Contents
MAY 2021
Events
Features
11
WALKIN’ ON SUNSHINE
Soak it all up with creativity and crawfish
6 8
VO LU M E 3 8 // I SS U E 5
REFLECTIONS by James Fox-Smith
28 30 34
NEWS & NOTEWORTHIES
Publisher
FIGHTINVILLE FRESH Watering a food desert and supporting first-time vegetable growers in Acadiana by Jonathan Olivier
James Fox-Smith
Associate Publisher
Ashley Fox-Smith
Managing Editor
THE PLACE TO BE Lafayette’s downtown district shines as a place of vibrant, creative community by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Alexandra Kennon
Creative Director
A MOVE TO MARKETS Post-pandemic, small-scale passion projects flourish by Jason Vowell
On the Cover
Kourtney Zimmerman
Contributors:
Ed Cullen, Charmaine Dupré, Ashley Hinson, Paul Kieu, Emily Miller, Lucie Monk Carter, Jonathan Olivier, Olivia Perillo, Nathan Stubbs, Jason Vowell
Cover Artist
EMBRACE YOUR PLACE
Hannah Gumbo
Cover by Hannah Gumbo
“I think ultimately, what we really learned most this past year is that our dollar is our most powerful thing,” Leah Vautrot, owner of Coffee Science in Mid-City New Orleans told writer Jason Vowell during an interview for his feature story “A Move to Markets” (page 34). “Look for those people struggling, and lift them up. Look outside your normal way of doing things. Connect with the growers and makers of your community. Together we will rise. This is the future.” This sentiment runs strong throughout the stories of our annual “Embrace Your Place” issue, celebrating the creative small businesses and makers that bring life to our regions and the spirit of community that allows them to flourish. So, it felt as appropriate a time as ever to commission an original cover from one of our favorite local artists, Hannah Gumbo—who specializes in whimsical expressions of places and their people. As you peruse our pages, be sure to flip back to the cover every once in a while, where Hannah has woven vignettes from our stories into a portrait of pure, unabashed local joy. Find more of her work at hannahgumbo.com.
Cuisine
38
CAST IRON COOKING The virtues of the Cajun staples
40
by Charmaine Dupré
PREJEANS 2.0 A bastion of the bygone era of dine-in dance halls re-emerges with new energy by Nathan Stubbs
Culture
42
44 45 47
STITCHED UP Sigourney Morrison, the mastermind behind Dressed New Orleans
48
by Ashley Hinson
FROM MY CITY LOT An essay on longing and place by Ed Cullen
THE ROCK HOUSE The infamous Innis dance hall rocks out again by Alexandra Kennon
HIGH ON THE HOG Dixie Poché provides a boucherie history in The Cajun Pig by Alexandra Kennon
4
Escapes
M A Y 2 1 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M
OLD MANDEVILLE, NEW LENS A weekend spent exploring the Northshore’s finest by Alexandra Kennon
54
PERSPECTIVES Kate Gordon: The eclectic dreamscapes of Alligator Naps by James Fox-Smith
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Advertising Coordinator
Kathryn Kearney
President
Dorcas Woods Brown
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