events

Textile recycler ricRACK to hold Earth Day celebration

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RicRACK is holding an Earth Day Celebration on Friday (April 22) at its store at 1927 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. “The public is invited to celebrate one of our most favorite days of the year (next to our birthday),” the nonprofit’s press release states, “when we get to honor and celebrate with the rest of the world the beauty and respect we have for our creator, our everything, Earth Day.” RicRACK is a textile recycler, sewing studio and resale shop started by costume designer Alison Parker to incorporate the world of clothing and fabric repurposing, re-using and waste reduction. The ricRACK Earth Day celebration on Friday (April 22) from 4 to 7 p.m. will include:

• Local eco-friendly businesses and resource groups like Compost NOW, Life City and Vintage Green Review will have information on hand to help participants make better environmentally friendly choices. • A virtual fashion show created by the New Harmony High School Fashion Club will hold its world premiere.

business

Langenstein’s turns 100, and it’s inviting customers to a celebration

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Langenstein’s Super Market, the city’s oldest full-service grocery store, is throwing a party Thursday (April 21) to celebrate its 100th birthday. The public is invited to the celebration at its Arabella Street store. Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra are providing the music, and Langenstein’s is providing spirits and snacks. Langenstein’s has been a family market since Michael Langenstein and his sons, George and Richard, opened their corner grocery on Arabella and Prytania Street in 1922. The fourth and fifth generations of the same family are now running three Langenstein’s supermarkets and Prytania Wine & Spirits, which is housed in the same corner shop as the original Langenstein’s.

Poydras Home launches free conversations series with author of ‘Age Your Way’ on April 14 (sponsored)

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Poydras Home is excited to introduce a new annual three-part speaker series beginning April 14. Poydras Home Conversations will host guest lecturers each spring, summer and fall, representing a wide range of topics. The first free event will be Thursday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. in the 1857 Hall of Poydras Home,  5354 Magazine St. Poydras Home is  excited to launch the series with our inaugural speaker, Debbie Pearson, RN, based on the insights from her best-seller book “Age Your Way: Create a Unique Legacy.”
Experience a practical introduction to life planning that extends patients’ voices when they can no longer speak for themselves. Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of her book and its accompanying workbook, “The Blueprint to Age Your Way: Gather Your information.

Festivals

Buku Music & Art Festival celebrates a decade at Mardi Gas World on Saturday and Sunday

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The 2022 Buku Music & Art Festival, a celebration of the progressive subculture of New Orleans, will take place at Mardi Gras World, 1380 Port of New Orleans Place, on Saturday (March 26) and Sunday (March 27) from 1 to 11 p.m.

Residents in the Lower Garden District and Irish Channel may feel the impact of traffic. Parking will be in the Convention Center parking lots. The festival attracts about 20,000 music fans. No street closures are anticipated; however, traffic congestion is expected along Tchoupitoulas Street. Buku organizers have contracted officers assigned to traffic and perimeter detail.

Festivals

Freret Street helps revive festival season on Saturday. Here’s the music lineup.

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On Saturday (March 26), the Freret Street Festival will take over the popular restaurant and entertainment corridor. The six-block street party features 18 bands music on three stages (see the lineup below). The headliners include Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Squirrel Queen, Erica Falls and Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers. Alongside the 46 brick-and-mortar restaurants, bars and shops on Freret, the free festival includes a food court featuring top local chefs and more than 200 arts and crafts vendors. Plus there’s a children’s area with inflatables, a petting zoo, alligator meet and greets, arts and crafts, clowns and stilt walkers.

city government

Neighborhood Cares initiative kicks off in Central City

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With music ringing out from speakers on the basketball court, tasty food from local eateries Peewee’s Crabcakes and Heard Dat Kitchen and a variety of local institutions with tables full of swag, the city’s first Neighborhood Cares initiative event brought the party to the Keller Community Center. The event organized by Hands On New Orleans and the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office kicked off the initiative that is part vaccine drive, part job and resource fair, and part neighborhood cleanup. 

At the many tables laden with swag, residents talked with representatives from city offices and nonprofits talked to residents about how to access services. 

Nola Ready, New Orleans’ disaster preparedness agency, had a table, as did Nola 311 and RoadWork Nola.  Roadwork Nola workers had tablets at the ready at the table and were showing attendees how to use the website to check on construction and street repair in their area, and contact the agency about concerns. 

There are several Roadwork Nola projects active in Central City, and the website shows the construction areas and road closures. Residents can also call 504-658-ROAD to get information or communicate with the agency. At a neighboring table, workers from 311 were at the ready to explain how to use the city’s non-emergency number.  Orleans Parish residents can call 311 to report infrastructure issues like potholes and streetlight outages; problems with trash and recycling, mosquitoes and rodents and other issues. The service connects them to the relevant agency. 

Nola Ready workers surveyed residents about disaster preparedness as they gear up for hurricane season, officially from June 1 to Nov.

sports and recreation

Audubon seeks public comments on how to revamp its tennis facilities

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From the Audubon Nature Institute

On Monday (March 21) from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Audubon Commission will host the third public meeting for community members to comment and offer feedback on the proposal to update the Audubon Park Tennis facilities. The meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. Click here to register for the meeting. “These proposed improvements will create state-of-the-art public facilities that honor the needs of the recreational tennis community, new youth players, and community partners,” said Audubon Nature Institute’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kyle Burks. “The new amenities and multi-functional community space will be a resource for the public to enjoy while maintaining the sustainable balance of active and passive space in Audubon Park.

Caravane Festival to celebrate all things French on Saturday

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Alliance Française de La Nouvelle-Orléans is presenting Caravane Festival — le jour de la francophonie — on Saturday (March 19) at the AFNO Garden District home. The French language and Francophone culture is celebrated on International Francophonie Day, officially March 20, throughout France and its former colonies. AFNO invites its neighbors to participate in the international Caravane des dix mots (Caravane of Ten Words) project to promote, in partnership with Nous Foundation, the voices of Louisiana in the French-speaking world. In the Caravane des dix mots, French speakers from all over the world give their definitions of 10 chosen words, definitions that depend on one’s experience, history or even the other languages one speaks. This project is shared with French speakers from Quebec, Benin, Burundi, Egypt, Togo, China and even Belgium and Romania, who will also give their definitions of divulgâcher, décalé, ébaubi, époustouflant, farcer, kaï, méduser, pince-moi, saperlipopette et tintamarre.

Super Sunday

The wild, wild creation: Mardi Gras Indians will take to the streets on Sunday

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Masking Indians will gather in Central City this weekend for Super Sunday, a procession and festival celebrating their heritage and culture in a magnificent display of hand-sewn suits, singing, dancing and chanting. Super Sunday is free and open to the public. The festival takes place in and around A.L. Davis Park with food and drink vendors, live music and cultural activities. The procession begins and ends at the park. The Hot 8 Brass Band, Young Pinstripe Brass Band, TBC Brass Band, Rechell Cook, 21st Century Brass Band, Regeneration Band, D.J. Captain Charles, D.J. Jubilee, Keedy Black and the BRW R&B Singing Group will be among the entertainers.

events

A guide to the St. Joseph’s Day altars

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Saturday, March 19, is the Feast Day of St. Joseph, and the lavish altars celebrating the day are truly a feast for the eyes. The altars offered as thanks for relieving hunger are overflowing with food: fish, pasta, pastries, breads in symbolic shapes. (You won’t find any meat; St. Joseph’s Day always falls during Lent.)

The altars are also laden with symbolism, from the palm frond over the door as you enter to the swag bag handed out as you leave.