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⚜️ Want to help keep Louisiana stories alive? Forward this edition to a friend or send them to subscribe here.
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This Week's Edition
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Spring festivals roll into Louisiana this week, crawfish boil championships fire up, the Amite Oyster Festival opens, and we look back at the Good Friday fire that destroyed most of New Orleans 238 years ago. Here's your guide to the week after St. Patrick's Day.
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March 17-23, 2026
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Spring Settles In — Festival Season Officially Begins
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Crawfish boils across Louisiana mark the start of spring festival season.
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| The week after St. Patrick's Day, Louisiana shifts gears. | | Crawfish season is in full swing now. Oyster festivals kick off across the state. Spring weather settles in for good—warm days, cooler nights, perfect for outdoor festivals and crawfish boils. | | This is the week Louisiana's festival calendar really opens up. March rolls into April, and from here until summer, there's something happening every weekend somewhere in the state. | | Grab a cold drink, find a festival, and settle in. Here's what's happening across Louisiana—March 17 through 23. |
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What's Happening in Your Area Code
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🎷 New Orleans / Kenner / Metairie - 504
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Teams compete at the Louisiana Crawfish Boil Championships in Marrero.
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| Louisiana Crawfish Boil Championships |
| Immaculate Conception School, 4520 Sixth St, Marrero · March 21, 2026 |
| The 24th annual Louisiana Crawfish Boil Championships sanctioned by the State. Teams compete for the best crawfish boil in Louisiana. Food, music, and family fun. |
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| Downtown Irish Club Parade |
| Downtown New Orleans · March 17, 2026 (St. Patrick's Day) |
| St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown New Orleans. Beads, cabbages, green everywhere. |
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| Louisiana Red Beans & Rice Heritage Music Festival |
| 200 North Blvd Baton Rouge, LA 70801 · March 20, 2026 - March 22, 2026 |
| The Louisiana Red Beans & Rice Heritage & Music Festival is a vibrant cultural celebration that honors one of Louisiana’s most iconic dishes while showcasing the rich music, traditions, and community spirit of the state. |
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| Lafayette's Azalea Trail continues through March. 25-mile trail through historic districts, downtown, and garden areas. |
| Blue Moon Saloon, Artmosphere, and The Grouse Room feature live Cajun and zydeco music all week. |
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🚤 Houma / Thibodaux / Bayou Country - 985
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Fresh Louisiana oysters take center stage at the Amite Oyster Festival.
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| Amite Oyster Festival |
| NE Central Ave, Amite · March 20-22, 2026 |
| One-of-a-kind oyster festival celebrating Louisiana oysters. Live music, food vendors, family activities, and oysters prepared every way imaginable. |
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🌲 Shreveport / North Louisiana - 318
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| Perfect weather for outdoor activities. Farmers markets opening back up. |
| Shreveport and Monroe have shows at local venues every weekend. |
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| Good Friday Inferno |
| The Good Friday Fire That Destroyed New Orleans |
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The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 destroyed most of the French Quarter.
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| 📅 March 21, 1788 |
| The fire that rebuilt New Orleans |
| On Good Friday afternoon, March 21, 1788, a fire broke out in the home of Don Vincente Jose Nuñez, the Army Treasurer, at 619 Chartres Street—less than a block from Jackson Square. |
Because it was Good Friday, a holy day, priests refused to allow church bells to be rung as a fire alarm. That decision cost the city dearly.
Within five hours, strong winds from the southeast had carried the flames across New Orleans, destroying 856 of the city's approximately 1,100 buildings. Almost the entire French Quarter burned to the ground.
The fire consumed the church, the municipal building, the army barracks, the armory, the jail, and nearly every major structure in the city. Thousands of people were left homeless.
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| Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró immediately set up tents for the displaced and organized emergency food supplies to prevent famine. Spanish authorities began rebuilding within weeks—but this time, with strict new building codes. | |
Wooden buildings were replaced with brick and masonry structures featuring courtyards, thick walls, arcades, and wrought iron balconies. The Spanish architectural style you see in the French Quarter today—St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, the Presbytere—was all built after the 1788 fire. | | The fire destroyed the French colonial city. But it rebuilt New Orleans into the city we know today. |
| 238 years ago this week. |
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| Can You Name This Louisiana Music Legend? | | This person was born in New Orleans in 1901. | | He grew up in poverty in a rough neighborhood and learned to play music in the streets. By his teenage years, he was already playing in local bands and honky-tonks around the city. | | He left New Orleans in the 1920s and moved to Chicago, where he became one of the most influential musicians in American history. His innovative style revolutionized jazz and influenced every genre of American music that came after. | | He was known for his virtuoso trumpet playing, his gravelly singing voice, and his magnetic stage presence. Songs like "What a Wonderful World" and "Hello, Dolly!" made him a household name worldwide. | | But he never forgot where he came from. New Orleans was always home, and Louisiana music was in everything he played. |
| The answer: Louis Armstrong |
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Louis Armstrong, born in New Orleans, transformed jazz and American music.
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| Louisiana Classics |
| Why This 184-Year-Old Restaurant Is Still New Orleans' Best |
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| Antoine's — New Orleans' Oldest Family-Run Restaurant
713 St. Louis Street, New Orleans | | Antoine's opened in 1840 in the French Quarter. It's the oldest family-run restaurant in the United States and has been operated by the same family for five generations. | | The restaurant was founded by Antoine Alciatore, a French immigrant who brought classic French cooking techniques to New Orleans and blended them with Louisiana ingredients and Creole traditions. His son Jules created Oysters Rockefeller in 1899—the dish that made Antoine's famous worldwide. | | The restaurant has 15 dining rooms, each with its own history and character. The Mystery Room. The Rex Room, where Mardi Gras royalty has dined for over a century. The Japanese Room, decorated with artifacts from the 1884 World's Fair. | | Antoine's menu hasn't changed much in 180 years. Oysters Rockefeller. Pompano en Papillote. Chicken Rochambeau. Classic Creole dishes prepared the same way they've been prepared for generations. | | The restaurant has survived the Civil War, Prohibition, the Great Depression, Hurricane Katrina, and a pandemic. It's still owned and operated by the same family, still serving the same food, still in the same building on St. Louis Street. |
| 184 years later, Antoine's is still the standard for New Orleans fine dining. |
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Antoine's Restaurant has served classic Creole cuisine in New Orleans since 1840.
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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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"Turned out really good. Glad I won." — Tanya from Houma
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| A new last name is chosen regularly, so keep an eye out. |
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| Spring Festival Season Officially Begins |
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Spring festival season brings food, music, and celebration across Louisiana.
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| This is the week Louisiana's festival season really kicks in. | | Crawfish boil championships in Marrero. Oyster festivals in Amite. Azaleas blooming in Lafayette. Warm weather, live music, and seafood everywhere you look. | | From here until summer, there's something happening every weekend. Crawfish festivals. Oyster festivals. Music festivals. Food festivals. Small-town celebrations and big-city events. | | If you're looking for a reason to get outside and celebrate Louisiana, you won't have to look far. | | Until next time, |
| Michael |
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