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Special toL’Observateur

DESTREHAN — Destrehan Plantation’s Fall Festival runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 11 and 12 on the plantation grounds, featuring 125 arts and craft vendors, an antiques and collectibles section in the Mule Barn, Cajun & Creole food and a children’s area with pony rides.

Tours of the plantation house will be available for an additional fee. Entertainment will be provided by Summer Breeze Band on Saturday afternoon and by Louisiana Spice on Sunday afternoon.

The 2017 festival will be dedicated to lifetime River Road Historical Society Board Members Ralph Miller and Betty Haydel, who each served on the original board of directors established in 1968.

Ralph remained an active mem-ber until his death in March. Betty remained active on the board until 2016, when she retired. She contin-ues as a Member Emeritus.

The Destrehan Plantation Education Center will be rededi-cated during the Fall Festival and renamed “The Miller-Haydel Museum at Destrehan Plantation” in recognition and appreciation of their continued work in establish-

ing Destrehan Plantation as a house museum.

While at the festival, be sure to see our special exhibits which will be open free of charge during the festival. Our Jefferson Room with an original document signed by Thomas Jefferson along with museum quality copies of docu-ments, which made up the Louisiana Purchase will be open for viewing.

Also, our Herbert J. Harvey, Jr., Legacy Room features origi-nal Destrehan family documents.

A video showing the history of Destrehan Plantation will be shown throughout the day also. The Miller-Haydel Museum at Destrehan Plantation features an exhibit on the 1811 Slave Revolt featuring original folk-art and artwork by well-known St. Charles Parish artist Lorraine Gendron.

The museum features other exhib-its including the Rost Home Colony and other details of the plantation’s history.

Additions to the festival include

a Children’s Craft and Activity area in our School House building. Coloring pages, games and displays will be available for the children’s entertainment. This will be pro-vided free of charge by our Heritage Education Program.

Free parking will be provided to all festivalgoers in our newly acquired property located in back of our Mule Barn.

Demonstrations of period crafts will be shown throughout the weekend. Open hearth cooking, the Smokehouse, Trapper’s Cabin and Bousillage Construction, will be demonstrated among others. On Saturday, be sure to visit our Gift Shop where Dr. Eddie Boyd will be doing book signings of his book African American Home Remedies.

Destrehan Plantation is in its third year of its Master Plan Expansion. Projects have included a new Administrative Center, Bridal Suite, a small bed & breakfast cabin, School House, Trapper’s Cabin, additional property purchase and clearing for future expansion.

Admission is $8 for adults and teens, free for ages 12 and under. All proceeds from admission fees go toward Destrehan Plantation’s historic preservation efforts and the Master Plan Expansion.

Take in Destrehan Plantation’s Fall Festival

this year’s Fall Festival, held on the Destrehan plantation grounds, pictured, features 125 arts and craft vendors, an antiques and collectibles section in the Mule Barn, cajun & creole food and a children’s area with pony Rides.

Special to L’Observateur

GARYVILLE — Family Days at San Francisco Planation, an exclusive offer to St. John the Baptist Parish residents, is planned from Dec. 1 through Dec. 17.

San Francisco Plantation in Garyville will be decorated for the Christmas holidays.

It’s great time to be a tourist in your own backyard. Any St. John the Baptist Parish resident will be admitted for $ 10 per person.

Present your driver’s license when purchasing tickets in the Plantation Gift Shop.

No other discounts will apply.San Francisco Planation is located

at 2646 River Road in Garyville.Log onto Sanfrancisocplantation.

org or call 985-535-2341 for more information.

San FRanciSco plantation

Family Days planned Dec. 1-17

Special toL’Observateur

METAIRIE — The Big Teasy caf-feine festival will feature fun for the whole family with food, music, and artists that celebrate the tea and cof-fee lifestyle from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at Jefferson Performing Arts Center, 6400 Airline Drive in Metairie.

High Tea service in the beautiful JPAC lobby will highlight the day. Outside, fest goers will also taste tea and coffee samples — hot and cold — along with sweet and savory small plate offerings.

Parents are encouraged to bring children in Halloween costumes to

have tea — and photos — with Alice and The White Rabbit!

Some 50 artists will offer opportu-nities to shop for that perfect item to embellish an outfit or enhance a collection.

The Gentlemen’s Corner welcomes gentlemen (and ladies) to taste fea-tured premium whiskeys while savoring a hand-rolled cigar on the outdoor, second level balcony. So civilized!

There will be lots of music to tap the toes and burn up that caf-feine with some traditional New Orleans Dixieland Jazz and Foxtrots. Scheduled performers so far include The New Leviathon Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Tim Laughlin Jazz Trio,

and The Last Straws with more to come. After a stroll through the oak-filled grounds of LaSalle Tract, ticket holders will take a seat among the priceless artwork inside the stun-ning new Jefferson Performing Arts Center. The traditional delicacies of High Tea will include tea, coffee, sweets and savories.

The evening will continue to unfold inside the beautiful Jefferson Performing Arts theatre, with the laughter of cabaret “Hot Stuff New Orleans Style” starring Becky Allen, Harry Mayronne and Chris Wecklein.

The crescendo of the day hits when the curtain rises on our festival head-liners, The New Leviathon Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra.

The Big Teasy serves of up family fun this Sunday

Special toL’Observateur

VACHERIE — Through Nov. 3, St. Joseph Plantation is holding its annual “Mourning Tour” featuring the customs and rituals of 18th and 19th century Creole Louisiana.

The house will be “dressed in full deep mourning”, according to the old prescribed protocol of mourning

You will be both educated and entertained by these participating re-enactments. There will be people por-traying Dr. Cazemir Bernard Mericq and Josephine Aime Ferry who lived at St. Joseph at different times. Please come visit us during the month of October for our “Mourning Tour.”

In the early days of the 18th and 19th Century, the Creoles of Louisiana were predominantly of French, German and Spanish descent. These families, whose parents and grandparents had settled in New Orleans and the surrounding areas of South Louisiana, were all Roman Catholic. Their religion was woven deeply into the fabric of their daily lives. On Sunday, buggies were full of families making their way to the various Catholic Parish Churches to attend Mass.

Images of Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph and the other Saints were as much a part of the decorations of these homes as the pictures of family members. A Prie Dieu was visible in every bedroom. Morning, evening, and before meal prayers, rosaries and holy candles also made up the patterns of daily life in these homes. In the city and on the plantation, these customs were devoutly followed.

In death as in life, these Catholic families of old Louisiana practiced customs and rituals that were followed for generations by their ancestors. Of course with the much shorter life expectancy of those days, family members were in mourning a considerable amount of their life. A widow would be in deep mourn-ing for a whole year. Black garments were required at all times. Black dress of a reflective nature could be worn but only after the first six months. Children and servants were also required to dress the part.

Holy Days were also very important and November

1st, All Saints’ Day, (“La Toussaint”), was one of the most celebrated Holy Days of the year. Weeks before, family tombs were cleaned, repaired, and white-washed in preparation of this much anticipated annual event. On All Saints Day, whole families could be seen visiting their family tombs. Families and friends visited with the living as well as paid respects to the departed. This custom, although modified somewhat by modern life, is still very strong in South Louisiana today.

St. Joseph Plantation is located at 3535 Highway 18 in Vacherie. Call 225-265-4078.

Enjoy a ‘Mourning Tour’ at St. Joseph

St. Joseph plantation is located at 3535 Highway 18 in Vacherie. call 225-265-4078 for more information.

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Winn-Dixie unveils renovationsLaPlace location invests back into the community

By Brooke roBichauxL’OBSERVATEUR

LAPLACE — The LaPlace Winn-Dixie officially unveiled renovations to the St. John the Baptist Parish community Thursday morning, showcasing new signage and food stations designed to meet customers’ needs.

More than 100 Winn-Dixie associ-ates and St. John Parish officials, including Parish President Natalie Robottom, were present to welcome the community with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The newly renovated store offers an enhanced shopping experience with a bright, welcoming design, an improved deli with grab-and-go meal options, a new Dollar Shop section, an updated farm-fresh produce sec-tion, a hot wing bar, a grab-and-go sushi bar, an improved bakery department and full service seafood and meat departments.

Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys provided live music for the occa-sion as customers tasted samples from local food businesses, and the first 500 guests received mystery gift cards valued between $5 and $500.

Renovations for the LaPlace loca-tion, which has served the commu-nity for 19 years, were prompted by community feedback during every-day interactions with customers and quarterly focus groups, according to Anthony Hucker, president and CEO of Winn-Dixie parent company Southeastern Grocers.

“We were asked to reinvest back into the community,” Hucker said. “We want our store to provide qual-ity, service and value, and we believe customers will reward us by shop-ping with us. It’s a relationship built on trust.”

He said the store remained open while renovations took place, and he appreciates the community being

patient throughout the process. “It’s about serving the communi-

ty of LaPlace,” Hucker said. “They wanted fresh products and a clean store.

“We appreciate the customers bear-ing with us as we underwent what we like to call ‘invasive surgery,’ and I think they were so understanding because they knew it was for them.”

Robottom said many parish rep-resentatives were eager to come to the ribbon cutting and support the remodeled store.

“We support all local businesses, and when a company invests in us, we especially want to show support for that,” Robottom said.

She said she expects new additions

such as five items for $20 deals and the Dollar Shop aisle to be especially attractive to customers.

Winn-Dixie sells items to fit varying budgets, Hucker said, offering value items marked with the Southeastern Grocers logo and award-winning brand names.

Hucker said the store is divided into departments for an easier shop-ping experience.

The new seafood department fea-tures a convenient “seafood made easy” option allowing customers to select an entrée, vegetables and sea-soning to cut down cooking time at home.

In addition, the meat department has an onsite butcher offering fresh cuts of meat by request, and an expert chef mans the sushi station to provide easy grab-and-go meals to the community.

Store manager David Pitfield said he’s most excited about the improved produce section that welcomes guests as they walk into the store.

He has plans for special events extending beyond the grand unveil-ing, including sampling stations on weekends and holiday themed cake displays.

More than 100 Winn-Dixie associates and St. John Parish officials were present to welcome the community with a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.

Left, Winn-Dixie associates and public officials cel-ebrate the unveiling of the newly remodeled store in LaPlace, featuring new signage and food stations designed to meet customers’ needs. above, antho-ny hucker, president and ceo of Winn-Dixie parent company Southeastern Grocers and David Pitfield, store manager, pose together at the event.

Fall into the River Parishes Turn to pages 3, 4 & 5 to learn more about some of the fairs and festivals worth your attention in Southeast Louisiana.

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By Ronny Michel

It didn’t come as a surprise to Beverly Harris when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2004. Her sister Jackie had just finished radiation for the same disease, and their mother had breast cancer and later died of uterine cancer. Nevertheless, the news brought intense emotions to Harris and her husband, Henry.

“I felt as though the floor had opened up and I fell in a pit,” Beverly said.

Her husband’s reaction pulled her from that pit. Although he had lost his first wife to can-cer, and Beverly could see the hurt in his eyes when he heard the diagnosis, he said, “We are going to beat this.”

Beverly, an educator for 43 years, was work-ing at the School Board’s central office as a School to Career coordinator at the time of her diagnosis.

During the six weeks she received radia-tion, she worked in the mornings and drove herself to treatment in the afternoons.

“I never got sick from the radiation,” she said.

It is not uncommon for former students (Beverly spent ten years teaching and 20 as a counselor) to thank her for the encouraging and supportive role she played in their lives.

After her diagnosis, Beverly was the one who received support, and it was from people she would meet.

“God has a way of putting people in your life,” Beverly said. “It’s so good to meet others and hear their stories.”

One of those people was a 20-year cancer survivor who told Beverly to pray, stay posi-tive and help anyone in need. Beverly, who daily attends Mass or chapel and is a member of the Rotary Club whose motto is Service above Self, said she was already doing those things.

She also continued to stay focused and posi-tive.

Today, Beverly is free of breast cancer, but in May 2015 she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. While at M.D. Anderson, she was told the cancer had started in her lungs and she had lung cancer of a nonsmoker and had no symptoms of the disease.

“I thanked God for the stomach cancer because it drew attention to the lung cancer,” Beverly said.

Beverly now takes a chemotherapy pill that is fighting the cancer. She continues to coun-sel women who are diagnosed with cancer, meets cancer patients who encourage her with their stories and remains positive.

“I pray to God, thank Him and move on,” Beverly said. “I don’t worry. The best gift someone can give me is to pray for me.”

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