Hi Julia,
I would like to know how New Orleans Police Deptartment Mounted Patrol located in City Park came about. What was the inspiration for mounted policemen?
– Ann Duffy, New Orleans
Mounted police are common in cities. Their advantage is visibility. The people can see them and, most importantly, they can see people above the crowd. They are good in parks where their presence always attracts attention. They are especially useful in New Orleans because of Carnival crowds, patrolling the French Quarter anytime or for big events, such as the upcoming Superbowl. They are seldom expected to chase down the bad guys and lasso them like in the Westerns, however they have contact with cops on the ground. (There is a 2018 You Tube video that shows a mounted officer chasing a suspect down Bourbon Street. You can hear the horse clomping as he skillfully weaves through the crowd. Ultimately the suspect is apprehended. It is worth watching.)
City Park is the natural place to keep the horses because there is already an equestrian presence due to Equest Farm, where horses are available for lessons and riding.
Equest is also where the Budweiser Clydesdales stay when they come for Mardi Gras. Totally opposite from the towering Clydesdales is Patch, a loveable three-foot miniature pony that was donated to the department. The horse, who was born with only one eye, is kept at the police stable to help give emotional support to the bigger tougher police horses. Patch and the 26 regular police horses are reportedly getting along well. He also made guest appearances during Carnival.
During Carnival a group of three mounted police rode past me. I asked one of the officers what his horse’s name was. He shouted back but I could not understand if he said “Nero” or “Hero.” I hope it is the latter.
Hey Julia,
The French Quarter Festival is one of my favorite events. I hear it was started as an appeasement by City Hall to satisfy Quarter businesses. Is that true? If so, what did they need to be appeased about.
– Fred Sental, Gonzales, LA
What you heard is true Fred. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, the French Quarter Festival originated as a by-product of the 1984 World’s Fair. In the years preceding the fair, the city went through a fixing up and cleaning up process to make it presentable for the anticipated global visitors. In the French Quarter there were extensive street repairs, with many of the old streets having be torn up to fix their centuries old decline. For businesspeople in the Quarter the repairs were an absolute disaster. Customers could not even enter their businesses because of the demolition and construction.
Mayor Dutch Morial had an idea. He promised the Quarter businesses that if they would just ride out the turmoil, he would deliver a festival to be held in the Quarter with the support and blessings of the city.
A committee was formed. Wheels turned, and in April 1984 the fledgling festival made its debut. What was unique about it was that its goal was to attract locals to the Quarter. There were no admission fees and the emphasis would be on using local performers. A free festival creating work for local musicians and drawing residents back to the Quarter was an exciting possibility.
Each year the festival, in effect, starts off the highly musical month of April which culminates with the Jazz and Heritage Fest, one of the tops of its kind. For the price of enduring street repairs New Orleans got bookend festivals.
Poydras recalls that on the opening day of the first French Quarter Festival there were even skydivers. The crowd loved it, but he personally learned never to be flying close to a guy with boots falling from the sky.
