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This Week's Edition
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By the time you're reading this, Mardi Gras is already gone for another year.
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Feb 24-March 2
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The Quiet After the Storm
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Beads rest on New Orleans streets after the final parade rolls and Carnival comes to an end.
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| Ash Wednesday came and went. The parades stopped rolling. The beads got swept off the streets. The king cakes disappeared from bakery counters. And just like that, Louisiana shifted from the loudest week of the year to one of the quietest. | | This is the week where everything slows down—where people take a breath after weeks of nonstop celebration. The floats are back in warehouses. The costumes are hung up. The cleanup crews have already done their work. | | It always feels a little strange, doesn't it? One day the whole state is celebrating. The next, it's just Tuesday again. | | But that's how it goes. Carnival ends. Lent begins. And Louisiana gets back to normal—at least until next year. | | Here's what's happening across Louisiana this week—February 24 through March 2. |
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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 keeps the music alive even as the city catches its breath after Mardi Grasimage source-John Miller
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| This week is quiet across the metro. Most major events wrapped up with Mardi Gras, and the city's taking a breather before spring festival season kicks off in late March.
Live Music:
Frenchmen Street, Preservation Hall, and Tipitina's still have shows every night—the music never stops in New Orleans, even when the parades do. |
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| No major events this week. Lent has officially started, and the post-Mardi Gras slowdown is real. Downtown Live Music: Check local venues like Tin Roof Brewing Company and Red Dragon Listening Room for weekend shows. |
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🎶 Lafayette / Acadiana Area - 337
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| Acadiana is catching its breath this week after a packed Mardi Gras season. Courir celebrations are done. The parades are over. It's back to regular life until crawfish season really heats up in a few weeks.
Live Music:
Blue Moon Saloon, Artmosphere, and The Grouse Room still have live Cajun and zydeco music this weekend. |
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🚤 Houma / Thibodaux / Bayou Country - 985
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| The bayou is quiet this week. Most of the Carnival action is wrapped up, and fishing season is in full swing.
Fishing & Outdoor Events:
Charter boats are running. If you're thinking about getting out on the water before it gets too hot, now's the time. |
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🌲 Shreveport / North Louisiana - 318
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| No major festivals or parades this week. Shreveport and Monroe are in their normal rhythm—church gatherings, local sports, and plenty of places to catch live music on the weekends.
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| How a Louisiana Island Created the World's Most Famous Hot Sauce |
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Tabasco peppers grow on Avery Island, where the McIlhenny family has produced hot sauce for over 150 years.
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| February 25, 1870 |
| The hot sauce that started on a Louisiana salt dome |
| On February 25, 1870, Edmund McIlhenny received a patent for his process of making Tabasco pepper sauce on Avery Island, Louisiana. |
He'd been experimenting with the recipe since 1866, using peppers grown on the island, Avery Island salt, and French white wine vinegar. He aged the mash in oak barrels, strained it, and bottled it in small cologne-style bottles sealed with green wax.
The first commercial crop was grown in 1868. By 1869, he was shipping 658 bottles to grocers around the Gulf Coast—mostly in New Orleans. The public loved it, and McIlhenny started expanding to major markets across the country.
By the end of the 1870s, Tabasco was being exported to Europe.
Today, the same family still runs the company. Same island. Same process. Same three ingredients. And that sauce is now on tables in over 190 countries.
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| It all started with a patent filed 155 years ago this week. |
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| Can You Name This Louisiana Town Known as the Crawfish Capital? | | | This town sits right on the Atchafalaya Basin—the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. It's also the crawfish capital of the world.
Every May, it hosts the Crawfish Festival, which draws over 100,000 people. Live Cajun music. Dance lessons. Crawfish-eating contests. Three days of nonstop Cajun culture.
But even without the festival, this town is crawfish central. Drive through in spring, and you'll see roadside stands selling boiled crawfish by the pound. Restaurants here have been perfecting étouffée and crawfish pies for generations.
The town's name comes from a wooden bridge that crossed Bayou Teche in the 1700s. French settlers called it "le pont de bois" — the bridge of wood. Eventually, it got shortened, anglicized, and stuck. |
| The answer: Breaux Bridge. |
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Today, there's a historic downtown, antique shops, and a suspension bridge that's been standing since 1929. But mostly, this place is known for one thing: crawfish.
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| Louisiana Classics |
| beignets and tradition |
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| Why This 163-Year-Old Café Still Has Lines Around the Block | | Café Du Monde — 163 Years and Counting
800 Decatur Street, New Orleans
Café Du Monde opened in 1862. It's been serving beignets and café au lait in the French Quarter ever since.
Same menu. Same green-and-white striped awning. Same powdered sugar everywhere. Open 24 hours a day, every day except Christmas.
Three beignets for a few bucks. Coffee mixed with chicory, served hot or iced. That's the menu. That's been the menu for over 160 years.
It started as a coffee stand in the French Market. Now it's one of the most famous restaurants in the country. People line up at all hours—locals grabbing breakfast at 2 a.m., tourists stopping by after a night on Bourbon Street, families coming in after church on Sundays.
The original location is still the main one, but they've opened a handful of others across Louisiana and beyond. The original, though? That's where it all started, and it's still the best one. |
| 163 years. Same spot. Same beignets. Same coffee. Some things in Louisiana don't need to change. |
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Powdered sugar covers the table at Café Du Monde, where beignets and coffee have been a New Orleans ritual since 1862.
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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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"Really enjoyed it. Learned a lot about my family name." — Jerry Landry
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| A new last name is chosen regularly, so keep an eye out. |
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The Quiet Between Festivals
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| This is one of those quieter weeks in Louisiana. The excitement of Mardi Gras is gone, and it'll be a while before the next big festival rolls around. But there's something nice about that—taking a breath, getting back to routine, spending time with family without the noise of parades in the background. | | Spring's coming. Crawfish season is just getting started. The weather's getting warmer. And by the time you know it, we'll be right back in festival season. | | For now, enjoy the calm. | | Until next time, |
| Michael |
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