulous collection to the museum. 2 pm–4 pm in the Human Ecology building on LSU's campus. Free. For details, contact Beth Cotton Phillips at (225) 936-4440. k

NOCHI will deviate from its culinary programming for one weekend to host a weekend-long workshop with Annie Sloan—the creator of Chalk Paint, the versatile furniture paint that requires no sanding or priming and works on wood, metal, laminate, concrete, indoors, and out. Sloan will be joined by several big names in the industry of furniture painting—All Shabbed Out, Jonathon Marc Mendes, Kacha Furniture, Brushed By Brandy, and Atelier 1966. The workshop will be limited to two hundred participants, fifteen of whom are VIP, which allows for breakfast, a private session with Annie Sloan, and a luxury swag bag. A buffet lunch will be provided on both days to all participants. There will be an art talk and complimentary beverages and canapes on Saturday night. All guests will receive goodie bags. Daily 9 am–6 pm. Admission ranges from $550$800. eventbrite.com. k

The holiday wonderment of The Nutcracker is certainly magical from the audience, but the experience is even more profound from the perspective of the dancers. Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre is holding auditions for its 2023 production, inviting children ages eight to fourteen with a variety of dance experience to try out for roles like cherubs, lambs, and more. A limited number of scholarships are available, as well. $10 audition fee. For times by age range and more details, visit auditions.batonrougeballet.org/nutcrackerk

SEP 17th - SEP 18th

SEP 18th STYLE TALKS "BLUE JEANS TO BRIDAL GOWNS" PRESENTATION BY YVONNE LAFLEUR Baton Rouge, Louisiana

After fifty-two years of performing live, the artists behind Earth, Wine, & Fire are still at it—and will perform at The Saenger Theatre this month. The supergroup spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, EDM, Latin, and Afro-pop with hits like "Let's Groove Tonight," "September," and "Boogie Wonderland." They have been honored at the Kennedy Center, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and have performed private concerts for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 8 pm. Tickets start at $69.50. saengernola.com. k

SEP 21st

Celebrate local history with an expert on the matter, and learn about an expert on the matter at this presentation held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Libraries Main Branch. Author and Baton Rouge historian Faye Phillips will present a collection of historical photographs and stories on local characters, and will share her experience discovering and preserving family histories. 6 pm. Free. This event is part of the library's larger Baton Rouge Room Series, which celebrates various aspects of our capital city's history— which is also featured through resources in the online exhibition An Illustrated History of Baton Rouge. Learn more at ebrpl.co/batonrougeroom. k

LOCAL HISTORY FROM RED STICK TO RIVER

SEP 21st ARTFUL EVENTS CULTURE COLLISION 12 Metairie, Louisiana Someone once likened Culture Collision to a trade show, but that isn't quite correct—it's much more than that. Effectively, it is an annual happy hour to kick off New Orleans' vibrant cultural season, where the movers and shakers therein can connect and share their projects and talents. The free, one-night-only affair presented by the Jefferson Performing Arts Society and WWNO 89.9 takes place at the coming year. It's an evening of food and drink devoted to one goal: introducing potential audience members, volunteers, patrons, and artists to the diverse mix of arts that the city has to offer. Small plates and a cash bar. 5:30 pm–8 pm. Free. culturenola.org. k The German oom-pah comes to the Mandeville Trailhead for the Northshore Oktoberfest celebration. Let the little ones face paint, "bile duck," and chicken dance the day away while the grownups compete in Masskrugstammen,Hammerschlagen,andayodeling

Beginning

CAPITAL: BATON ROUGE AND HER PEOPLE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

CONCERTS EARTH, WIND, & FIRE AT THE SAENGER THEATRE

September 20th - September 23rd

New Orleans, Louisiana

SEPT 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM28 SEPEvents20th

SEP 22nd - SEP 25th FALL FESTIVALS SUGARCANELOUISIANA FESTIVAL

Metoyer & The Zydeco Krush, and The Bad Boys Band. Free. hisugar.org. k

SEP 22nd LIVE MUSIC LOBBY LOUNGE CONCERT: MINOS THE SAINT Slidell, Louisiana

New Iberia, Louisiana

FARMSHADOWS-ON-THE-TECHEFEST

See ya' later alligator—at St. Charles Parish's annual Alligator Festival—where, no, there are no crocodiles to be found. Held at West Bank Bridge Park, gear up for music, carnival rides, craft vendors, live music from ten bands, and plenty of gator fare—fried, grilled, frittered, in a sausage and in a sauce piquante too. Thursday is "Locals' Night" with free admission to the festival and $1 off beer from 6 pm–9 pm; Friday the festival is open from 6 pm–11 pm; Saturday 11 am–11 pm; Sunday 11 am–9 pm. $5 admission, free for ages ten and under. alligatorfestival.org. k

Shadows-on-the-Teche, in partnership with the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival & Fair Association, honors the farmers who grew the most significant crop in the area. The young folks who have shown up in past years wearing red bandanas and straw hats will be glad to know they now have a festival to attend, with hamburgers and chili, beer and wine, and other festival food to feast on. Minors should be accompanied by an adult. $10 per family. 4 pm–8 pm. shadowsontheteche.org. k

The Slidell Cultural Center is displaying a selection of influential and oftencollected Slidell artist Lori Anselmo's works. Free. myslidell.com. k

New Iberia, Louisiana

SEP 23rd CHEERS TO HISTORY STORMIN' OF THE SAZERAC AT THE ROOSEVELT New Orleans, Louisiana

SEP 22nd FALL FESTIVALS

SEP 22nd - SEP 25th FALL FESTIVALS ALLIGATOR FESTIVAL Luling, Louisiana

A celebration of the sugar industry will take over downtown New Iberia in the fourth week of September. The seventynine-year old festival that launches the annual grinding season will be particularly sweet this year after a two-year Covid shutdown. The celebration honors the industry with a blessing of the crop, a 5K race, the naming of a King and Queen, food, Cajun music, and the procession of several parades down Main Street. The Cyr Gates Community Center will be the site for events and competitions including a sugar-centric cooking competition, an art show, and a garden and flower display. The SugArena at Acadiana Fairgrounds will host a 4-H livestock show. Wear your dancing shoes: The Cajun and Zydeco music lineup includes LA Roxx, Wayne Singleton, Clay Cormier & The Highway Boys, Jamie Bergeron & The Kickin' Cajuns, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Rusty

// SEPT 22 29 contest. Oh, and drink lots of beer in the beer garden. The event will benefit A Rhea of Hope, a charity founded to be a resource in research, education, and public awareness of rare bile duct cancer. 5 pm–10 pm at the Covington trailhead. $5; kids younger than twelve get in free. Find the event on Facebook for more information. k

SEP 22 nd - OCT 21 st ART EXHIBITIONS LORI ANSELMO: A CELEBRATION OF TWENTY YEARS OF ART Slidell, Louisiana

It's been a frustratingly long (and amazingly, enduring) haul to achieving gender equality these past hundred years. And along with Ruth-Bader Ginsburg and the U.S. Women's Soccer team, the group of ladies who stormed the Sazerac Bar in 1949 are icons of the movement—ensuring that women of future generations might freely enjoy the pleasure of a public cocktail, and busting the boys-only rules formerly held by many of New Orleans establishments like the Roosevelt Hotel's bar. Today, the triumphant moment in history is celebrated annually at the Roosevelt in a luxurious luncheon honoring this "herstory" of the bar, promising a three-course lunch, vintage fashion show, live musical entertainment, and ample libations for all. Afterwards, guests—encouraged to dress in ode to the original "Stormers," 1940s-inspired hats, gloves, peep-toe kitten heels, and all—will promptly "Storm the Sazerac" with a celebratory second line parade. Starts at 1 pm. $99 at therooseveltneworleans.com. k

Experimental folk-rock band Minos the Saint out of Baton Rouge are getting "up close and musical" at the Lobby Lounge in the Harbor Center. 7 pm. $19 general admission; $50 for a two-seat table; $100 for a four-seat table. harborcenter.org. k

CONCERTS DIANA KRALL AT THE SAENGER

New Orleans, Louisiana

SEP 23rd FUN FUNDRAISERS LOVE IN THE GARDEN

SEP 23rd COMEDIC CONCERTS MUSIC & IMPROV SHOW

New Orleans seems as good a place to open a rabbit hole as any. This fall, Lewis Carroll’s delightful phantasms of magical mushrooms and broken riddles and Mad Hatters arise out of The Burgandy House—extending a tantalizing invitation to “Drink me”.

The Alice: An Immersive Cocktail Experience will host tea parties in New Orleans on dates between now and September 18. Family-friendly sessions are available. Tickets range from $34.50–$52.47. Visit exploehidden.com for details, and follow on Instagram at @alicecocktailexperienceglobal. and Curiouser!

The luxurious Saenger Theater will host Grammy Award-winning Canadian pianist and contralto vocalist Diana Krall in concert. 8 pm. Tickets start at $55. saengernola.com. k

New Orleans, Louisiana There's nothing like a garden party to bring in the cooler autumn months, and NOMA's annual fall soirée in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden provides a perfectly romantic environment for sipping a cocktail and enjoying a conversation about fine art under moonlit oaks. Food will be provided by a variety of beloved local restaurants, and entertainment by The Bucktown All-Stars. Patron party begins at 7 pm, Garden Party at 8 pm. Presented by Hancock Whitney Bank. Tickets start at $75. noma.org. k

COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Mid-City Artisans is hosting a combination concert and improv show. The evening will feature a live music performance from award-winning New Orleans recording artist Tiffany Pollack & Co., as well as a live, interactive improvisation show by Baton Rouge's newest theatre group 225 Theatre Collective titled "Line!? " Wine, almond tea, or water will be provided. 6:30 pm–8:30 pm. $35, and optional donations for 225 Theatre Collective are accepted. midcityartisans.com. Read more about the 225 Theatre Collective in Lucie Monk Carter's feature on page 60. k

The Alice immersive cocktail experience began with heartfelt welcomes from a peculiar cast of hosts : the wild-eyed hatter, the gentle dormouse, the mischievous March Hare (all local New Orleans actors)—who sat us at a bistro table for two beside a white picket fence. As a centerpiece was a tiny bird’s nest from which two paintbrushes stuck out, guarded by a host of three plush mushrooms. An empty teapot sat waiting, an enchanting hint of the activities to come.

AN ALICE IN WONDERLAND-THEMED TEA PARTY IN NEW ORLEANS

The Raising Cane's River Center will host country music star Gary Allan for one night only in mid September as he tours Ruthless , his first album in eight years. The scruffy performer is known for his hits "Right Where I Need to Be," The Best I Ever Had," and "I Can't Talk About It." 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $46.50. raisingcanesrivercenter.com. k

SEP 23rd CONCERTS DELTA DRIFTERS AT THE MAG St. Francisville, Louisiana

Celebrate forty years of live music on Friday nights at the iconic Magnolia Café, which makes a triumphant return post-COVID shutdowns with concerts on the fourth Friday of each month. In September, catch local favorites the Delta Drifters. 8 pm–11 pm. $20 at bontempstix.com. Read more about the return of music to the Mag in James Fox-Smith's "Reflections" column on page 6. k

SEP 23rd CONCERTS LEE ROY PARNELL AT THE ACA Lafayette, Louisiana

Long after the famed brothels of

SEP 23 rd CONCERTS GARY ALLAN AT RAISING CANE'S RIVER CENTER Baton Rouge, Louisiana

SEP 23 rd

The tiny space bloomed with over-the-top wallpaper, mushrooms taller than my five-foot-friend, cabinets filled books and cards and Wonderland’s signature oddities. Red roses plumed from the corners and vines and twinkly lights dripped from the walls. The Cheshire Cat grinned from a massive moss wall in the back, spouting riddles. Photo-opps abounded. After a starter shot of something lemon-yellow with whipped cream on top, our hosts welcomed us with a slew of witty (occasionally-humorously-raunchy) banter, before explaining our task: to earn our next drink (“You’re all here to drink, correct?”), we must answer three riddles. I won’t ruin the fun, but I will share that one involved outsmarting the Cheshire Cat. For each riddle solved, we received a vial (“but not too vile”) of bright-colored elixirs—all destined to be swirled and smoked inside our waiting teapot. After partaking in our poisons, we were treated to a costume change, in which the March Hare became the campiest Queen of Hearts camp ever did see—shouting her signature “Off with their heads!” refrain as we searched the room for her missing tarts. Raising the stakes (our necks), our next challenge was to paint something that should please her majesty. Using our birds’ nest paintbrushes and a pot of red syrup, we delicately wrought works of art inside the bubbly white foam of our final cocktail. The winner, naturally, was a woman who painted the queen herself. k

CABARET BROADWAY AT THE BALLET! Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre is joining the talents of their dancers with some of Baton Rouge's most impressive musical and vocal talents for one night of showtune favorites. Pianist Lee Hartman will accompany singers Leonard Augustus, Timmie Callais, Jennifer Ellis, Ray Gaspard, Jenny Heroman, Brandy Johnson, Dana Lux, Elizabeth Mathews, Whitney Pace, Celeste Angelle Veillon, Richard Williams, and Jonathan Yarrington; dancers will include Guilia Fedeli Barker and alumni of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. They will perform show-stoppers from My Fair Lady, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Kiss Me Kate, Waitress, Mama Mia, and more. 7 pm. $45 general admission, $55 at the door. batonrougeballet.org. k

SEPT 22 //30 SEP 23rd

New Orleans, Louisiana

Beginning September 23rd Events

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Coming out of Texas, Lee Roy Parnell's musical affinities collected the best of regional roots delights: Texas blues, Memphis soul, Southern Rock. This, combined with his well-championed songwriting chops—have brought the singer-songwriter to the precipice of musical fame more than once. With a numberone hit, two number-two hits, and four other "top tenners", plus two Grammy nominations—Parnell makes his way to the Acadiana Center for the Arts stage. 7:30 pm. acadianacenterforthearts.org.$40–$60. k SEP 23rd - SEP 25th FALL FESTIVALS NEW BURLESQUEORLEANSFESTIVAL

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SEP 23rd - SEP 25th FALL FESTIVALS CUT OFF YOUTH CENTER HURRICANE FESTIVAL Cut Off, Louisiana

This festival combines all of the best aspects of a big Cajun festival with a small-town community, figuratively and literally offering a taste of what Louisiana's all about. It's the perfect excuse to celebrate les bon temps with a weekend of live music by Orange, Gordon Bradberry Band, Alstarz Cheer, Ben Bruce & The Acadiens, Ruff 'N Ready, Shorts in December, and Waylon Thibodaux. Also expect carnival rides, crafts, live auctions, and of course Cajun food. Free entry. More information on the Cut Off Youth Center's Facebook page. k

Ponchatoula, Louisiana

Beginning September 23rd - 24th

Join the efforts of Keep Covington Beautiful in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of Covington and Canoe and Trail Adventures to help clean up the Bogue Falaya River. Some kayaks will be available, and it is recommended that kayaks or canoes are brought if possible. Clean-up supplies will be provided. 9 am–noon. Free. louisiananorthshore.com. k

SEPT 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM32 Events

SEP 24th FALL FESTIVALS BAYOU FESTIVALVERMILION&BOATPARADE

A celebration of and on the Vermilion River, this festival aims to increase awareness of the river as a viable source of recreation for Lafayette Parish. Highlights include live music, face painting and yoga, local food and drink vendors, fishing, bubbles, and the boat parade along the bayou. This year's parade sets sail at 11:30 a.m. from Vermilionville with a celebratory toast by this year's Grand Marshal. The parade proceeds 10.6 miles to BVD's Southside Park. If you prefer a shorter journey, you can join the parade beginning at Camellia Boulevard Canoe and Kayak Launch and end at Southside Park, which is five miles.

Woodville, Mississippi

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Covington, Louisiana

SEP 24th

Peruse handmade crafts, baked goods, preserves, flea market finds, and who knows what at the Woodville Main Street Association's Fall Market on the Square. 10 am–4 pm. Free entry. Register as a vendor or find more information at woodvillemainstreet.org. k

September

Storyville closed in 1917, some aspects of that sensual debauchery remained vibrant in the form of a thriving burlesque scene on Bourbon Street and throughout the French Quarter. In celebration of this tradition that continues today, the New Orleans Burlesque Festival features classic burlesque styles to keep the shimmies and rhinestones in the spotlight. The main event of the festival is a competition, wherein some of the most acclaimed burlesque dancers will compete for the title of Queen of Burlesque. Workshops, panel discussions, showcases, and parties fill out the weekend. Events are held at the House of Blues and the Civic Theatre. More information on schedule and locations available at neworleansburlesquefest.com.

Paddling participants are encouraged to decorate their vessels and wear costumes, and residents and businesses along the parade route are also encouraged to participate by decorating their yard, inviting friends and family over to watch the parade (please make your address visible from the bayou). There will be a contest for the best boat décor, the best costume worn, and the best yard decorations. In years past, nearly three hundred water craft, including boats, kayaks, and stand-up paddle-boarders, have lined up in this community float. Those who do not live along the route can watch the parade at Vermilionville, Beaver Park, Rotary Point, or at the Camellia Bridge Canoe & Kayak Launch. 8 am–6 pm. $10 to enter the boat parade. bayouvermiliondistrict.org. k

Lafayette, Louisiana

GEAUX GREEN BOGUE FALAYA RIVER SWEEP

This September, Northshore's oldest Celtic organization presents the inaugural Shenanigans and Hooligans Celtic Festival, held on the grounds of the Ponchatoula Country Market. Wander through an array of Celtic and local vendors, and enjoy entertainment from Irish and Scottish bands, pipers, and more. Workshops

SEP 24th MARKET MOMENTS FALL MARKET ON THE SQUARE

SEP 24th

CULTURE FESTIVALS SHENANIGANS AND HOOLIGANS CELTIC FESTIVAL

SEP 24 th - SEP 25 CULTURE FESTIVALS LE GRAND HOORAH Eunice, Louisiana

Join the Writers Rendezvous club for a day of talking about writing, celebrating writing, and—yes—writing! Explore tools and techniques, discuss inspiring works, and share your goals as a writer with fellow creatives, who will offer support and opportunities for writers of both fiction and nonfiction. Free. 9:30 am–6 pm. For more details, contact Kathy Mayeux kathymayeux@gmail.com.at k

SEP 24th - SEP 25th FALL FESTIVALS BEE HONEYALIVEBEE

"The most extensive tours of the most extravagant antebellum homes in America." That's the way the Pilgrimage Garden Club describes the Natchez Pilgrimage—the spring and fall tour of homes that has kept visitors coming back to Natchez since 1932. That's because Natchez was once home to more millionaires per capita than any other city in America—and while Natchez and its residents acknowledge that wealth was built on the backs of enslaved individuals, the city has managed to preserve the extraordinary architectural legacy of that wealth while somberly reflecting on the human lives sold and lost in the process of building it. Today, Natchez's streets remain lined with the palatial mansions

// SEPT 22 33 will include Irish dancing, New Orleans Irish history, and Celtic folklore. Catch a cabbage at the Krewe of Erin walking parades, and take the kids to enter the Merida Kids Contest while you try your hand at the Marmalade and Scone cookoffs—or even better, the Men in Kilts '80s Dance Off. 9 am–5 pm. Free. $5 for special seating. kreweoferin.org. k

Carrying on a long tradition of celebrating Acadiana's cultural treasures in an intimate, authentic setting—Le Grand Hoorah returns, this year at Lakeview Park & Beach for the very first time. Join rural Acadiana's cooks, dancers, and musicians for two days of unparalleled cultural celebration in one of the region's most iconic dancehalls. Boucheries, fais do dos, and inspiration await. This year's musical lineup includes Evangeline Parish-born legends: Dave Johnson & the Camp Jammers, the Aucoin Family Band, Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie, Burke Riley's Cajun Quintet, Pine Leaf Boys, Balfa Toujours, and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. $11.71; $6.71 for children younger than ten. legrandhoorah.com. Read more about Le Grand Hoorah and its origins in Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot's story on page 58. k

LOCAL HISTORY NATCHEZ FALL PILGRIMAGE

SEP 24th

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

CREATIVE CLASSES REGARDING WRITING WORKSHOP

Slidell, Louisiana

Natchez, Mississippi

Celebrate the honeybee, their keepers, and the sweet, sweet liquid gold they produce at this two-day festival at the Harbor Center. 10 am–4:30 pm. Find the event on Facebook for more information.

FESTIVAL

SEP 24th - OCT 21st

SEPT 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM34 Events and filigreed townhouses, and each year the families that occupy them allow guests to nose through two-hundred-yearold homes, meet descendants, hear tales, sip a mint julep, stay in one of more than fifty historic B&Bs, and generally get a residents' eye view of life in this most historic of Southern cities. Find details on other special events, dinners, and tours at natchezpilgrimage.com.

In St. Landry Parish, their famous Zydeco Breakfast is going down on September 3 as part of the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival—where you can eat bacon and two-step with a new friend, all in one place before the festival begins. See listing on page 14. Photo courtesy of St. Landry Parish Tourist Comission.

SEP 25th

SEP 24th - OCT 29th

GOOD EATS ALL-STAR CHEF COLLAB AT MISTER MAO New Orleans, Louisiana Mister Mao All-Star Chef Collab, Beginning September 24th - September 30th

ART EXHIBITIONS THE LOST RIVER CODEX & MONSTROS New Orleans, Louisiana LeMieux Galleries presents two exhibitions by new artists: Bernard Mattox's The Lost River Codex, and Michaeli Pajon's Monstros. Open to view from 10 am–5 pm, lemieuxgalleries.com.Monday–Saturday.

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CONCERTS DAWES AT THE MANSHIP Baton Rouge, Louisiana California-based folk/roots-rock band Dawes is in the middle of an evolution— journeying from their burgeoning classic sound to something louder, deeper, and more daring with their latest album Misadventures of Doomscroller. Catch them on the Manship stage this month. 7:30 pm. $50–$65. manshiptheatre.org. k

SEP 25th

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LIVE MUSIC BATON ROUGE CONCERT BAND FALL CONCERT Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Baton Rouge Concert Band has yet again put together a fall concert of favorite classic hits—from classical, to pop, to jazz, to show tunes, and beyond. Join them for an evening of music on the Plaza at the East Baton Rogue Parish Library Main Branch on Goodwood. 5 pm. Free. brcb.org. k

Watson, Louisiana

SEP 26 th - NOV 4 th

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SEP 29th - OCT 2nd FALL FESTIVALS ST. TAMMANY PARISH FAIR Covington, Louisiana

With a cast of stars from Broadway's greatest rock musicals and incredible rock 'n' roll singers, producer and pianist Neil Berg shares the songs and stories behind the music that changed the world forever in this toe-tappin' performance. 7:30 pm. pasaonline.org. k

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Saenger Theater will be a barrel of laughs when celebrated comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short take the stage. The irreverent comedians are touring their joint act, You Won't Believe What They Look Like Today! in which they mock the shallow nature of Hollywood and celebrities. A big part of the close friends' schtick is laughing at themselves and poking fun at one another. 7 pm. Tickets start at $99. saengernola.com. k

The Ochsner Lifelong Learning Institute at LSU, also known as OLLI at LSU, is an adult learning membership program designed for inquiring adults, ages fifty and "better," who wish to pursue lifelong learning about a wide variety of subjects in a relaxed, non-competitive atmosphere. There are no tests, no grades and no homework, just pure enjoyment. This fall dozens of classes will be offered in Baton Rouge, Slidell, and St. Francisville. For more information on this program or to enroll, olli-lsu.online.lsu.edu/continuing-education/visit

COMEDY STEVE MARTIN & MARTIN SHORT AT THE SAENGER THEATER

// SEPT 22 35 headed up by Mister Mao’s Chef/Owner Sophina Uong, will host a Sunday Supper to benefit the VEGGI Cooperative. Guests will enjoy a five-course dinner featuring creative dishes prepared by Chefs Michael Gulotta (Maypop/ MoPho); Nikki Mills (Peche); Mason Hereford (Turkey and the Wolf & Molly’s Rise and Shine); and Kimi Ngyuen of Kimi Bakes. Paired cocktails included, sponsored by Vietnam’s Song Cai Distillery. Seatings at 6 pm and 8 pm. mistermaonola.com.$100.

SEP 25th FALL FESTIVALS PELICAN PARK FALL FEST Mandeville, Louisiana

SEP 29th CONCERTS NEIL BERG'S 50 YEARS OF ROCK N ROLL Lafayette, Louisiana

CONTINUED LEARNING

OLLI AT LSU CLASSES Baton Rouge, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

SEP 27th CREATIVE CLASSES WATERCOLORBEGINNER'S PAINTING

SEP 25 th

Local artist Heidi Lindsley will visit Livingston Parish libraries this fall, offering her creative expertise to aspiring watercolorists. Join her and learn to paint a fall-inspired pumpkin scene, using provided supplies, at the Watson branch. 5 pm. Free. Registration required by calling (225) 686-4100 or visiting mylpl.info. k

SEP 29th FALL FESTIVALS BREADA'S FARM FÊTE

From the folks who bring you the Red Stick Farmers Market and Main Street Market—Farm Fête brings together all the things we love about local produce and producers. The festivities begin at the Saturday market, where your weekly downtown grocerygathering will receive celebratory adornments of live music, a wine pull, and a display of items to be auctioned. Don't miss out on the bloody marys and mimosas from City Pork, either. On the following Thursday is the main event, held at the River Center Library Terrace: an evening all about the freshest of Baton Rouge cuisine. Enjoy live music from John Gray Jazz and Friends, a festive feast provided by local chefs from the likes of Eliza, Cocha, Mestizo, and Chef Celeste Bistro; and bidding opportunities at both live and silent auctions—featuring one-of-a-kind products and experiences brought to you by your neighbors. All proceeds benefit BREADA's various outreach programs, including the Red Stick Farmers Market. 6 pm. $100. farmfête.org. k

Pies in all the best fall flavors will be present for the tasting at this secondannual festival. Also chances to strut your stuff at costume creating and scarecrow building contests, plus plenty more fun for the full family. 2 pm–5 pm. Free. pelicanpark.com. k

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For over a century the St. Tammany Parish Fair has showcased the culture,

Events

To peruse our entire calendar of events, including those that wouldn't fit in print, point your phone camera here.

Beginning September 30th

VILLAGE ARTS MARKET

SEP 30 th FUN FUNDRAISERS

GALA: DIAMONDS Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary with this year's "Diamonds of History" Gala, coinciding with the opening of Diamonds of History: Mighty Women by New Orleansbased pop artist, Ashley Longshore. Thanks to a donation by Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry, a display of gorgeous gems with be on exhibit, along with a pair of 18K white gold double pave diamond earrings, valued at $12,500 that will be raffled off to support the museum. The evening will also include entertainment, luxury food and spirits, and a silent auction. Cocktail or costume attire. 7 pm–11 pm. Tickets start at $125 for members, $150 for non-members. Raffle tickets $50. - OCT 1 st

More than your average golf tournament, Al Copeland Foundation Golf Fest has chef-prepared food, on-course refreshments, player gifts and awards, course contests and much more. All proceeds will support new local cancer research, education, and patient programs at the Copeland-LSU Health Science Center Partnership in Viruses, Cancer and Immunotherapy. Presented by Fidelity Bank atthe Beau Chene Country Club. Registration at September 30 at 7:30 pm. Tickets range from $37–$227 at neworleansopera.org. k

SEP 30 th FUN FUNDRAISERS LASM 60TH ANNIVERSARY

Read more about Twin Steeples Arts Center in Jyl Benson's story on page 8. k - OCT 1 st

CHRIS ROCK AT THE Now that Will Smith has officially apologized for slapping him, Chris Rock has resumed his life and will take the stage at the legendary Saenger Theater the last night in September and the first in October on his Ego Death World Tour. The comedian wants your full attention and the use of phones will not be allowed in the performance space. 8 pm. Tickets start at $49.

Twin Steeples Creative Arts Center is hosting their inaugural Village Arts Market—a brand new, juried art market featuring over fifty fine arts and crafts vendors, live music, food trucks, and more. Friday from noon–5 pm and Saturday from 9 am–5 twinsteeples.org/village-arts-market.pm.

SEP 30th - OCT 1st GET CRAFTY TEXAS CONFERENCEPINNERS'& EXPO

Mandeville, Louisiana

agriculture, music, history, and food of St. Tammany at the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds. All that good stuff, plus tasty fried fair fare, too. 11 am–9 pm Friday, 9 am–9 pm Saturday–Sunday (Fair Parade 10 am Friday). $2 Entrance after 3 pm. sttammanyparishfair.info. k

Fort Worth, Texas

The Will Rogers Memorial Center will be the site for a two-day, Pinterest-inspired conference and expo featuring hundreds of craftoriented businesses. Attendees can check out the businesses showcasing the latest trends in DYI and crafting. The expo will also offer over one hundred classes taught by experts in home design and décor, scrapbooking, culinary arts, fashion, aesthetics, self-improvement, home entertaining, and photography. A trade show floor will feature goods from over three hundred vendors. Admission does not include class materials. $10, kids eight and under, free. Friday 10 am–8 pm, Saturday 9 am–7 pm. tx.pinnersconference.com. k

// SEPT 22 37

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM38 THE ARTS ISSUE 38 A DANCE PRODUCTION INSPIRED BY A LOUISIANA TRAGEDY // 42 ADVENTURE IN CANCER ALLEY // SEPTEMBER 2022 Features

DANCE

A COLLABORATION

Story by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot • Photos by Debbie Fleming Caffery

“Prayer pages. St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church, Port Barre, Louisiana, March 2019.” Photo by ©Debbie Fleming Caffery.

“Pastor, the church is gone,” were the words coming through Kyle Sylvester’s phone at 2:30 am on March 27, 2019. “What did you say?” “It’s gone,” the deacon, who was also a firefighter, repeated. “The church. It’s burned to the ground.” Later, Sylvester’s children would tell him about how they had heard the front door slam, and sat up in their beds, won dering what was wrong. When he arrived at the Port Barre site where St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church had stood just the day before, he did not find ruin. He found practically nothing. “It was eerie,” he told me. “It’s like something that was once standing, a place you had been in, was burned flat. There was no evidence of any furniture, no evidence of any equipment. No any thing. It was almost like it was inciner ated. It was like a dream.” He stayed there from 3 am until 5 pm the following day, as law enforcement tried to figure out what had happened. When his young son saw the remains of his father’s church, tears rolled down his face. “There’s noth ing,” he told his mother, Chantelle. She would later describe the scene: “No one was saying anything. No one was talking. All they were doing was digging and dig ging.”Almost a week later, on Tuesday, April 2, another historically Black church, the Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas—just seven miles away— was razed to the ground. The final blow came only two days later, on April 4, when Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church met the same fate. “That’s when the fear set in,” Chantelle said, offering a personal testimony to members of the St. Landry community in June, 2022. “There were many nights where we just wouldn’t sleep.” * Almost a century before, in 1925, over one thousand miles away, another fire burned in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver. The second-oldest African American Church in Colorado, reduced to ashes by an act of arson believed today to have been the work of the Ku Klux Klan.Itis in the building that the Shorter African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregation rebuilt, over the course of only a year and a half, that the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble now holdsWhencourt.Cleo Parker Robinson was born in 1948, her Black father and white mother brought her home to an apart ment in the Rossonian Hotel because they could not find another place to house them in then-segregated Denver.

The church was only four blocks away, the faithful singing their hymns of praise andInresilience.1987,when the congregation moved across town and left their historic Span ish Revival building empty, Parker Rob inson had already established herself as a master and teacher of dance—having collaborated with artistic icons the likes of Maya Angelou and Alvin Ailey (whose signature work Revelations, considered a national treasure, is inspired by his expe rience growing up in a Black church). She arranged for a long-term lease of one dollar per year with the Denver Housing Authority. And for the past thirty-five years, she and her dancers have brought their own spiritual expressions into that sacred space almost every day. “That’s where I bring everything I know, I want, or desire, all of my thoughts, my heart, my soul,” she said of the dancer’s stage. “I bring it. I bring it here.” Yet another fire—a bombing—was the inspiration for Parker Robinson’s 2003 collaboration with David Roussève, titled “One Nation Under a Groove, Part 2 : 24 Hours in Birmingham”. In 1963, the dynamite planted by the KKK tore through the wall of the 16th Street Bap tist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls and injuring over twenty members of the African Ameri can congregation. Roussève and Parker Robinson’s tribute layered oral history— spoken over the choreography—with Sacred Spaces? BETWEEN THE CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE ENSEMBLE, THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ ORCHESTRA, AND PASA RECALLS THE 2019 OPELOUSAS CHURCH ARSONS

Bottom : “Altar, pews, pulpit,” Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. Opelousas, Louisiana, April, 2019.” Photos by ©Debbie Fleming Caffery.

// SEP 22 39 Motown classics in a string of cinematic vignettes recalling the Black experiences of injustice and violence in Birmingham during that time. So, in early 2022 when Jacqueline Lyle, Executive Director of the organiza tion Performing Arts Serving Acadiana (PASA), reached out to Parker Robinson about creating a dance work inspired by the 2019 church burnings in St. Landry Parish, the choreographer didn’t hesi tate. “I’ve done enough work over the last fifteen years to know about the burnings of churches,” she said. Imme diately, she started to meditate on how to create such a work so that it comes out of that community, “not in the past, but right now,” she said. “How do we hear their voices and change this history that keeps repeating itself?” Premiering at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver on September 17, Sacred Spaces? is a revolutionary collab oration between PASA, the Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble, and the New Orle ans Jazz Orchestra—funded by the National Endowment for the Arts Chal lenge America Grant, an Arts Forward grant from the Association of Perform ing Arts Professionals, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Ford Foundation.Allofthese entities have come together to tell the story of St. Mary Missionary, Greater Union, and Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist churches— and the man who burned them to the ground. But it is not a story of loss and violence alone. “It’s about healing,” Parker Robinson explained. “It’s extraordinary to think about, ‘how do people heal?’ We are all hurting, even if we didn’t come from that community … How do we, as a society, heal?”Totake away a church is to break open the heart of a community, to desecrate divinity, to rid someone of their safest place. Church arson has been a feature of American violence since our country’s earliest history, and continues to make headlines to this day. According to a 2015 report from the National Fire Protection Association, roughly five fires were inten tionally set in religious institutions per week during the period of 2007 to 2011. When it comes to Black congregations, though, the act of arson represents a par ticular sort of threat. A long history of white supremacists’ affinity for fire, par ticularly during the Civil Rights move ment of the 1950s and ‘60s, has imbued the burning of African American places of worship with a universally-recogniz able message of hate. On Tuesday, April 9, 2019—five days after the third fire—the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives discovered a piece of a gas can in the ruins at Mount Pleasant. This led to the arrest and eventual conviction of Top: “Interior, Steeple.”

Photo by ©Debbie Fleming Caffery. Dancers : photographed by Micah Bursh from Cleo Parker Robinson Dance during Parker Robinson’s movement class in Lafayette in June.

Backdrop : “Tombs,” Greater Union Baptist Church. Opelousas, Louisiana, April, 2019.”

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM40 Holden Matthews, a twenty-one-yearold white man from the area, who con fessed to setting the fires as part of his efforts to establish himself as a “black metal” musician. According to Mat thews, the acts were meant to be a tribute to a mass attack on Christian churches that took place in Norway by individuals associated with the genre. On Novem ber 2, 2020, he was sentenced to twen ty-five years of federal imprisonment and ordered to pay over two million dollars in restitution to the three churches. In June, Lyle invited Parker Robinson to Acadiana to meet with the affected congregations directly, so to best inform the creative work. Members of the St. Landry Parish community gathered inside St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church’s Fellowship Hall, where Sylves ter’s congregation has held their services for the past few years while their church is rebuilt next door. The conversation was moderated by Theodore Foster, Ph.D—an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana Lafayette specializing in African Amer ican history, Civil Rights memory, and Black studies—who invited individuals present to share their experiences, reac tions, and reflections on the violence that had occurred in 2019. One man, an electrician at one of the churches, shared the guilt that he had felt in the immediate aftermath of the ence as the newest victims in a long leg acy of fires set by white men with hate in their hearts. “We’ve got our issues,” said the offshore worker. “But a lot of it is extreme trauma.” The central theme explored that night at St. Mary’s, though, was forgiveness. As a community bonded by their faith in a merciful God, they asked themselves and each other: how do we find it in our hearts to forgive the man who did this?

Reverend Gerald Toussaint of Mount Pleasant Missionary shared his struggles: “As a Black man, you know, sometimes you get tired of forgiving. We get tired. Tired…I can get to a spot where I don’t want to forgive. I don’t want to. I want to be mad. But then, the Lord taps me on the shoulder, and says ‘Boy, you can’t do this. You’ve got to preach the whole word. You’ve got to teach the people love first.’”Even still, he said, the question haunts him: “Why do we keep having to forgive so Themuch?”nextday, in Lafayette, Parker Rob inson hosted a movement class for local dancers to participate in as a way to pro cess, through dance, the stories she had heard the night before, using early drafts of compositions from the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. In attendance were Kyle Sylvester’s three daughters, all of them dancers. “Oh, and they touched my

One piece in the second section of the work, he said, is inspired by Sylvester’s daughters—and a comment made by one of the community members at the ACA talk. “She used a phrase and it stuck with me,” he said. So, he used that phrase for the ballad’s title: “The Children are Sacred premiere in Denver this month, stay tuned for PASA’s announcement of the production’s eventual touring dates, when the Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble and New Orleans Jazz Orchestra will travel to Acadiana to present the work to the communities that inspired it. Details at andcleoparkerdance.orgthenojo.com. things out about myself as a com poser.” *Quotes from the June meetings at St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church and the Acadiana Center for the Arts were sourced from a transcript made by Joe Riehl, provided by PASA.

// SEP 22 41 one held at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, where she was joined by Adonis Rose, Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. This event, in comparison to the one in Port Barre, was mostly attended by Acadiana resi dents outside of the St. Landry church communities—people who had heard about the fires, but were not directly impacted. One woman stood up, and shared that though she was not part of these congregations, the act of violence against houses of worship had struck her to her core. “I get emotional thinking about it,” she said. “Because there were so many prayers that went up at that altar, and so many unions. So many people who were home in that place, and for them to be robbed of that …. You know you can go [into a church] and be so vulnerable and not be judged and be welcome with love no matter what, and to have an outsider try ing to decide that future for you and your family and your place of worship …” This expression of empathy—this con tinued conversation—is what this proj ect is about at its core, Lyle explained. Not only can the dance work carry with it important discussions on hatred and race, and the history of violence against places of worship, and on forgiveness and redemption—it, as art, can also form connections. It can induce powerful empathy, which can be used as a collec

225-955-7584 • artistryoflight.com • MARY T. WILEY

He described his approach to the music as an effort to bring together elements of Louisiana, of spirituality, of the Afri can American church, and of mourning. “I had to sit down and think about how I wanted to structure it to where it fol lowed the narrative of the story,” he said. “So I started at the beginning, at the very beginning, and tried to put myself in the shoes of the guy who was burning the churches, and then also try to put myself in the position, emotionally, of the peo ple of the congregations were when it was happening.”Thework functions, conceptually, as a New Orleans funeral procession, divided into three parts: death, burial, and resur rection. “You know, you show up at the funeral home, you play a dirge. It starts out real slow. You have the family of the deceased, and the friends in the commu nity following the procession. And then people have their chance to mourn. And then the dirge picks up as a procession goes along. Ultimately, you get to a place where you’re celebrating the person that passed, their life and their achievements and what that person meant to you.” Musically, Rose incorporates African drum rhythms, the high-energy of a New Orleans brass band, and aspects of a gospel ballad. When I spoke with him in August, he mentioned that he was try ing to work in elements of St. Landry’s Zydeco culture into the instrumenta tion. “There are different elements of the music, representing myself and how I felt about the piece,” he said. “But we want it to have global appeal, too. We’re talking about sacred spaces and places of worship

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM42

There’s a small, locally-run diner, a corner convenience store, orderly rows of quaint houses, and a snow cone stand. The air there is humid and heavy, sticking to the lungs like fly paper. Simmering waves of steam radiate off of worn-out asphalt roads, evidence of a recent hot summer rainstorm. Even outside of hurri cane season, the stain of storms past is prevalent. Ditches run deep along roadsides. Fenceposts stand tilted in the ground, and bald spots of missing shingles on roofs shine like medals of valor.“It’s a small town,” said local school teacher Lori Lyons, one of Norco’s roughly three thousand citizens.

POINT Cancer Alley, Pixelated ARTFUL COMPUTER GAME INSPIRED BY THE LOUISIANA TOWN OF NORCO

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“Everyone knows everybody and watches out for everybody.” Lyons has lived in Norco since 1994, in the very same house, which sits on Apple Street, one of the town’s main roads. She and her husband have leaned into the joke, adorning their front door with a bright red painted wooden apple. The theme continues through the interior; a red apple clock hangs on the wall in the kitchen, and below it on the countertops and table, red and green ceramic apples abound. What distinguishes Norco, though, is its next-door neighbor, the loom ing giant just over the fence line: the Shell Oil-owned Norco Manufactur ing Complex. On 366 acres of what was once Goodhope Plantation, the industrial jungle now processes ten million gallons of crude oil every day. Norco itself exists because of this complex; the town was originally built, in the early twentieth century, to house the workers and their fami lies. “Norco” is just an acronym for “New Orleans Refining Company”. The oil plant looms over the town as a constant, inescapable noise. It sits on the horizon like something out of Blade Runner —only one of the over150 plants and refineries along Loui siana’s industrial corridor. In Norco and its neighboring towns, residents are seven hundred times more likely to get cancer than people who live practically anywhere else. “The plant really doesn’t bother me much,” said Lyons, referring to the refinery. “Sometimes it’s noisy and smelly, but they really do a great job of giving back to the community. Our local elementary school is fantastic because of them.” Still, she shared that the threat of a potential accident looms in the back of her mind. Accidents have happened before.

May 5, 1988, 3:37 am Fire in the sky. The explosion is heard in downtown New Orleans, twenty-five miles away. Seven Shell Oil employees, killed in an Debrisinstant.hurtling through the air, for Windowsmiles. shatter in unison. A two-year-old boy lies in bed still asleep, covered in broken glass.

AND CLICK

By Colie Plaster

Images courtesy of Yuts.

t’s right there on the screen, in big, pixelated letters, stamped on top of an equally-pixelated South Louisiana skyline. A levi athan of gray pipes and tubes fill the foreground, a criss-cross of industrial machinery and grimy steel; behind it, the soft blues and pinks of the morn ing sky. At the center of it all glows an eternal flame, a soft pillar of fire bil lowing in the wind. A low mechanical hum permeates the air, a symphony of pumps chugging laboriously. A breeze pushes gulls across the horizon. The portrait is the backdrop for the 2022 video game NORCO, but it depicts a real place: “Cancer Alley,” an eighty-five-mile stretch of land on the Mississippi River that accounts for almost half of all oil and petrochemi cal production in the United States. The point-and-click adventure game is the newest creation from independent game development team Geography of Robots. In NORCO, the player takes on the role of Kay, a brooding young runaway returning home for the first time after learn ing of her mother’s death. Through a series of narrative moments, conver sations, and puzzles, players navigate a world becoming increasingly over taken by technology and urban decay. The game is populated by a cast of odd characters: from stuffed animals to drug abusers, robots to cats, for tune tellers to cultists. Set humbly on the banks of the Mississippi River twenty-five miles west of New Orleans, the town that the game is based upon—Norco, Louisiana—resembles most other small towns across the Gulf South.

AN

// SEP 22 43 In 2015, the boy covered in glass was now a man, going by the pseudonym “Yuts” in online gaming circles. By day, he worked for the City of New Orle ans as a geographic information system developer. By night, he chronicled his world. Doodles, sketches, photographs, pixel art, stories—all documented on his Tumblr blog GeographyOfRobots. Eventually, all of it converged with Yuts’s interest in game development. What he had was a video game. It started out as a simple side-scrolling platformer, where the player takes con trol of a humanoid robot named Mil lion, who breaks into an oil plant. Over time, though, it evolved. Yuts, through his game, began to wonder about why the robot was there in the first place, where it came from, what its world was like, and the day-to-day struggles of the people in that place. “Making the game was a way of pro cessing many feelings about the region,” said Yuts. “Living in Louisiana, there’s a lack of stability that colors everything. The game tries to express that experience and maybe come to terms with it.” Even before Yuts officially released NORCO in the spring of 2022, it was being heralded as an indie hit. It won the Tribeca Film Festival’s first-ever Games Award, and was praised by the judges “for its potential for excellence in art and storytelling through design, artistic mastery, and highly immersive worlds.”Thegaming industry is largely domi nated by multi-million dollar develop ment companies commonly known as “Triple-A” studios, which have massive budgets and staff. While the games they are able to create are polished and often visually stunning, they frequently lack character or cause beyond basic enter tainment. Much of NORCO ’s charm and beauty comes from its hand-made nature, the product of a passion project constructed by a small-scale team, who envisioned an experience that is more than just a video game NORCO is not without its influences. It is easy to classify the game as “South ern Gothic” or “Cyberpunk,” but on the Geography of Robots website, Yuts describes his aesthetic most succinctly as “Petroleum Blues.” Although he cites Hideo Kojima’s 1988 game Snatcher as an inspiration for the gameplay, his inspirations aren’t solely digital. He also throws out names like Kafka, Dosto evsky, William Faulkner, and Cormac McCarthy as influences. Motifs like the inevitability of death, the pain of loss, the bonds of family, the greed of capitalism, and the zeal of religion all pepper the DNA of the game in a way that makes the digital mirror of Norco feel wholly complete, and lived in. The virtual town draws directly from Yuts’s experience growing up there. “Growing up Catholic in Norco, I always saw the imagery of my faith juxtaposed with the industrial landscape of the area.” He says. “The aesthetics of faith and the aes thetics of industry both left an impres sion on me from a young age.”

One of the most striking qualities of NORCO, though, is the fact that the game is truly gorgeous. Each pixelated background is handcrafted with intri cate detail. The characters feel real and

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SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM44 true to life, and the storyline is just fantastical enough to set it apart from reality, but still keep it grounded in human struggles. There are little moments within the game that speak to the authenticity of the characters. In one particular scene, Kay meets up with an old family friend, whom she must team up with in her inves tigation. The game presents the player with the friend’s home—a small blue house, windows boarded with ply wood and flowery moss growing on the roof. In the sky line above, the cottage is dominated by glowing mono lithic pillars of the nearby refinery. Inside the house, an old man with a gray beard sits in the dark. An oxygen tank behind him runs up into a tube under his nose. He is known simply as “Duck”. His house is the last in the neighborhood that hasn’t been bought out by the plant. All the neighbors are gone, their empty houses looted for copper and scrap metal. howdy y'all! Come on down! brec.org/farr(225) 769-7805 + Games + Facility Tours + Riding Demonstrations + Hayrides + More

Here, Yuts is considering the 2002 buyouts that occurred in response to the explosion he experienced as a child, in which Shell Community Relations reached an agreement with the Concerned Citizens of Norco, offering to either buy the property directly adja cent to the factory, or to provide a much smaller home-improvement plan, provided that the homeowners stay at least five years. At the end of a conversation, Duck, sitting in the darkness of his home, leaves the player with a haunting quote: “Money they were offering to buy us out was alright,” he says. “Be worth a lot more had they never come.” h norcogame.com 225-334-7494

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// SEP 22 45

The idea to transform the Tchoupitou las floodwall into a cultural and artistic monument first struck Pierre when he was selected by the city to be the official

Story

many important local cultural themes titled “Resilience.” The wall, he said, serves as a kind of extension of that initial concept—“something that’s historical and monumental for the city, uplifting and bringing everyone together.”

Tchoupitoulas Street— with its industrial ware houses on one side and practical, bare cement floodwall on the other—has never made for a particularly scenic drive.

But that is changing, as vibrant tableaux illustrating New Orleans’s earliest history have begun appearing in paint along the busy corridor. These are evidence of the earliest stages of a massive undertaking involving much of the community: The Tchoupitoulas Floodwall Mural Project.

When the mural is completed, it will extend more than a mile down Tchoupi toulas, covering not only a vast twelveblock stretch of the floodwall, but more

D

THE STORY Written on the Walls

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM46

THE TCHOUPITOULAS FLOODWALL MURAL PROJECT TRANSFORMS AN INFRASTRUCTURAL EYESORE INTO A MILE-LONG CANVAS OF NEW ORLEANS HISTORY and photos by Alexandra Kennon

Community involvement has always been a pillar in Pierre’s journey as an artist. As a teenager in the eighties, he benefitted from various local programs, including a New Orleans nonprofit called YAYA, which stands for “Young Aspirations Young Artists,” founded by local artist Jana Napoli in 1988 when her studio was across the street from Rab ouin High School and she realized many students had an interest in the visual arts, Though the earliest official YAYA participants all attended Rabouin, and Pierre went to Gentilly Terrace, Pierre was frequently present at YAYA pro grams because he was friends with mem bers of that inaugural class of young artists. “Jamar is absolutely an honorary YAYA,” effused Meg Miles, YAYA’s cur rent executive director who is also on the steering committee for NOIM. “Jamar did not go to Rabouin, but he was always around YAYA and friends with the early generations of kids. He was sort of in this collective of people who were part of the organization, even though they were at other schools. And so he has been really MURAL OF

who lived on the land once called Bul bancha all the way through to the present day.“It’s just the beginning,” said Jamar Pierre, the Seventh Ward/Gentilly-raised lead artist, project manager, and founder of New Orleans International Muralist LLC (NOIM), who emphasizes that a project of this scale and quality will take significant time, funding, and commu nity involvement to complete. “It’s going to take a village for this one.”

Pierre admitted that by nature of the mural’s size and the complexities that come with selecting a canvas that is also an infrastructurally-crucial floodwall along a busy thoroughfare—the process has been a learning experience for him as well. “I want to be vulnerable and tell people that I am learning it all. I’ve been an art educator for years, but for this project I really, really had to surrender to being a student,” Pierre said. “It’s hum bled me … it made me realize that collab orating makes me a better person, and a betterFromartist.”permitting, to fundraising, to research, to design, to logistics—there are certainly plenty of learning opportu nities for all involved. “A lot of our pro gram is about the intersection of the arts and entrepreneurship,” Miles explained of YAYA’s mission. “So, especially with a project of this scale, there’s so much to consider when it comes to budget, logis tics, legal, everything. And so, it’s a great

Pierre considers the Tchoupitoulas Flood wall Mural Project part of his larger mission to educate and empower young artists, like he once was. After he started securing funding for the project, YAYA students (or “YAYAs,” as they are called) became his first hires—assisting with design and painting as part of a paid mentorship program. “Part of our model is working with professional artists and giving young people a chance to experience what it’s like to be a professional artist, and what careers in the arts can be like,” explained Miles. “So [Pierre] has worked with us on a number of projects over the years. And really since he started this mural proj ect has almost at every turn included us, which is incredibly generous of him.”

// SEP 22 47 involved with us for a long time.” “[Programs like these] gave me the opportunity to see that a young African American artist can be a professional art ist,” he said. “It kind of molded me as a youngster. That’s when I made the tran sition from being a graffiti street artist to doing murals to uplift the community, and teaching art.” Since those early days, Pierre has embarked on a thirty-year career as a fine artist and arts educator, which has included creating artworks for interna tional exhibitions in Iceland, Costa Rica, and Canada; in addition to having work featured in exhibitions at the New Orle ans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, and most recently Longue Vue House and Gardens. He has been honored by the National Public Radio broadcasting group and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Institute for his contributions to the art world, as well. Besides all that, he has retained his commitment to community develop ment and arts education, which included stints teaching painting classes at YAYA.

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SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM48 opportunity for the YAYAs to learn pub licNOIMart.” and YAYA’s partnership is in the process of becoming more formal as Pierre and YAYA finalize plans for Art Boot Camps in the fall and spring, which will provide a more defined structure for young artists to be paid to work on the mural and learn about business aspects of public art in the process. In addition to YAYA, students from the Arts Council New Orleans’ Young Artist Movement program (YAM) will also participate in Pierre’s Art Boot Camps. “It becomes something that can go on resumes, it becomes something that is really, really tangible, concrete skill building, which we love,” Miles said. “And then there’s also the sort of less tangible piece of it, which is being able to take this pride in driving down Tchoupitoulas and seeing something that you made be part of a permanent installation in our city.” As more sections of the mural are funded, researched, designed, and painted, Pierre hopes to educate the whole city—not just himself and the young artists he works with—on what goes into creating public art and its importantance. “This is an education for the community that artists are entrepre neurs, and we need to collaborate with philanthropy to make the city a better place,” he said. After over a year of battling to secure permits from the state and Flood Pro tection Authority, the mural’s first nine thousand square-foot block or “Phase 1”, which can be seen near Walmart and the intersection of Jackson Avenue, took nearly two years to complete between research, design, and the painting itself. This first section presents New Orleans’s earliest history, from the Native Amer icans to the French and Spanish arriv als in New Orleans. “We’re not doing like, quick street art type work,” Pierre emphasized. “We’re layering it. We’re researching it, and we’re making sure it’s accurate, it’s detailed.” As opposed to “traditional” street art’s aerosol, Pierre is committed to using professional water-based mural paint and brushes (just prior to our August interview, he had officially secured a sponsorship from Golden Paint in New York). This requires a great deal of wash ing and priming of the wall that must be completed before painting even begins.

PhotoWanderEyePhoto:

Photo by Jason Kruppa

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In an absence of written historical records and photographs to reference for the earliest section, Pierre relied on insight from Native American and Afri can American elders, antiques, and arti facts, along with his own intuition as a New Orleanian with Native American and African American roots. “So this whole thing of talking to people, and working with different people, this is something that has to be known is just now starting, as we get into the mid-late 1800s and 1900s, where people have records of all of those stories and histo ries,” he said. Phase II, highlighting the history of the 1800s New Orleans, will feature depictions of moments like the Louisiana Purchase, the Battle of New Orleans, the origins of early ragtime jazz and characters like the Baroness de Pon talba, Marie Laveau, and Rose Nicaud. Pierre estimates this section and the early 1900s—which brings in Louis Arm

“There’s no water out there,” he said. “There’s no electricity. We’re dealing with the elements. And we deal with funding. Even if somebody gave us a million dol lars, which is what we estimate the proj ect is going to [cost], we still can’t paint it thatPierrefast.”posits that even in such a high ly-unlikely fantasy scenario, where the project gained all of the necessary fund ing overnight, it would still take a bare minimum of five years to complete the prepping and painting—and even that might not be enough time, given New Orleans’s unpredictable weather. “Qual ity, always, over quantity. We’re not try ing to do that quick, cartoony, Blaine Kern Mardi Gras look,” Pierre said. “I’m going for something a little bit more sophisticated. I’m not a classical Rem brandt-type painter, but I’m trying to go for something more historical.”

On October 8th, NOLA Brewing Company will host a fundraiser for the Tchoupitoulas Floodwall Mural Project Project called “Tchoup it Up,” featuring music by Mechiya Lake and other musicians, a silent auction, raffle, and specialty beer just for the night called “Tchoup Coast” with proceeds going toward the Floodwall Mural. To donate to the Tchoupitoulas Floodwall Mural Project as an individual with opportunities to win raffle prizes, or to donate or get involved as an organization, visit noim504.com.

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// SEP 22 49 strong, Jelly Roll Morton, Mahalia Jack son, and more—will be completed by AprilFor2023.more recent and better-recorded eras of New Orleans history—Pierre is directly involving local cultural organi zations with personal stakes in aspects of the city’s history, to get individuals and groups involved in sharing their and their ancestors’ stories. He hopes to collaborate with leaders within New Orleans’s diverse cultural landscape— representing the heritages of the city’s Jewish, Italian, German, Vietnamese, and other communities in the mural. He also has plans to feature key moments in New Orleans history in the realms of medicine, education, and sports—he’s already got spaces reserved for Charity Hospital (where he was born), Touro, and Ochsner.Pierre described his cultural explora tion as a call to action: “Let’s have those dialogues, let’s have those roundtables with those different diverse communities that represent New Orleans as a gumbo.” He said that even more impactful than the fundraising initiative is the opportu nity for communities to have a say in how their stories are told—particularly from the perspective of visual art. “I think the great thing about Jamar is that with a project this big, he feels not only a desire, but a responsibility to make it as community oriented as it can be,” Miles said. “I love the idea of different sponsors sponsoring different pieces of the history and getting to be part of that as it unfolds ... He’s really walking the walk of community engagement.” This community engagement extends to Tchoupitoulas Street business owners, too. “We are super excited that JP is the lead on this project, as we have worked with him many times in the past and respect his work a great deal,” said Dylan Lintern, president and COO of NOLA Brewing Company, which is located on Tchoupitoulas. “For us, it’s all about tak ing an eyesore and turning it into some thing beautiful that the whole city can enjoy.”“This was the opportunity for me to do something monumental for my city, you know: create something that’s our Statue of Liberty, that’s our Eiffel Tower,” Pierre said. “But I can’t tell the story by myself, because you have to collaborate with all of the diverse communities in New Orle ans to create public art.” Considering that the Crescent City was founded for its location, nestled into a curve of the Mississippi River, and that Tchoupitoulas Street is named for a Choctaw word meaning “those who live near the river,” Pierre’s monument to New Orleans could not be more pro foundly at home. “Because of the Mis sissippi River, we’ve been able to carry our traditions … not just merchandise, up and down the river to the world, but things from our cultural landscape: our food, our music, our art. And we’ve been a really, really, really significant part of American history, even before the Loui siana Purchase, for three hundred years,” Pierre said. “So, I think that’s something that deserves a large space, and some thing that deserves a twelve-block, onemile-long mural.” h

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM50 COMMUNAL CONCEPTS 50 “FOOD WITH A STORY” W SEPTEMBER 2022 Cuisine

“Old man’s salads” were the words Peter Sclafani’s twenty-some thing-year-old daughter Kather ine used to describe the chicken + caesar and grilled shrimp + caesar options intended for SoLou, the “Louisiana with a twist” restaurant he opened in spring 2021. signed for women. “I only know what I know,” said Sclafani, a third-generation, New Orleans-born chef. “I don’t know what I don’t know. Sometimes you need other people to show you what you don’t know.” This mentality has served him from childhood, watching his father and his grandfather in the family restaurant, to his early days as a chef running kitchens in New Orleans East and the French Quarter. He re lied on his purveyors for more than just ingredients: “I’d ask, ‘What’s Emeril buying?’ ‘Well, he’s buying these super expensive scallops.’ ‘So, what kind of scal lops?’ ‘Dry scallops.’ I got my education by just being curious. ‘What’s a dry scallop?’ ‘Oh, you know how scallops are white? They bleach them in sodium trip olyphosphate. They blow up in size. You never get a good sear on a white scallop, you need a dry scallop. If you take a scallop that’s been soaked in tripoly and put it in a pan, it starts to weep. So, it steams, it never sears.’”Sclafani moved to Baton Rouge in the late ‘90s, with his wife and infant son, for a can’t-miss prop osition. A new restaurant would be opening at the outskirts of town, named for LSU’s popular football coach. A former football player would be greeting the tables, and a seasoned restaurateur was running the business. Sclafani was the New Orleans Italian chef who’d complete the picture. “Then Gerry DiNardo started losing,” said Sclafani, and the restaurant got the blame. “My wife and I wondered if we’d made a hugeLSUmistake.”firedDiNardo in November 1999, after sev en straight losses, but Baton Rouge diners continued to visit the restaurant for the steak, just not the pig skin. Sclafani found a mentor in co-owner T.J. Mo ran, whose restaurant portfolio included T.J. Ribs and a number of Ruth’s Chris steakhouses. “He really taught me about the restaurant business: how to make money, about systems, consistency. He had this rule that once something was on the menu, you couldn’t touch it.”

HOSPITALITY

PETER SCLAFANI IS RETHINKING RESTAURANTS IN THE CAPITAL CITY

The replacements are much prettier. “Kat’s Salad” includes baby spinach, plump Gulf shrimp, and jewels of mango and tomato quivering beneath the lacework of Sclafanifeta. doesn’t always understand the opinions of his daughter and her friends—“You guys really want to eat cauliflower?”—but SoLou is a restaurant de Making Raving Fans

Moran sold both the property and the operating company to Sclafani and Rodrigue in 2012. “We jumped at the chance,” said Sclafani. “And I hate to say it—but we weren’t that smart. We didn’t put pen and paper to it, to see if we could afford to pay two notes. We were one month in and I realized: we will never pay this, we’re gonna go broke.”

Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves, a friend of Rodrigue’s, recommended the two hire Kathleen Wood, a consultant who could assuredly find profits for the frantic pair. She’d worked with P.F. Chang’s

Top left : Juban’s new interiors feature various tributes to Baton Rouge culture. Top right: Juban’s “Louisiana Two Birds”: Chicken fried quail breast, boudin-stuffed quail, haricots verts amandine, Creole cane syrup gastrique. Bottom: Small touches make the SoLou experience memorable.

In the front of the house, former LSU offensive guard Ruffin Rodrigue—who passed away in late 2020—built the connection with customers. DiNar do left after a few years, and the restaurant’s name was changed to Ruffino’s. “Ruffin knew how to make everyone feel like his best friend. He remembered ev eryone’s names, their wives, their kids. He was really special in doing that,” said Sclafani.

“food with a story,” like the dry scal lops or the Creole tomatoes Sclafani would drive to St. Bernard Parish to buy from Mr. Gallo. “So, we hired peo ple with passion, and we told the story of our food. Our business grew by fifty percent, almost overnight. Everything picked up. It was utterly amazing. It was a great ride.” A catering hall, a restaurant in La fayette, two visits to the James Beard house, cookbooks, local and national television appearances, and awards fol lowed for Ruffino’s and Sclafani. But after a few years, different visions for the restaurant drove Sclafani and Ro drigue to a mediator. “We decided we were better apart.” In 2017, Rodrigue bought Sclafani out of his stake, and Sclafani became a consultant to other restaurateurs.Butclientsdidn’t always want to hear the lessons he’d learned, claiming their food costs were just right or cheaper ingredients slid by guests unnoticed.

“When we come back, we’re going to find out what that word is.” “I’m the first one to come back,” said Sclafani. “I’m like, ‘All right Kathleen, I’m thinking about it. The word’s pas sion.’ She’s like, ‘Not the word I would have chosen for you.’ Ah, so I got that wrong too. Then Ruffin comes in a moment later, he just swings the doors open, ‘It’s passion !’” Beyond that, the group landed on Then why were so many chairs emp ty? Sclafani would ask. “That part was tough for me—you meet with people, and it’s crystal clear what the problem is, but they don’t wanna admit it.”

// SEP 22 51 and Church’s Chicken as well as Rais ing Cane’s, where she’d both consult ed and served as President/COO. She now worked with Walk-On’s, another Baton-Rouge-begun restaurant that was exploding nationally. “Look, if she doesn’t make you ten times her fee, I’ll pay,” said Graves. “So, there’s no risk to you. Just hire her, and I’ll guarantee it.” Wood filled the back office of Ruffi no’s with whiteboards, demanding that Rodrigue and Sclafani distill their scat tered business into a few words. “Every time I tried to say what I thought my food philosophy was, I could come up with something that made it not true,” said Sclafani. “‘Oh, we use all local … well, not really, I sell Copper River salmon, I sell scallops … okay, we’re just seasonal. Oh, I guess we’re not sea sonal. I sell tomatoes year round.’” Hours went by without a clear food philosophy. They took a break. “Some where up here there’s a word that will embody what Ruffino’s is,” said Wood.

Sclafani is most effective when he invests in the restaurants he knows he can help and makes the changes him self. In 2020, he founded Making Raving Fans Hospitality Group with Portobello’s owner Kiva Guidroz. The SoLou recently took part in Baton Rouge Restaurant Week, serving various specials, including this Beeets and Berries dish.

SoLou, with its green velvet bar stools; inviting, verdant patio; and neon feature wall that gets a lot of love on Instagram, is a concept he’d like to take up and down I-10. Do ladies love SoLou as planned? Just ask my twoyear-old, who offered herself up for adoption because her real parents had never surprised her with cotton can dy and chocolate sauce at the end of a meal.At each of his restaurants—with a goal that he’s raised from ten to twen ty by 2030—Sclafani values premium ingredients and prompt service, but he hopes it’ll take you at least ten minutes to walk to your table, “because you know everybody that’s in there.” h makingravingfans.com newly-renovated Juban’s Atrium is a hallmark of Baton Rouge culture and of fresh, modern design.

Fans is “To make someone’s day, every day.” This extends to the way “Com munity” centers operations at P-Beau’s. “Phamily” is the driving force at Phil’s. “The win for us—this is what a grand slam looks like at Phil’s—when some body comes in, pulls Anthony over, and says, ‘Anthony, your dad would be so proud,’” said Sclafani. “It looks a little different, the menu’s a little different, so you’re excited about it and you see the future,” said Sclafani about refreshing old concepts, “but you don’t wanna give up conquered ground. You don’t wanna give up the past.”

The

52 group opened SoLou in spring 2021 with Michael Boudreaux, of Juban’s Restaurant Group, and have gone on to renovate the group’s other restaurants, which include two Portobello’s loca tions, Juban’s, and P-Beau’s in Den ham Springs (which will re-open this month). With Anthony Piazza, Scla fani also co-owns Phil’s Oyster Bar, a revival of the restaurant Piazza’s father Gus ran, to great local affection, until 2007.Each transformation is different. For Juban’s, the many rooms of the lab yrinthine restaurant have been given their own furnishings and feel, thanks to XDesign and DNA Workshop, with a uniform reverence for music, Loui siana, and—if you’ll note the oil por traits of Shaq and LSU Gymnastics coach D-D Breaux—Baton Rouge’s particular triumphs. “History loves company,” reads a sign on the front of theGarybuilding.Bergeron, manager of Adler’s jewelry store, has joined his friends for lunch at Juban’s every Friday for more than fifteen years. “We’d come for a great meal and great conversation.” The group relocated to Portobello’s when Juban’s closed in spring 2020. They’re happily back in the atrium now, claim ing they followed Portobello’s general manager Kerry Kelley to her new post here. “The old restaurant was nice, but it needed to be updated. They’ve done a fabulous job,” said Bergeron, citing the ambiance and the variety. Today the “Why” at Making Raving

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It was the continuous series of sharp, shooting pains that artist Stacey Pelas experienced in 2018 which led to the detection of a grapefruit sized tumor in December of that year. As diagnoses go, this one was serious: Pelas had Stage 3 ovarian cancer; surgery was not only necessary, it needed to happen Afterimmediately.hersurgery, the real healing began. In early 2019 Pelas endured a difficult post-operative recovery period, after which came twenty-five rounds of radiation therapy, followed by chemotherapy. By July, when she completed her treatments and was declared cancer-free, Pelas truly understood the lessons that all survivors learn: not only that a cancer diagnosis is the first step in a long and challenging journey, but also the critical importance of having convenient access to expert treatment, support, and care along the way.

For Pelas, conducting art workshops for fellow cancer survivors was a natural extension of the gratitude she feels toward the staff at the Cancer Center. That appreciation, it turns out, has been a family affair: During the pandemic mask shortage, her mother-in-law hand stitched nearly 400 masks for Cancer Center staff. This July marked Pelas’s third year of living cancer-free—a renewed lease on life that has ignited a burst of creative energy in this lifelong creative spirit. While Pelas’s work still celebrates her love for Louisiana, her techniques and her canvases are evolving. Recently she has expanded beyond the salvaged, hand-cut roofing slates that have long served as her canvas of choice, and started exploring watercolors, experimenting with textures, and broadening her portfolio to include beach landscapes alongside her iconic (and popular) Louisiana motifs. She is a regular participant in regional art shows, and sells work in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Metairie and will soon be available in Lafayette and Gulf Shores Ever(Alabama).thepositive pragmatist, Pelas knows that whatever happens, she’ll keep going. “I’ll just continue on, because I am content and happy with the way the business is. If I could expand and be a little bit busier, that would be good too. And my husband would like that a lot too,” she laughs.

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The Courage of Creativity

“Mary Bird still gives so much to me. For anyone I find out is going through this, I immediately give them the number to the Center in Gonzales and encourage them to call. I tell them that they’ll help you every step of the way,” says Pelas, who has since taught art classes to fellow survivors at the Center.

A Special Advertising Feature from Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

For Pelas, art has been an escape, a place of complete immersion, and a lifelong source of joy. Her father, who was a chemical engineer, was a creative spirit who encouraged her interests from a young age. She developed that interest further throughout her high school years, then dove deeper following the devastating loss of her parents just a few years apart. In 2006, she launched her own business, SJRP Custom Creations, selling artwork in stores throughout Louisiana and appearing at regional art shows. In 2016, when Pelas had to undergo surgery for Stage 1 endometrial cancer, art served as a refuge from physical pain –– and its therapeutic benefits continued to provide comfort during her most recent bout with cancer.

“Throughout my cancer journey and treatments, I never really stopped. I did on the worst days, of course, but I would make sure that I went back to it whenever I felt well enough,” says Pelas, who credits her deep sense of faith, supportive husband, family, and friends for helping her through the difficult times.

marybird.org/location/gonzales

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Gonzales, where Pelas received her care, had been recommended to her as an optimal in-state resource. That turned out to be a boon for all kinds of reasons. The center is just ten minutes from her home and offers chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation therapy, along with imaging services. In addition, patient resources included weekly yoga classes and art workshops, which Pelas took part in every chance she had. Through those workshops and classes befriended other patients who encouraged her to join the center’s survivorship network. Throughout the pandemic, the team at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center continued to deliver access to these resources via Zoom, all while ensuring that Pelas’s follow-up care continued uninterrupted.

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM54 Culture INSIDE THE WORKSHOP Meet the Andersons AT SHEARWATER, THE ARTISTIC LEGACY LIVES ON

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erched on a stool in the Shear water Pottery workshop, James (Jim) Anderson concentrates on his hands and the undulat ing clay beneath them. Daylight streams through the window, illuminating the whiskey cup taking shape on the pottery wheel.“My dad thought pottery should be pleasing to look at and functional—flow ing, not stiff, with classic shapes and nice colors,” he explains. When he stops the wheel, the cup is perfectly shaped, with a gentle curve inward before slightly flaring out at the lip, ready for the next step in the laborious pottery-making process. Jim is the main potter at Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Mississip pi. His father, the late Peter Anderson, founded the business in 1928, and two years later, his brothers Walter and James (Mac) joined the venture. Today, Walter is best known for his fantastical watercol ors, many of which are memorialized at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in downtown Ocean Springs. But he earned his living at Shearwater.

Story by Kristy Christiansen • Photos by Paul Christiansen

The three brothers’ creative origins can be traced back to their mother, Annette Anderson, who studied art for many years at the Tulane University’s New comb College for women. In 1918, she visited Ocean Springs on a day trip from New Orleans and ended up purchasing twenty-four acres of waterfront land, where she hoped to foster an artist’s col Today, Jim Anderson is the main potter at the Shearwater, the potter's workshop and showroom founded by his father, the artist Peter Anderson.

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“I’ve been working here my whole life,” says Jim. “When we were children, we played here. We hid in the rafters and ran all over the place. I had other ideas at one time, but I ended up in pottery.”

painted.Allthree

“Theybeauty.called

//SEP 22 55 ony. She and her husband moved there four years later. The brothers, in their late teens and early twenties, eventually joined them and found inspiration in the waterfront town and its abundance of natural her ‘Mère,’ which is French for ‘mother,’” says Doug Myatt, former curator of the Walter Ander son Museum, as he gives us a tour of the Shearwater property, which lies at the center of town, overlooking the harbor. He tells us how Peter met the potter Jo seph Meyer on Deer Island, just off of the coast of Ocean Springs. Interested in learning the art of pottery from a master, Peter asked him for tutelage. At the end of it, Meyer told him: “You know all you need to know, now go practice.” His practice paid off. After establish ing the workshop and showroom, Peter built Shearwater Pottery into a world-re nowned company and a line of ceram ic art found in collections worldwide. Peter’s focus was on the practical. He designed a full range of glazed, earthen tableware, while Walter and Mac created whimsical molds of animals and fairytale figurines, which were then cast and hand brothers have since passed, and a new generation of Andersons carry on the family trade. Jim takes the lead in the workshop, where, alongside his son and several staff, Peter's signature style of crafting functional wares endures.

Tall and lanky with a quiet, Southern accent, he steps away from the potter’s wheel to walk the room as he describes his pottery-making process. Until re cently, the Andersons dug their own clay in Mississippi and Alabama and mixed it with Tennessee ball clay to make it more plastic. Today, they buy the clay, but the method remains the same. The clay is then put through a mesh screen and poured (cast) in the original molds created by Shearwater’s founders. If not selected for casting, the clay goes through a filter press, which makes it more sol id—better for throwing on the wheel or jiggering (throwing on a wheel with a mold).Once a potter creates the shape, they stack the piece on a board alongside dozens of others, before placing them all in the kiln to be bisque fired at about seventeen hundred degrees. This creates enough heat to dry up any remaining wa ter. The pottery is then dipped in a tub of one of Shearwater’s signature glazes and fired again, this time up to two thousand and fifty degrees, to melt the glaze, ren dering it as smooth and hard as colored glass.

Hand-painted work by Patricia Findeisen.

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“With bisque firing, you can stack multiples,” explained Jim. “Glaze firing is like putting together a puzzle without something to look at.” If the glazed pieces touch, the glaze will be ruined, so work ers struggle to fit as many pieces as possi ble on the boards while keeping adequate space between each. After cooling slowly over a couple of days, the glazed pieces are finally ready for the showroom. Next door in the Annex, Jim’s sister, Patricia Findeisen, and cousin, Adele Lawton (daughter of Mac), painstak ingly create hand-painted designs on underglazed castware created from the founders’ original molds and even some, such as a small cat and an owl, created by the brothers’ mother, Annette. Patricia paints her own designs, often choosing to work on her Uncle Walter’s cat or seagull figures. Adele, on the other hand, enjoys recreating historical designs on Walter’s and Mac’s figurines—though she uses her free time to produce original work. One of her original vases, on display in the showroom’s museum, depicts her par ents birdwatching at McIlhenny Island, where they spent their honeymoon and often returned to visit. In the Annex, the artists use the stark white Tennessee ball clay. After casting it in molds and air drying it, the artists will either draw designs freeform or use stencils to first outline the designs and then carefully paint in the colors on what is known as greenware. Then, they place the painted pieces in the kiln to be bisque fired, before applying a clear glaze. Other family members tend to the business side of the showroom. Another daughter of Peter, Annette Majorie Ash ley, worked as business manager until her daughter, Beth Ashley, took over the job. Decades ago, Shearwater Pottery could be found in some department stores. Pre ferring to have the freedom to create each piece to be totally unique, Peter quickly reverted back to selling the pottery instore only. Still, the demand is nearly al ways greater than the supply. Aside from the main workshop, An nex, and Showroom, the property also hosts the homes of five members of the Anderson family. Walter’s former home resides here as well, minus the “Little Room” where he created his famous floor-to-ceiling murals, unbeknownst to anyone until after his death. The Little Adele Lawton and Patricia Findeisen—daughters of Peter and Mac Anderson, respectively—hold court in Shearwater's Annex, where they painstakingly hand-paint designs onto Jim's wares. Some of their paintings are original, others are drawn from their fathers' and uncles' historic designs.

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Visit the Shearwater Pottery Showroom at 102 Shearwater Drive Ocean Springs, Mississippi from 9 am–5:30 pm Monday through Saturday, and 1 pm–5:30 pm on Sunday. Hand-painted works by Adele Lawton.

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Room is now on display at the Walter An derson Museum of Art. Another structure on the property, re ferred to simply as the “Barn,” is homebase for a print shop run by Walter’s daughter-inlaw, Carolyn. Adorned with Walter’s block print designs, the silk-screened prints and printed clothing and textiles created here are sold in Realizations: The Walter An derson Shop found in Ocean Springs’ old train station on Washington Avenue. After working in the Annex after college, Adele started Realizations in 1986. However, after Hurricane Katrina swamped the Shearwater property in twenty-eight feet of water and destroyed many of the original buildings, she returned to help the family rebuild and resumed painting at the Annex. Nearly one hundred years old now, Shear water Pottery carries on, propelled by the creativity of the Anderson family. Artistry runs in their veins and continues to shine in later generations as well, with grandchil dren of the original three brothers develop ing their talents in music, painting, crayon drawings, and linen designs. And the beau tiful, wooded Shearwater property, team ing with wildlife, stands as an inspirational backdrop to all. h

The Pa-Ta-Sa Cooking Krewe will be hosting a traditional boucherie. A music jam will invite all aspiring fiddlers and accordionists and guitarists and trian gle players (singers, too!) to make some magic. And the main stage of Lakeview’s legendary dance hall will welcome some of the best names in the current Cajun and Creole repertoires: Geno Delafose, the Pine Leaf Boys, Balfa Toujours, Steve Riley, and more. Steps will be taken in twos and drinks will be had by the plen ty. And all will come to a grand Cajun Catholic end on Sunday morning, when a local priest will offer Mass in French just where all the raucous fais do do-ing had taken place the night before.

Story by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

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•

Photo by David Simpson immersive educational and celebratory experience around Cajun and Creole music and dance. After a year dedicated to fundraising and promoting, the in augural Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week took place in April, 2001 at Lake Fausse Point in St. Martinville. Dedicated to the legacy of one of Cajun music’s best-remembered ambassadors, the event functioned like a camp—fea turing seven days of immersion into South Louisiana Francophone culture, with music intensives taught by local masters, dance classes, French tables, traditional craft workshops, cooking demonstrations, jam sessions, and night ly concerts that were open to the public. The response was overwhelming— spots quickly filled up with not only lo cals interested in connecting with their culture, but with creatives from all across the country who wanted to experience an authentic presentation of this way of life. “It was this cocoon of Cajun culture,” said Winky. “These students were com ing from all over the country, all over the world, and we were putting them in the cocoon, where they could flourish.” In 2003, the event had become so popular that organizers decided to host a spring and a fall session—and the fall session was to be held in Evangeline Parish’s Chicot State Park. In 2004, the event returned to Lake Fausse Point, but from 2005 to 2013, Chicot State Park welcomed hundreds of cultural tourists for the festivities every year. Winky tells of one instance when an entire group of Russians drove up to Chicot Park, concerned about the preser vation of their own culture six thousand miles away, to learn about how the Ca juns had saved theirs. “By the time they left,” said Winky, “they were Zydeco’in and eatin’ boudin. And had an idea of what they were gonna do when they got home.”Perhaps more monumental, for Winky and Chicken, than the outsiders coming in to learn about Louisiana culture—was helping locals to fall in love with their home again, just as Winky had. And it was happening. Every night, thousands of local folks from around the region paired up in the concert tent to dance the night away, to break bread with all these visitors. “The message my wife and I were trying to convey to our local peo ple was, ‘My God, you should be proud. These people came to be with us. And so come see them, come visit. Come have a plate of sauce piquante with them,” said Winky.In2014, Louisiana Folk Roots decided to move the camp outside of rural Louisi ana into the urban heart of Cajun Coun try in Lafayette, to be hosted at the living history museum and folklife park, Ver milionville. And though the event con tinued to be successful in its new home, the Evangeline Parish folks deeply felt its absence.So,the next year, Winky and Chick en joined up with other interested indi viduals in the area to create a new orga nization, Prairie Heritage, Inc.—which would be dedicated to putting on an an nual two-day cultural festival in Evange line Parish, inspired by the environment cultivated by “Balfa Week,” which still takes place annually at Vermilionville (2023 dates TBA). The new event, they decided, would be called “Le Grand Hoorah”—which translates to “the big goodAftertime”.a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the 2022 festival’s new ven ue at Lakeview is both novel and nostal gic. Besides being logistically simpler to stage (“Chicot was like a tent city.”), the sixty-plus-year-old campsite on the edge of Evangeline and St. Landry has been host to various culturally-rich events over the past few decades—from Lundi Gras celebrations to boucheries to weekly fais do dos, not to mention a visit from An thony Bourdain in 2011. Lakeview has also been a sponsor of Le Grand Hoorah in the past. “It’s got the right … I almost want to talk like some of those people that come from California—there’s a certain vibe,” said Winky. And Lakev iew’s got it. This year’s festival is particularly spe cial, too, because of its—somewhat un intentional—whole hearted celebration of Evangeline. Looking at the slate of chefs and entertainers and organiz ers and even the priests, you can trace almost every single one of them back to the Cajun Music Capital of the World. “Father Jason Vidrine is going to open with us and pray with us,” said Winky. “The French Immer sion kids are going to come in the morning, from Mamou. The camp jammers are all some guys with roots in Basile, Mamou, Ville Platte.” He goes on to list the bands, starting with the revival of his and Chicken’s sons’ band Ti Salé, The Aucoin Family Band— featuring Jean-Jacques and Louie Aucoin and their sons. Then there are three Evangeline Parish-originat ed bands that have been performing at Balfa Week since the beginning: Chris tine Balfa’s Balfa Toujours (of which Jean-Jacques is the accordion play er), Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys (“Steve, we’ve got a com mon ancestor with him,” said Winky.), and Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie— the king of Evangeline Parish Zydeco.Almost sixty years ago, when Winky was falling for Chicken and Cyprien still lived just down the road, the accor dionist was one of the first musicians to play a dance on the Lakeview stage. As legend has it, the Smithsonian folklorist Ralph Rinzler was in the area search ing for musicians to bring to the 1964 Newport Folk Festival when “the wild est thing you ever heard” came on the radio—a radio broadcast featuring Cy prien and his son Adam, playing the old traditional Cajun songs. That discovery of Rinzler’s would lead to one of the first performances, by none other than Dew ey Balfa, of Cajun music on a national stage—which would ultimately lead to the renaissance that sparked celebrations like Le Grand Hoorah. In 2022, Dewey and Cyprien’s chil dren and grandchildren and great grandchildren will carry on the torch of a heritage that evokes a particular joy, a particular endurance, in a place that has managed to remember it best. All be cause the wild sounds of Cajun music, and the community it fosters, inspired a few devotees to share it with the world. Je te verrai lá-bas, au Grand Hoorah. h Le Grand Hoorah will take place at Lakeview Park and Beach on September 24, with a closing mass on September 25. Details at legrandhoorah.com.

FESTIVALS Le Grand Hoorah

It all goes back to Evangeline Parish, to the home of Cyprien Landrene au, where, in the 1960s, a boy called Winky was falling in love with a girl calledWelcomedChicken.over the Landreneaux’ threshold, a portal of sorts, Winky (for mally called Gilbert Aucoin) started falling in love with something else, too. Sitting in the living room of one of the twentieth century’s most influential Ca jun accordionists, he found himself en raptured by the old world joie de vivre of his home, of Evangeline Parish. “I saw the music at home, the friends and the neighbors who’d come. I saw the dance and the food and all the joy from these three things ... and I thought, ‘Just look at the atmosphere that he cre ates,’” said Winky, speaking of his late father-in-law. Winky had grown up in Evangeline, just down the road from his future-wife’s home in Duralde, but had up until then never been so profoundly immersed in the cultural treasures of the area as he was in Cyprien’s home. “It re ally ignited something in me. He was a reflection of our parish … it all just came home.”This seminal experience opened the door for the couple’s lifelong dedication to cultural and language preservation initiatives in Acadiana—all culminating in this year’s Le Grand Hoorah, a Cajun and Creole gathering to be held at Lakev iew Park & Beach, just a stone’s throw away from where Cyprien’s house once stood.Held on Saturday, September 24, the festival brings together all of the ingredi ents for an authentic, Cajun good time: good food, good music, good company.

Le Grand Hoorah’s origins go back to the year 2000, when Winky and Chick en joined other regional culture bearers, including musician Christine Balfa, in forming the organization Louisiana Folk Roots with the intention of creating an

THE CELEBRATION OF CAJUN CULTURE RETURNS

HOME TO EVANGELINE THIS SEPTEMBER

Photo Hoorah.GrandatSimpson,Davidbythe2019

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In the four hundred years since he shuffled off this mortal coil, William Shakespeare has led some scholars to h ask, “What was that guy smok ing?” Musings have been followed through with graveyard excavations (pipe fragments!) and sonnet scourings (ooh, he means cannabis…). Myriad aspects of the Bard’s life have been explored to this depth, thus the aspiring writer can also learn his habits, the foods he ate, and how he might have romanced Gwyneth Pal trow.But theatre is the province of the living and could do with less clutter from the dead. For playwrights asking the same questions you ask yourself, and actors surmounting outmoded barriers to en try, your ticket to an entertaining, con science-raising evening will come from 225 Theatre Collective. When this magazine hits stands, the Baton Rouge-based production compa ny will have just completed the run of its first stage play, Frank Winters’ Student Body, at the LSU Studio Theatre. (Their first official performance was a table read of The Great Gatsby in January 2022.) Student Body puts ten young actors on a stage and turns on the pressure: an un dergrad was (or maybe wasn’t) assaulted at a party among friends. How should her fellow students respond? Founder and artistic director Steph anie Bartage decided to start her own theatre company in late 2021. A Del gado theatre graduate recently relocat ed to Baton Rouge, she’s left more than one audition feeling she’d lost the part not because of how she uttered a line or embodied a character but because her appearance, as a Latina actress, did not match what the casting director had in mind.With her theatre non-profit, she hopes to create better opportunities for herself and others. “It’s become so much bigger than me,” said Bartage. “I think the pandemic had us in this mindset of ‘What else do we have to lose?’” said co-founder Victoria Brown. She responded “about a minute after” Bartage made a post in a local moms' Facebook group, gauging interest in join ing her new theatre company. “The one thing the pandemic taught me is if I want to do something, I only have so much time to do it. I just spent how many years locked in my house? I might as well go out and do what I want, shoot for the stars.”ABuffalo, New York native and grad uate of the Savannah College of Art & Design, Brown’s area of expertise is cos tume design. Ashley Schmid soon came on board as technical director. In recent months, the group has added Taylor Meng as education coordinator—a role she also holds at Southeastern Louisiana University’s Columbia Theatre—and Simone Jackson, a sophomore at LSU, as director of diversity and inclusion.

Photos by Kimberly Meadowlark

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Jackson and Schmid attended high school together, in Virginia; there, the atre coach Lisa Cover-Tucci staged weighty plays including The Laramie Project, a drawn-from-life story of the community response to the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was tortured to death by two peers. Schmid recalled threats from Westboro Baptist Church to shut down the produc tion.“But I want to make people care and be angry,” said Schmid. “When I’m look ing for potential shows, I think, ‘What will impact the community the most?’” Plays like Laramie and Student Body meet the definition of good theatre that Meng learned from a friend: “It should be like a ghost, and haunt you when you leave the building.”

PERFORMANCE Scene Change 225 THEATRE COLLECTIVE MAKES ITS DEBUT

Story by Lucie Monk Carter •

From left to right : Education Coordinator/Director Taylor Meng, Director of Diversity and Inclusion

Simone Jackson, Co-founder and Costume Designer Victoria Brown, Co-founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Bartage, and Technical Director Ashley Schmid.

Visit 225theatrecollective.com for an up-to-date schedule of performances, classes, and auditions.

The 225 Theatre Collective team is made up of ambitious young creatives from diverse backgrounds, hoping to bring new stories and new faces to the stage.

A night of improv and music is planned at Mid City Artisans, on Sep tember 23, and on October 13, five actors will tell short scary stories at The Guru.

The group is eager to elevate voices that may have been muted before, and to tell untraditional stories. “We aim to get to know everyone, treat them with kind ness, learn what they love about theatre, and see what they can bring to the com pany so that we can best accommodate them,” said Jackson. “Everybody may not be coming from the same place or have the same things to offer, but every body has something they can bring to the theatre.” h

The collective’s emphasis on accessibil ity has already led them to new talents.

When they hosted a night of monologues last March at Bee Nice park in Mid City, Bartage was particularly wowed by an Al yssa Haddox, who performed an excerpt from the Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie. “When I talked to her after, she said, “Oh, yeah, I’ve never done this before.’ ‘So you’re coming to the next audition right?’ ‘If you want me to…’ ‘Yes!’” Maddox later landed a part in the production of Student Body.

Even those with the utmost stage fright can find something fun in the workshops and performances 225 Theatre Collective has slated for this fall. This month, for ex ample, Brown will lead weekly hand-sew ing classes at the LSU Women’s Center. Past workshops have included acting for film with local thespian Frank Wilson, and making superhero costumes for kids.

Audience members will derive plenty of entertainment from 225 Theatre Col lective, but you may find you’re an actor, a lighting technician, or even a playwright.

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ARTWALKS

Painting the Town

Top: “Hattiesbirds,” Kayla Newman’s “#Hattiesburg” is the Mississippi component of the artist’s attempt to create a mural in every U.S. state within three years. Bottom left : “SpreadYourWings,” Austin artist Avery Orendorf brightened a nondescript downtown building with his mural. Bottom right : Lissa Ortego’s 3-dimensional duck in the Pocket Alley. Photos by Cheré Coen.

“We got to think ing, what could we revealed a five-year strategic plan placing public art at the forefront. When the limitations of the pandemic imposed themselves, leaders saw an opportunity to shift the focus to permanent public art installations that visi tors could view on their own. “We realized that by increasing our public art attrac tions, we would be able to create a safe public attraction for people to enjoy,” she said. “Also, part of our mission was to support local and Mississippi artists who were out of work during the pandemic.”

do without crowds?” said Marlo Dorsey, President and CEO of Visit Hattiesburg. The Hattiesburg Alliance for Public Art, a program of Visit Hattiesburg, had been busy harnessing the creative culture in town, but up until then the focus had been on facilitating themed sculpture exhibitions throughout the city. According to Paige Robertson, Director of Com munications and Digital Strategies at Visit Hattiesburg, days before the pandemic hit, the tourism commission

The Alliance put out a call to regional artists — and

A LOOK AT HATTIESBURG’S GROWING COLLECTION OF PUBLIC ART

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM62 ART IN THE CITY 56 A WALK THROUGH HATTIESBURG’S ART-ADORNED STREETS // 59 THE ARTISTIC EVOLUTION OF THE CITY THAT MADE WALMART SEPTEMBER 2022 Escapes When Covid came calling in early 2020, Hattiesburg tourism executives con sidered their options. The city offers great outdoor activities, such as the Longleaf Trace hiking and biking path, but attractions such as the Saenger Theatre and the Hattiesburg Zoo were forced to close, and the University of Southern Mis sissippi shut down—sending much of the town’s univer sity population elsewhere.

By Cheré Coen

// SEP 22 63 a few national — to submit designs for city murals and outdoor sculptures. The plan was to establish a self-guid ed art trail experience for visitors to the area.

“We wanted it to be a catalyst for our arts, but also showcase all kinds of different artwork,” Dorsey said. “We cast a wide net to bring in diversity. We decided it can’t be all about what we see every day.” In 2020, the city commissioned nine murals, allowing plenty of room for the concept to grow. Artists began painting, and the Hattiesburg Public Art Trail—com plete with website, signage, and brochure—launched in March 2021. Today, the trail includes forty-eight stops, with thirty-four of them murals, twenty-two of which were installed within the last two years. “We want to be a city of one hundred murals,” Dorsey said, stating 2025 as the goalpost to achieve this. “We’re a third of the way there.” Hattiesburg’s murals run the gamut, illustrating ev erything from city pride and history to subjects more whimsical and introspective, a variety that should ap peal to every taste and age group.

Heidi Pitre of Marrero contributed two murals, a fanciful “Ribbons & Wheels” at Moore’s Bike Shop on Hardy Street that spotlights the Longleaf Trace and the Hattiesburg Zoo, and a vibrant “Suffrage” mural in honor of the 2020 centennial for women achieving the constitutional right to vote. River Prince of Moselle, Mississippi, pays homage to the heroes of Hattiesburg in his “Courage” mural that spans the side of a building facing Veterans Park. At the far left of the mural, Prince painted an imposing portrait of native son Jesse L. Brown, the country’s first African American naval aviator, who was killed in the Korean War.To bring attention to another little-known story, Prince adorns the side of the building housing T-Bones Records & Café with “Birthplace of Rock ’n’ Roll.” Hat tiesburg was home to the Mississippi Jook Band consist ing of Roosevelt and Uaroy Graves and pianist Cooney Ben Watts’ life-sized bronze sculpture honors the life and legacy of Oseola McCarty (left) and (right) Andrea Kostyal’s “The New Normal”. Photos courtesy of Visit Hattiesburg.

Top : Heidi Pitre’s “Suffrage,” photo by Cheré Coen.

Bottom : Kelsey Montague’s “#Whatliftsyou”. Photo courtesy of Visit Hattiesburg.

SEP 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM64 Vaughan. The musicians recorded a blues record in 1936 that many believe contains the very first rock ’n’ roll guitar riffs. Several mural subjects appear to have been born of the pandemic. “Wonderful Day” by art teacher Ricardo Moody, who collaborated with local high school art programs for the work, features an uplifting quote by Maya Angelou. “Spread Your Wings” by Avery Orendorf of Austin, Texas, located on the side of a nondescript brick building, illustrates a bluebird in flight against a bright sunburst. Artist Kelsey Wishik promotes community with her “We’re All in This Together” mural, placing a heart and butterfly at the center of flood and chaos. Some murals tie in with a larger canvas. “The Hattiesbirds” is Phoenix-based artist Kayla Newnam’s Mississippi component of the artist’s project Out There Murals —an endeavor to create a mural in every U.S. state within three years. California artist Jere my Novy’s “Koi Across the World” is part of his larger series dedicated to the colorful fish.Another celebration of art in Hattiesburg that was born of the pandemic is the Hat tiesburg Pocket Alley in the heart of downtown. In 2020, the Hattiesburg Convention Commission transformed a boarded-up window in the closed Saenger Theater (it has since reopened), adding four shelves and a miniature art exhibit exposed to the public via an alleyway. Known as the smallest art museum in Mississippi, the Pocket Muse um changes exhibits every month and features a mouse as its curator. Since the museum’s inception, the surrounding alley began collecting its own tiny pieces of art. There’s the Pocket Theater that showcases short films viewed through an eyepiece embedded in the wall, and The Pocket Gallery filled with tiny items inside a renovated newspaper stand. The “#WhatLiftsYou” dragonfly mural by Kelsey Mon tague cascades up the neighboring parking garage, and building walls and the alley blacktop sport a variety of artwork, from Lissa Ortego’s 3D duck (if you photograph it just right) to a cat sitting atop artist Gabby Smith’s hive of bees. There are even tiny canoeists riding a wave on a street pipe. In addition, sculpture may be found tucked in out-of-the-way corners throughout Hattiesburg, such as “The Spike That Binds” by Jason Kimes created for the train de pot’s centennial and “The Jook” by Wes Hanson, a nod to the city’s rock ’n’ roll pio neers. h For more information on Hattiesburg’s Public Art Trail or to obtain a brochure with handy map, go to visithburg.org or hburgart.com. Be sure to bring your phone, most make great selfie backdrops.

Story and photos by Ted Talley Nearing its eleventh birth day in November, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art—a re pository of some of our country’s most valuable and important artworks—has become more than just an art museum for its home city of Bentonville, Arkan sas. Founder Alice Walton wanted to bring art to an underserved region, spe cifically Northwest Arkansas and nearby counties in Oklahoma, Kansas and Mis souri. Looking at the region’s growth over the past decade, particularly in the realms of art and culture, reveals the im pact of that aspiration.

The Fly’s Eye Dome, a creation of American designer, inventor, and theorist R. Buckminster Fuller, is only one of the incredible acquisitions of the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, which has totally transformed the Northwest Arkansas tourism landscape and demographics.

It is well-known that the Walmart re tail behemoth is headquartered in Ben tonville, where it began as Sam Walton’s (Alice Walton’s father) dime store on the town square in 1950, rapidly ex panding twelve years later with the first official Walmart in nearby Rogers. In addition to this corporate legacy, a short drive south of Bentonville finds the headquarters of Tyson Foods in Spring dale and J.B. Hunt Transport Services in Lowell—which hold, respectively, the slots of first and fourth largest com panies in their industries. So, in what was once rural Northwest Arkansas, we now have the butcher, the trucker and the retailer, all of multi-bil lion dollar proportions. Chances are, two or three of these entities are respon sible for those chicken strips and sau sage links in your shopping cart. Nat urally, with that level of international business, plus The University of Arkan sas flagship campus in Fayetteville just thirty miles south, the market pegged as Northwest Arkansas has grown sig nificantly in population. In 2021, the U.S. Census documented Bentonville’s population as 56,734; in 2010 it was 35,301—a a sixty-one percent growth.

BENTONVILLE’S WORLD-CLASS MUSEUM HAS FOSTERED A BLOSSOMING ARTS & CULTURE SECTOR ACROSS NORTHWEST ARKANSAS

The new population is a decidedly young one. As a point of reference, the youngest major city in the U.S. per the Money Talks News is Salt Lake City, which the U.S. Census Bureau lists as having a median age of 32.5 years. Bentonville is actually younger, with a median age of thirty two. So, it isn’t surprising that a college buddy and fel low boomer visiting from Dallas last October reported that when he and his wife stepped into the trendy Onyx Cof fee Lab off the Bentonville Square, the average age in the room increased im mediately.Hasitbeen the Crystal Bridges mu seum driving the demographics? In a way, yes, but even Alice Walton herself, in an April 2022 interview with Martha Teichner of CBS, offered an appropriate Ozark highlands metaphor. “I don’t really look at it like Crys tal Bridges is responsible for this,” she told Teichner, “but what I do look at is if you were sitting around a campfire and someone had to light it, you have to have the spark.” In addition to the employment op portunities offered by Walmart, its vendors, fellow corporate giants, and incubated start-ups in the region—that spark has ignited, on a grand scale, a rise in initiatives within Bentonville’s art, cuisine and mountain biking sectors. The climate and natural, scenic sur roundings are also contributing factors to the region’s draw; it’s an environment unexpected by tourists who, prior to their first trip to Bentonville, had never been to Arkansas. Many such visitors, who came to Bentonville to see the art, noticed everything else and returned home to pack a U-Haul. More than six million people have visited Crystal Bridges since its opening in 2011; three quarters of a million are expected this year alone. Long past are the days when the key reason to trav el to Bentonville was to sell wares to Walmart. Visitors who have no notion as to why Bentonville was called “Ven dorville” last century, are now soaking up the accoutrements of a re-invented community.

// SEP 22 65

ARTWALKS Beyond the Crystal Bridges

The Crystal Bridges collection, plus se quential special exhibits, are a moving target; repeat trips by distant visitors will not disappoint. There are now over 3,600 works in the Crystal Bridges col lection, twice as many as a decade ago, and all still American. There are the ex pected standards from Gilbert Stuart and Norman Rockwell and so forth, as well as modern-day works by artists such as Kehinde Wiley and Dave Chihuly. Two extraordinary pieces added since 2011 are a house and a piano. The 1956 Frank Lloyd Wright Bachman-Wilson house was transported from its floodprone New Jersey site, rebuilt immedi ately south of the museum complex, and opened to visitors in November 2015. A beautiful Steinway grand piano previous ly owned by famed pianist Van Cliburn was donated to the museum in 2016 by his surviving partner Thomas Smith. Concerts in the museum’s Great Hall routinely feature the instrument.

Special exhibits flow in and out. We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy, on view through January 2023, show cases extremely rare original copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Indepen dence, and Emancipation Proclamation. The museum’s first exhibition centered on fashion, Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour, will be on view from Septem ber 10–January 30, featuring work from more than ninety designers and iconic American labels and explores the nation’s diverse fashion heritage. With so much art, there’s no possible way for it all to be on display at once. To rectify that, to a degree, ground has been broken north of the contemporary gal lery bridge. The new exhibit space will add 100,000 square feet—roughly the size of a Walmart Supercenter.

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The Phat Tire Bike Shop, opened in 2007, was the first of its kind to open in Bentonville—which now has a roaring mountain biking culture and ten bike shops in town. The Phat Tire remains a hub for the biking community.

The Fly’s Eye Dome was created by designer, inventor, and theorist R. Buck minster Fuller. A fifty-foot model Fuller commissioned in 1981 was acquired by Crystal Bridges in 2016 after a meticu lous restoration. Not shown in the U.S. since the Fuller commission, it is now on the museum’s Orchard Trail.

The Mountain Biking Capital of the World cyclists. According to Visit Bentonville President Kalene Griffith, this allows the city to see which trails are used more of ten.A hub of activity is Phat Tire Bike Shop, found in the former lobby of a his toric hotel near the Bentonville Square. Opened in 2007, it was the first moun tain biking store in town. Now there are ten in and near the city, not counting guide and shuttle services, bike schools, and personal training consultants. Phat Tire alone has expanded to thirteen stores in Northwest Arkansas and Okla homa, garnering a reputation nationwide in cycling circles.

A City of the Arts

In 2005, there were 125 restaurants of varied sorts in Bentonville. Now there are over three hundred, including food trucks.Food choices include the expected of the region, as in steaks and barbeque. Venerable Fred’s Hickory Inn, where Sam Walton lunched with his vice-presi dents last century, performs that category perfectly.Beyond such Southern tradition is the Ozarks “High South” cuisine move ment—the term being used to describe the distinct flavor of sustainable, farmto-table cuisine in Northwest Arkan

On the other side of town from Crys tal Bridges is The Momentary, a sis ter facility for visual, performing and culinary arts, holding fort in a former 63,000-square-foot cheese factory. It opened in February 2020 and after some pandemic-related delays, is now fully op erational with a varied calendar challeng ing what many would associate with a typical art museum. Spaces inside the repurposed complex carry names from its previous life: Fer mentation Hall, Culture Column and the Hyrdration Column. Programs, ex hibitions and events include outdoor and indoor concerts, rotating contemporary art exhibits, “sound bath” experiences from a yoga practitioner, pottery and fabric dying classes, and performance art. Serial artists-in-residence represent a wide scope: choreography, digital space design, multi-media and music.

Around town there are over 130 out door arts installations, including mu rals, neon art, and free-standing metal sculptures. My favorites are Todd Sand ers’ “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” —the neon six-shooting cowgirl hanging by an ironbarred window of the old Benton Coun ty Jail—and Jason Jones’ mural evoking a disaster movie—giant octopus tentacles lifting up Sam Walton’s iconic red and white Ford pickup. Overlooking a farmto-table produce business is a another work of Jones’s : a whimsical, giant robot gathering up bunnies presumably to pro tect vegetables below.

Per Phat Tire manager Josh Travis, Bentonville trails provide the whole family experience. Uniquely designed, conceived, and constructed by specific mountain biking trail companies, trails rise up from the ground with all the bells and whistles mountain bikers like en gineered in trails easily accessed from town. Those bells and whistles include bridges, pitchy climbs, bumpy descents and tricks on breakaway single tracks. One feature, The Masterpiece, on the Slaughter Pen Trail immediately west of Crystal Bridges consists of wavy metal and wood and appears part forest trail, part steam punk adventure. There are famous mountain biking trails in the Rockies like Moab, Utah or Crested Butte, Colorado, but “They’re in the middle of nowhere,” Travis said, “the bonus in Bentonville is that you still have enough elevation to challenge yourself in trails that are easy to get to.”

All around Bentonville you’ll see multi ple bike racks protruding out of the backs of cars, trucks, and SUVs. The equip ment is as common as a ski rack in As pen, but year-round instead. Tall, black, windowless Mercedes Sprinter and Ford Transit vans—acting as part campers, part mobile bike garages— are indicative of serious mountain bikers investing near six-figures in hobby transport. Currently there are over four hundred miles of bicycling trails in Northwest Arkansas, funded jointly by public and private entities, bringing the region to the forefront of U.S. mountain biking locations, especially considering its urban context.The Walton grandsons Tom and Steuart, avid mountain bikers them selves, are responsible for the growth of the trail system that supports Ben tonville’s current self-proclaimed sta tus as “Mountain Biking Capital of the World.” The Slaughter Pen trail system includes over forty miles of paths travel ing along the Razorback Regional Gre enway and through the Crystal Bridges property. There’s also the Coler Moun tain Bike Preserve, which features sev enteen miles of diverse trails one would suppose were deep in the Ozark Moun tains but are actually just two miles west of Somewhatdowntown. like scanners at Walmart checkouts, the Betonville Park and Rec reation Department monitors the trails using an infrared counting system, which tallies all users on multi-use trails, distinguishing between pedestrians and The Home of High South Cuisine sas. A few of such purveyors, all touting award-winning chefs, are The Hive in the 21c Museum Hotel, The Preacher’s Son in a former church, and Tusk and Trot ter American Brasserie located in Sam Walton’s first rudimentary distribution warehouse.ThePreacher’s Son executive chef Neal Gray’s rustically elegant menu ranges from specially-sourced seafood—P.E.I. mussels for example—to fresh, local goods from farm-to-table partners. Likewise, Tusk and Trotter is proud of local supplier relationships, which are displayed on a blackboard in the main

Artist Jason Jones’ “Carrot bot” adorns the side of Red Barn Bentonville, an urban agriculture business in town. It is just one of the many public artworks that have emerged around Bentonville in the wake of the last decade’s boom in artistic initiatives.

// SEP 22 67 dining room. Brunch carrot cake waffles or lemon soufflé pan cakes are heavenly. Dinner choices include Berkshire hog sir loin chops and applewood smoked Duroc ribs. House-made pork rinds have an airy crunch. Table Mesa is dominant on the southern side of the square, having expanded three times since opening in 2008. Owner Carl Garrett explains that everything is freshly made and is a lively blend of Latin cuisines, not just Tex-Mex. The fish tacos are my Aroundfavorite.thecorner is a sister restaurant, Tavola, with authen tic Italian dishes, deeply researched for authenticity, Garret said. One example is deep-fried olives, prepared precisely like ones I once enjoyed dockside in Murano, Italy.

A proliferation of biking trails have drawn mountain bikers from across the world to Northwest Arkansas, giving Bentonville the title “Mountain Biking Capital of the World”.

8th Street Market functions like a year-round food fair, host ing up and coming restaurateurs, along with the Brightwater Culinary School. Situated between The Momentary to the west and the expansive new Walmart Home Office campus current ly under construction to the east, the school anchors the rear of the complex while at the front is Bike Rack Brewing Company, with an outdoor music patio and food trucks. In between are specialty storefronts offering everything from craft chocolates, gourmet ramen, and juices to textiles and yoga lessons. When complete, the Walmart campus—with a Marriott managed hotel—will fluidly connect via the trail system westward to the market, The Momentary and its outdoor music concert pavil ion, and further north to downtown Bentonville and Crystal Bridges.Inthe April CBS interview Alice Walton repeated an early tenet of the museum : “My motivation to do Crystal Bridges was all about access,” she said, “Access for people that don’t have it, diverse people, ru ralTopeople.”thatdiverse group add Louisiana folk with access just a day’s drive to the north. An ever-changing wonderland of art, food, and outdoors awaits. h visitbentonville.com

ART VENDOR SILENT AUCTION ARTISTS’ HOSPITALITY WELCOME BOOTHS FOOD VENDOR LIVE MUSIC Friday, Sept. 30 NOON ­ 5PM Saturday, Oct. 1 9AM ­ 5PM Introducing the Coolest Newest J u r i e d F i n e A r t s M a r k e t on the Gulf Coast at Twin Steeples Creative Arts Center 220 East Oak thatCenternewPonchatoula,StreetLATwinSteeplesisPonchatoula’sCreativeArtcomposedoftwo120+yearoldhistoricchurchesfaceeachother! Fine Art! Fine Arts ConvenientLiveFoodjewelry­sculptureglass­fiberpaintings­potteryCrafts!Trucks!Music!Parking!Formoreinfo,contactExecDirectorErinWallaceatewallace@twinsteples.org

Directory of Merchants Albany, LA Livingston Parish CVB 31 Baton Rouge, LA Allwood Furniture 63 Alzheimer’s Service of the Capital Area 45 Artistry of Light 41 Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre 48 Becky Parrish Advance Skincare 57 Blue Cross Blue Shield 26 BREADA -Farm Fete 21 BREC 44, 52, 56 Calandro’s Select Cellars 36 Drusilla Imports 18 East Baton Rouge Parish Library 72 Elizabethan Galler y 55 Louisiana Book Festival 6 Louisiana Public Broadcasting 56 LSU Foundation Burden Museum and Gardens 25 LSU Rural Life Museum 16 Manship Theatre 19 Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center 53 Mid-City Artisans 43 Opera Louisiane 41 Pinetta’s RestaurantEuropean 43 Wilson & Wilson Attorneys, LLC 52 Woman’s Hospital Cancer Pavilion 37 WRKF 89.3 FM 57 Bogalusa, LA Bogalusa Blues Festival 13 Brookhaven, MS Brookhaven Tourism Council 51 Donaldsonville, LA River Road African American Museum 2 Ferriday, L A Brakenridge Furniture 32 Folsom, LA Giddy Up / Far Horizons Art Gallery / The Stables at Giddy Up Folsom 28 Grand Isle, L A Grand Isle DepartmentTourism 23 Hammond, LA Tangipahoa Parish CVB 71 Hattiesburg, MS Visit Hattiesburg 10 Houma, LA Houma Area CVB 17 Jackson, MS Visit Mississippi 5 Lafayette, LA Allwood Furniture 63 Madisonville, LA Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum/Wooden Boat Festival 23 Mandeville, LA St. Tammany Parish Tourist Commission 24 Mansura, LA Avoyelles CommissionTourism 27 Metairie, LA Jefferson Performing Arts Society 3 Monroe, L A Monroe-West Monroe CVB 7 Morgan City, LA Cajun Coast CVB 24 Natchez, MS Brakenridge Furniture 32 Cedar Grove Plantation 39 Great Mississippi River Balloon Races 15 Monmouth Historic Inn 33 Murray Land & Homes Realty 11 Natchez City Sightseeing 35 Natchez Olive Market 43 Natchez Pilgrimage Tours 32 United Mississippi Bank 34 Visit Natchez 34 Y’all Means All Natchez 14 New Iberia, L A Iberia Parish CVB 59 Shadows on the Teche 59 New Orleans, L A Longue Vue House 49 New Orleans Ballet Association 49 New Orleans Opera Association 13 The Historic New Orleans Collection 9

Opelousas, LA St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission 12 Plaquemine, LA Iberville Parish Tourism Department 47 Ponchatoula, LA Twin Steeples Creative Arts Center 67 Port Allen, L A West Baton Rouge CVB 29 West Baton Rouge Museum 12 Port Arthur, TX Visit Port Arthur 20 Scott, LA Bob’s Tree Preservation 48 Sorrento, L A Ascension Parish Tourism Commission 55 St. Francisville, L A Artistry of Light 41 Grandmother’s Buttons 40 The Magnolia Cafe 40 St. Francisville Food & Wine Festival 69 Town of St. Francisville 44 Zachary, LA Signature Southern Accents 51 Lane Regional Medical Center 22

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“I never thought I’d become a stationer,” said Pulitzer, who is now celebrating twenty-seven years in the trade.

The secret stemmed from the wool and polyester mix, which helped the brothers launch their necktie business, the Wembley Tie Company, in 1925. As their success grew, the brothers expanded their business by buying the New York high-end neckwear company Countess Mara, and by the 1960s was one of the largest makers of men’s neckwear in the world.

Behind her fanciful world of crown-bedecked animals, feathered friends, and underwater creatures, stationer Alexa Pulitzer has built a small empire as a skilled illustrator and hard core businesswoman. Her intricate, hand-drawn designs, including her well-known King Gator, grace the pages of notepads, gift cards, party supplies, wallpaper, and even t-shirts and purses—sold not only in Louisiana, but around the world.

Fast-forward to Pulitzer’s childhood in the 1970s, and you find a little girl raised in the Wembley (Pulitzer’s father Arthur and his brother took over the business in 1968) factory art department, living and breathing every aspect of design and printing on a daily basis.

Courtesy of Alexa Pulitzer.

Alexa Pulitzer CONTINUING A LEGACY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ARTISTRY, THE STATIONER LIVES AND BREATHES THE CRESCENT CITY

Two years later when her family sold Wemco (the name was changed in the 1980s, combining Wembley with Countess Mara) to its competitor, Randa—Pulitzer pur chased the company’s first-floor print shop and invest ed in her business full-time. She spent the next several years juggling the many hats of a business-owner, from creating new designs and running the shop to traveling to New York and Italy for sales for Randa. This was Pu litzer’s life until she sold her shop in 2003, worked for a friend at Leontine Linens for a year, and then decided to go out on her own in 2004. Without the travel and man agement responsibilities, she was suddenly free to focus purely on design and sales.

AUG 22 // COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM70 Sponsored by Tangipahoa Parish Tourism PERSPECTIVES: IMAGES OF OUR STATE

See more of Pulitzer’s work at alexapulitzer.com.

“On the first floor of the necktie factory, there was a print shop where salesmen would make swatch guards. I grew up in that print shop and around the factory, where I learned how to take raw goods and make something,” saidShePulitzer.leftNew Orleans to attend high school at New York City’s The Masters School, and from there, moved to Italy to work with the most esteemed printers in the world, including Ratti and Dante Prini. Returning home to work for the family business, Pulitzer found her complicated, high-end designs tossed in the trash because they would not sell in Wembley’s mainstream market. Sifting through her photos taken during her time in Italy, she started printing them onto postcards, and, at the urging of a friend, brought them to the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), where she landed her first order for stationery. After that, she turned her discarded illustrations into notepads, and began doing some design work for friends, and the business grew.

“When I went to Italy, I learned every aspect of making couture. Printing on silk is very similar to printing on paper—you’re still printing on a flat surface. Because of my upbringing, I figured out something to do by myself on my own. It’s an incredibly good feeling to know I cre ated something on my own.”

“Today, I use a print shop housed in my family’s old sportswear factory. I have a really small operation, with no storefront by design, but I have a footprint all over the world,” said Pulitzer, whose work has appeared in high-end retail stores such as Anthropol ogie, Bergdorf Goodman, Tory Burch, and Pottery Barn—as well as small independent retail ers around the globe. She hires single moms to help with order fulfillment and quality control, wanting to give her staff as much flexibility as they need. Between wholesale and e-commerce, they shuffle through a large inventory, much of which is housed in her home and the local print shop. The rest of Pulitzer’s day is spent creating designs for private label collections for museums and national brands, business iden tities, and wedding logos—as well as custom invitations of all kinds. “I do private label for NOMA, the Biltmore, the National World War II Museum, the Historic New Or leans Collection, and Tory Burch. I also do a lot of illus trations of people’s animals. People love their animals,” shePulitzerlaughed.proudly prints all her stock in New Orleans, another quality passed down from her grandfather: “In side my family’s necktie company, on every floor it said, ‘Proudly Made in America by quality-minded Ameri cans.’ I could print at a fraction of the price in China, but I print here because I want to have a product made in my own city.” She also believes deeply in giving back by helping oth ers, she said. She’s introduced several of her artist friends to Anthropologie and has started a new collaboration with BENE handbags, where all profits benefit Preser vation Hall. “It’s an Italian-made handbag collection designed with a New Orleanian (Ellie Schwing) who lives in Rome,” gushed Pulitzer. “Everything in Italy is divinely made, and I have success in a new product. I also love doing this with another New Orleanian.” She admitted, though, that her biggest passion lies in another form of art—live music. Her father, who was president of the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, im mersed her in the world of jazz. When the Anthropolo gie sales paid off, Pulitzer bought a party house and cre ated a beautiful, salon-style room during her renovation. She’s often found hosting jazz salons and sits on Preser vation Hall’s Foundation Board, where she’s become close friends with many of the older musicians. During Jazz Fest in 2022, she hosted a young prodi gy from Miami and introduced him to other musicians in the city. “He was a beautiful young soul who got to play with his heroes. I think how I was raised and got to work with all the best Italian mills. I wouldn’t be who I am without the undivided attention of older, success ful people who shared their knowledge. I like to pay it forward.” h

Raised by a family that includes a painter, a photo graphic journalist, ceramicists, and a father with a pro found love for jazz, Pulitzer’s artistic roots run deep. “Creativity is definitely cultivated in my upbring ing,” said Pulitzer. “If you’re not raised by creatives, you don’t understand you can earn by that. Lots of parents wish their kids would have more traditional work. For me, there was never any discussion other than art. I was lucky I grew up with that understanding.” She traces her family’s artistic entrepreneurs back to her grandfather Sam C. Pulitzer, who, along with his brother Emmanuel, grew up in the former Jewish or phanage on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. After attending the Isidore Newman School as children, the brothers were sent out on their own at the ripe age of thirteen—moving into a boarding house in the Lower Garden District. To pay their bills, they worked on the rail road and picked up odd jobs. Then, one day Pulit zer’s grandfather cut a tie out of his brother’s brand-new suit and impressed the world by wearing it for a week without garnering a single wrinkle.

In 1995, she started her stationery company as a side business while still designing neckwear as her day job.

By Kristy Christiansen

// AUG 22 71

9thAnnual Baton Rouge Mini Reduce,Re-Make!Reuse,/BRmakerfairebatonrouge.makerfaire.comCelebrate creative creations at this year’s Maker Faire! There will be all sorts of tech, crafts, art, and a special spotlight on sustainability! Our week-long hybrid event will highlight our incredible makerspaces across library branches, with a final event on Saturday featuring an outdoor market and showcase at the Main Library on Goodwood! You won’t want to miss it! October 10-14 MakerSpace Workshops at Library Branches October 15, 10am-5pm Maker Faire at Main Library at Goodwood Want to participate and be a Maker? Visit batonrouge.makerfaire.com/call-for-makers/ or scan the code here to fill out the Call For Makers Form!