Are you familiar with Hogs for the Cause? Because if not, you should be. It’s a worthy cause, a fun time, and it keeps getting bigger and better. I am biased, it’s true, because I owe one of the founders of the charity organization a great deal.
I won’t go into detail, because there is a court order forbidding it, but I will skirt the boundaries of that order and just say, “Thanks, Rene, for the hair.”
Hogs for the Cause helps families dealing with pediatric brain cancer by providing assistance with expenses for things like lodging, transportation and other mundane expenses that most of us don’t consider, because most of us are fortunate enough not to have to deal with pediatric brain cancer.
But Hogs is not just a good cause; it’s a hell of a good time. There’s great food (assuming you like smoked pork products) and great music too. Really the only downside to the affair is that they continue to allow me to participate as a judge.
Hogs for the Cause takes place March 27-28, at City Park. I encourage you to come out.
One week before Hogs, my neighborhood improvement association is holding a fundraiser as well. The Broadmoor Improvement Association has done remarkable things since Katrina, the most recent of which is the soon to open Arts and Wellness Center in the former Blessed Trinity School. The event on March 21st, at the Keller Library will raise funds to furnish the Center. There will be food, drinks, a silent auction and “surprise stuff,” which probably means that the Rolling Stones are playing. (No.)
The Keller library is, itself, an awesome place and yet another sign that Broadmoor is coming back. It should be a great venue for a party.
I remember driving around Broadmoor about a month after Katrina, and it was not pretty. The turnaround has been incredible, but there’s a lot left to do, and a Health and Wellness Center will do a lot of good. I hope there’s room on your calendar for this event, too.
This weekend the recently-reopened Brennan’s on Royal street is throwing a homecoming party for turtles. This is not my normal beat, to say the least, but I do appreciate the effort Ralph Brennan and Terry White put into the renovation of the restaurant generally and of the courtyard in particular, so I’ll likely be there. There will be bagpipes, floats and champagne, and things kick off at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 14.
I know I’ve written about it already, but I’ve been back to Brennan’s since and had yet another excellent meal. It seems like most of the restaurants that have opened in the last year, great as they may be, are all variations on a more relaxed theme. Brennan’s no longer has a strict dress code, but it certainly aims to provide a more elegant experience than most restaurants in town. I think it succeeds. I’d think that regardless of the presence of turtles in the courtyard fountain, so I suppose they’re lagniappe.
