HOUMA
For Cigar Aficionados
Two Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputies, Joe Creppel and Stephen Landry, have partnered to open the new D.S. Fine Cigars on Enterprise Drive in Houma. The high-end cigar lounge, which features a humidor, is the only one of its kind in Houma. The partners say they got tired of traveling to New Orleans just to enjoy a cigar lounge.D.S. Fine Cigars / facebook.com/dsfinecigars
New Era for Nottoway
Iberville Parish New Orleans hotel magnate, Joseph Jaeger Jr., whose notable properties include the Omni Royal Orleans, Mardi Gras World and the Joy Theatre, has scooped up the South’s largest antebellum mansion, the 64-room Nottoway Plantation Resort in White Castle, for $3.1 million plus furnishings.CYPREMONT POINT
State Parks Getting Spiffed Up
Cypremort Point and nine other Louisiana state parks are getting upgraded in preparation for the summer season. The Louisiana Office of State Parks is working to make beaches more appealing so locals can enjoy staycations within the state (crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-parks).Book of the Year
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) has selected “A Cajun Girl’s Sharecropping Years” as the 2019 Humanities Book of the Year. Author Viola Fontenot (a native of Acadian Parish) and the other LEH awardees are being honored at the 2019 Bright Lights Awards Dinner hosted at ULL on April 4.
LAKE CHARLES
A Balloon Fest Debut
A new event is coming to the Lake Charles area this summer featuring balloon rides. The two-night Southwest Louisiana Balloon Festival (July 19-20) will include tethered hot air balloon rides, an international beer tasting, barbecue cook-off, music, dancing, a kids carnival, fireworks and balloon glows lighting up the night sky at Chennault International Airport.Southwest Louisiana Balloon Festival / SWLAballoonfest.com
Going Fast
Lafayette Contemporary Christian singer and songwriter, two-time Grammy winner and Lafayette native Lauren Daigle (“You Say”) is extending her sold-out “Look Up Child” world tour with 19 additional stops, including a third date slated for Lafayette on July 7 with accompaniment by the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra (ticketmaster.com).IBERIA, ST. MARY PARISHES
Sugarcane on the Rise
Sugarcane acreage in Acadiana is likely to increase in 2019 after the successful 2018 harvest, LSU AgCenter specialists have predicted. Acreage in Pointe Coupee Parish increased by 14.5 percent last year. Its cane production this year has the potential of displacing Iberia Parish as the leader.Allons Danser!
Lafayette The sizzling international line-up for Festival International de Louisiane (April 24-28) brings the legendary Ethiopian Girme Bèyènè returning to the spotlight after a 25-year hiatus in exile, joining the world-famous touring French group Akalé Wubé for some Ethiopian groove. Hailing from Haiti is Moonlight Benjamin who introduces her new, explosive style known as voodoo trance that melds Caribbean rhythms with blues. (festival-international.org).
