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This Week's Edition
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Spring arrives slowly in Louisiana—crawfish season heats up, daylight saving time begins, and we look back at the night Elvis made his TV debut in Shreveport. Here's your guide to the week between Mardi Gras and the spring festival rush.
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MARCH 3-9, 2026
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Spring Starts Calm — Louisiana Between Seasons
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So many great seasons around this State...
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| By the time you're reading this, Louisiana's already shifting. | | The weather's warming up. The crawfish are running. The trees are starting to bud. And on Sunday, March 8, we'll spring forward for daylight saving time—which means more light in the evenings and less of an excuse to stay inside. | | This is one of those in-between weeks. Mardi Gras is over. Easter's not here yet. The big spring festivals haven't started. But Louisiana doesn't sit still for long—crawfish boils are firing up, live music is back on outdoor stages, and people are spending more time outside. | | It's the kind of week where you can actually take a breath before the next wave of festivals and events starts rolling in. Here's what's happening across Louisiana this week—March 3 through 9. |
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What's Happening in Your Area Code
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🎷 New Orleans / Kenner / Metairie - 504
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Frenchmen Street Night Vibes
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| New Orleans Entrepreneur Week |
| Begins March 9 (runs through March 13) |
| A week-long event featuring speeches, workshops, and networking for entrepreneurs. Summit at Loyola March 12-13. |
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| Live Music: |
| Frenchmen Street, Preservation Hall, and Tipitina's still have shows every night. |
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| Wild Game Cookout 2026 |
| Port Allen · March 7 |
| The Annual Wild Game Cookout features cook teams from all over East and South Louisiana preparing wild game dishes all day long. |
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🎶 Lafayette / Acadiana Area - 337
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| Teche Plein Air Painting Competition |
| New Iberia (Shadows-on-the-Teche gardens and Main Street) · March 7-8 |
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| Annual Here's the Beef Cook-off |
| Opelousas · March 7 |
| Calling all carnivores! This long-running annual event is sponsored by the St. Landry Parish Cattlemen's Association. |
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🚤 Houma / Thibodaux / Bayou Country - 985
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| Ponchatoula Antique Trade Days & Craft Fair |
| Ponchatoula · March 6-8 |
| The Ponchatoula Chamber of Commerce hosts a weekend market featuring antiques, vintage finds, arts, crafts, and local vendors.
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🌲 Shreveport / North Louisiana - 318
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| Live Music |
| Shreveport and Monroe have live shows at local venues every weekend. Check The Stage at Silver Star and Enoch's Stomp House for lineups. |
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| Elvis's Debut |
| Did You Know Elvis's Big Break Came in Louisiana? |
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The night a Louisiana stage launched the King of Rock and Roll
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| 📅 March 3, 1955 |
| On March 3, 1955, a 20-year-old Elvis Presley made his first television appearance on "Louisiana Hayride," a country music radio and TV show broadcast from Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium. |
| By that point, Elvis had already performed on the show's radio broadcast a few times. But this was the first time he appeared on television. |
Louisiana Hayride was a big deal. It was broadcast across 28 states and had launched the careers of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Webb Pierce. Getting on the show meant something—especially for a kid from Tupelo, Mississippi who was still finding his sound.
Elvis signed a one-year contract with Louisiana Hayride in 1954 and performed regularly in Shreveport on Saturday nights. The exposure helped him build a fanbase across the South before he broke nationally.
A year and a half later, he'd be on The Ed Sullivan Show.
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| But it started in Shreveport, on a Saturday night in Louisiana, 71 years ago this week. |
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| Can You Guess Louisiana's Fifth Most Common Cajun Last Name? | | This name comes from a French version of a Germanic first name. The root word is "waido," which means "hunt." | | It came to Louisiana through Acadia, just like so many other Cajun names. The original bearer is said to be a farmer named Claude Guédry dit Grivois dit Laverdure, who was living in Acadia by 1698. Every person with this surname in Louisiana is likely a descendant of his. | | The name spread throughout south Louisiana—especially in Teche country, Lafourche Parish, and Terrebonne Parish. It's one of the most common Cajun surnames you'll find across Acadiana today | | If you're from south Louisiana, you've definitely known someone with this name. It's on mailboxes, business signs, school rosters, and church records all across Cajun country. |
| The answer: Guidry. |
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| Why This Turquoise Mansion Has Been Louisiana's Best Restaurant for 144 Years | | Commander's Palace — 144 Years and Still the Standard
1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans
| | Commander's Palace opened in 1893 in the Garden District. It's been setting the standard for New Orleans fine dining ever since. | | The restaurant has been owned by the Brennan family since 1974, and under their leadership, it became one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country. It's trained legendary chefs like Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, and Tory McPhail. | | The menu is rooted in Creole tradition—turtle soup, pecan-crusted Gulf fish, bread pudding soufflé—but it never feels stuck in the past. The kitchen evolves while staying true to what makes New Orleans food what it is.
| | The building itself is iconic: a Victorian mansion painted turquoise and white, with multiple dining rooms and a courtyard. Weekend jazz brunch has been a New Orleans tradition for decades. | | Commander's Palace has won James Beard Awards. It's been named one of the best restaurants in America more times than most restaurants survive. But it's still a place where locals go for Sunday brunch and special occasions. |
| 144 years. Still family-run. Still the standard. |
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The iconic turquoise and white Victorian mansion that houses Commander's Palace in New Orleans' Garden District.
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| Free Giveaway - Your Last Name Family Heritage Video |
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A sample Family Heritage Video.
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| Every subscriber is automatically entered into our ongoing Last Name Family Heritage Video giveaway. |
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"Appreciate it. Was a nice surprise." — Ray, Breaux Bridge
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| A new last name is chosen regularly, so keep an eye out. |
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A quiet Louisiana porch scene as families enjoy the brief pause between Mardi Gras and spring festival season.
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| This is one of those in-between weeks in Louisiana. Mardi Gras just ended. The big spring festivals haven't started yet. But crawfish season is in full swing, and that's enough to keep people happy. | By late March, it'll be festival after festival every weekend. For now, it's just crawfish boils, live music at local spots, and a little breathing room before everything kicks off again.
Enjoy the calm while it's here.
| | Until next time, |
| Michael |
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