Gretna’s Big Festival Has All the Headliners

This October the Gretna Heritage Festival will be held and will have some big name appearances. The three-day event will see live music from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kool and the Gang, Trombone Shorty, and Orleans Avenue and The Temptations just to name a few. The 27th annual festival is located along the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Gretna.

According to Gretna’s Mayor, Belinda Constant, patrons will also enjoy entertainment from Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Luke Nelson and POTR, Trampled by Turtles and Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone. Saturday along with those mentioned before there will be performances by Lee Brice, JJ Grey and Mofo, Los Lobos, Ashley McBride, Blues Traveler and ZZ Ward. Local performers will include Dumpstaphunk, Iceman Special, Irma Thomas and the Professionals, and Treme Brass Band.

The festival started over 20 years ago with around 500 attending (last year around 50,000 people attended). Last year was the first year that patrons wore wrist bands as their admission.

“The RFID wristbands were new last year, and it took a little time for people to get used to them. But they turned out to be a huge success. Folks really came to appreciate how easy and convenient they made going to the fest,” says Constant.

“Gretna Fest is always such a wonderful event-not only for the city of Gretna but also for the entire New Orleans area,” praises Constant.

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Bucktown’s Waterfront Project

Bucktown’s waterfront will be restored to a marshland. The $15.5 million dollar project will be along a one-mile stretch of the shoreline in Jefferson Parish. Projects such as these are called living shorelines that help create bunkers with natural materials and green vegetation.

They will start with barging in rocks that will create nine segmented breakwaters in Lake Ponchartrain. The formations will be between Bonnabel Boat Launch and Bucktown Harbor and will help protect the federal levee system and keep it from eroding. There will be 20 feet of open water between the jetties and the new marshland area which will create a pathway for kayakers and canoers.

This is the first time a living shoreline will be used to protect a federal levee system and if it is successful, it will be used in other areas along Lake Pontchartrain’s shoreline.

“It’s habitat restoration that also protects the protection,” Greg Grandy, the incoming executive director of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority said. “This will reduce the wave energy that comes off of Lake Pontchartrain, particularly during winter storms.”

Funding for the project came from grants and government funding. $4.5 million in grant money came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The remaining included $2.5 million from the National Wildlife Foundation; $1 million from Louisiana’s construction budget; $4 million from proceeds the parish receives from oil and gas revenues in the Gulf of Mexico; and $3.5 million from the CPRA.

“Having this project here, where you can see a marsh, where you can get educated about our environment, where you can see a living shoreline, this is where we can educate the 99% of the population that lives behind our federal levee system,” Jefferson Parish Council member Jennifer Van Vrancken said.

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360insights New Home Is Now New Orleans

The global software firm, 360insights, is moving its U.S. headquarters to New Orleans. The firm, originally based out of Delaware, will add around fifty new jobs to the New Orleans job market. According to Louisiana Economic Development, the jobs will be added over the next two years and will have an average salary of $85,000.

The company is familiar with New Orleans as it already has an office on St. Charles Avenue. In fact, the found and CEO of the company moved to New Orleans a couple of years ago.

“We’re excited to continue to grow at a fast pace and we’ll looking forward to continuing that growth with the New Orleans community over the coming years,” Heather Margolis, 360insights senior vice president of marketing said.

“This announcement validates that our strategy of being a low-cost, high-culture destination for tech is working, and, with 360insights jobs averaging $85,000, that these companies are providing outstanding opportunities for our residents,” Michael Hecht, president and CEO of GNO Inc., said in a statement.

“Two years ago, my family and I relocated to New Orleans to be part of this amazing city and experience the culture-rich, diverse and service oriented community,” Atkins said in a statement. “The programs, support and incentives offered by Louisiana to help us grow our U.S.-based technology team made it a perfect fit for 360insights. We look forward to welcoming NOLA to the 360 team. We are on an unbelievable journey, and we are just getting started.”

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The Audubon Tennis Courts To Get a Makeover

The Audubon Nature Institute and Tulane University will team up to renovate the Audubon Tennis Courts after coming up with a plan for close to two years. Another part of the deal is for Green Wave tennis teams to train and host their tournaments at the renovated courts. The Tulane tennis players will also move to the courts that are closer to the campus than City Park where they currently practice.

Tulane will pay for the renovations while Audubon will still operate and own the courts. There will be 12 new courts which include six hard courts and six clay courts. NCAA only allows college tournaments to be played on hard courts. There will also be new directional lights for night practices or matches, new restrooms, and new locker rooms.

“Partnering with Tulane would be beneficial for our avid tennis players as well as for Tulane tennis,” said Audubon Institute Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kyle Burks. “We believe this type of agreement can serve as a model of how communities and universities can work together.”

“Our primary focus has always been to operate the Audubon tennis facility as a top-notch public amenity and the potential partnership with Tulane was developed with that as our top priority,” Burks said. “We believe this type of agreement can serve as a model of how communities and universities can work together.”

There are those that oppose the project. “This will reduce public access to clay courts,” said Sandy Rosenthal, a community activist, who plays on the Audubon courts five times a week. “It’s a loss to the community.”

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Beauty, Resilience and Environmentally-Friendly Changes at City Park

At 170 years old, City Park in the heart of New Orleans includes 1,300 acres of green space, water features, walking trails, woodlands (including the world’s largest conglomeration of live oaks), and historic and newly-built structures, which make it a popular attraction to both residents and visitors alike. These structures and spaces include museums, a sculpture garden, golf courses, tennis courts, 2 stadiums, an amusement park, Storyland, and event venues.

In 2022, the City Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization, was put in charge of the day-to-day management of City Park. This new organization is spearheading a new, 100-year master plan renovation, which is estimated to take 18 months at a cost of $200 million. The City Park Conservancy chose a landscape architectural firm – Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, Inc. (MVVA), out of New York to create and ultimately do the project.

Over the next 18 months, MVVA will hold public forums to get feedback from the community as the plan comes together. The new master plan renovation will address acreage above I-610, which includes two golf courses and the Wisner Tract. Adding more public restrooms and upgrading the existing ones, enhancing the walking trails for ease of use, and increasing public safety are also goals of the renovation.

Working a natural plan into the existing land is also one of the results that city leaders would like to see to make City Park an asset to the overall flood control plan of the city of New Orleans.

“Parks are meant to be resilient. They are meant to be a green sponge,” said City Park CEO, Cara Lambright. “We have never had a look at what City Park could do for us in that regard. We need to talk to our community about how we can create something beautiful that is also resilient.”

This is a process which is being addressed by MVVA to involve an arborist to create a tree plan, which includes creating an inventory and assessing the usage of the undeveloped parts of the park.

This part, called the Wisner Tract, is enjoyed by residents and visitors alike with a tree swing and 90 acres dedicated as a “Passive Recreation” area.

Previous renovations and additions in the last 20 years included the new Louisiana Children’s Museum, a newly-enclosed courtyard at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and improvement of the maintenace of the green spaces and woodlands.

Before Hurricane Katrina, City Park underwent a massive, master plan renovation focusing on projects, such as the miniature golf course, tennis courts and Great Lawn.

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