Our cover features the most exciting inaugural “Heart of the Park” hat luncheon, which will be on Wednesday, April 11 at the Arbor Room and Popp Fountain in City Park! Proceeds from luncheon with benefit the protection and management of City Park’s iconic oak trees and projects of the New Orleans Town Gardeners, such as Grow Dat Youth Farm, the Edible Schoolyards, the grounds at Latter Library and more. Thanks so much to Chairs Ashley Bright and Pam Bryan, one of the major sponsors, David Kerstein, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Helis Interests in New Orleans, and Chair Susan Brennan (Edit Note: I’m also a Chair). Guests will arrive in their finest spring ensembles, complete with fabulous hats, and sip Moët & Chandon Champagne at the Patron Party. Entertainment will include the St. Augustine Marching Band and Johnny Parker’s Band, who will lead guests in a second-line into a gourmet lunch with tables decorated with dramatic centerpieces. Thanks to Auseklis Ozols for his beautiful painting, which is featured on the invitation and will be auctioned at the luncheon! City Park has the largest grove of mature oak trees in the world! Some are over 800 years old! You don’t want to miss this! Please call 259-1509 or buy your ticket online at NewOrleans.BoldTypeTickets.com/events/51002883/heart-of-the-park-hat-luncheon.
This is the perfect time to update your wardrobe, so check out our annual spring fashion feature for the best styled outfits, our What’s Hot for the perfect accessory and our feature on French Quarter for where to go to show off your new outfits!
We are so proud of our annual Courts of Carnival feature! We know you’ll want to save it and see all of your favorite friends who are in the courts, whether they’re debutantes, Kings, Queens or Pages.
“For our 75th Anniversary and the city’s 300th, we’re going bigger to celebrate our mission: ‘To bring the joy of opera to everyone!’” says Director of Marketing & Audience Development of the New Orleans Opera Joe McKesson. “We’ve added three chamber operas, one of which kicked off the 150th anniversary of a famous a sauce by the same name, Tabasco. We’re producing one of our most lavish productions in years to bring Terence Blanchard’s opera Champion: An Opera in Jazz home to New Orleans and of course, our big “Birthday Bash,” which will have stars both local and from abroad sing beloved classic opera arias, amazing Broadway crossovers and epic scenes from your favorite operas. This year, more than ever, we want opera to connect with all of New Orleans, as we are ‘America’s first city of opera’ – 222 years and still counting!” To learn more, purchase tickets and support our opera, visit NewOrleansOpera.org today!
Tuesday, May 1 is the fifth annual GiveNOLA Day, which is a community-wide, 24-hour online giving day. On GiveNOLA, we have the opportunity to come together as a community to support our incredible nonprofits who work to improve the quality of life for us all. We have a culture of giving and the generosity of our people is astounding. In the past four years, GiveNOLA Day has raised more than $15 million for regional nonprofits. Last year alone, the giving day raised an astonishing $4.9 million. This year, the Greater New Orleans Foundation hopes to raise at least $5 million from 40,000 donations for more than 700 local nonprofits. To learn more visit GiveNOLA.org.
Beverly Reese Church
Students in the Arise Academy charter school band arrived in class one day last month to a wonderful surprise: Tipitina’s Foundation presented the school with trombones, clarinets, flutes, saxophones and trumpets to help expand their impressive music program. On Monday, April 30, you can join Tipitina’s Foundation in their efforts to promotes childhood music education at the 17th annual “Instruments A Comin’.” Tipitina’s uptown music club will host this outdoor festival, battle of the bands, silent auction and star-studded benefit concert that raises $150,000 each year for the purchase of musical instruments. Through their Instruments A Comin’ program, Tipitina’s Foundation has provided $3.2 million in musical instruments to more than 100 schools throughout Louisiana. Tickets start at $60 and can be purchased online at Tipitinas.com or by calling 895-8874.
