Regional Medical Center of Acadiana showed off its impressive renovations for the Lafayette Chamber’s Business After Hours July 15. A packed house gathered in the newly refurbished lobby and cafeteria areas to mingle and network while feasting on delicious cuisine and wines catered by Joey’s. Among the tasty treats were massive fried shrimp, a savory creamy pasta, marinated chicken kabobs, baked brie with praline topping, finger sandwiches and Joey’s luscious assorted desserts. Special guest Debra Lockwood, chairman of the national board of directors for the American Heart Association, presented the Heart and Stroke Champion Award to RMCA CEO Vickie Briggs.
The Lemoine Company hosted a reception at the newly-expanded Acadiana Center for the Arts to toast two thought-provoking exhibits by New Orleans photographers Michel Varisco and Rajko Radovanovic. As guests sipped on wine and nibbled on hors d’oeuvres from Zea, the artists explained their impressive works showcasing the emotional and physical impacts of the Gulf Coast oil spill. Titled “Shifting,” Varisco’s eye-catching photos of Louisiana’s precious wetlands before and after the disaster are both beautiful and poignant. Aerial views of the oil-specked Gulf waters were taken from a friend’s plane, contrasting the still unspoiled beauty of the Atchafalaya Basin captured from a Henderson houseboat.The center gallery space houses Radovanic’s powerful exhibit, “Last Line of Defense,” featuring a protective line of American flags along the reeds in Bayou Rioglettes, in the sand at Grand Isle and along water south of Venice. In January, this incredible exhibit will be showcased at the White Box gallery in New York.
Gary McGoffin, Laura Broussard and Chris Canty
Ryan Petticrew, Gary McGoffin and Bruce Conque
Popie Billeaud and Buzz Durio
Monica Lavergne, Catherine Artigue, Laura Andrew, Erin Ryan and Susan Holliday
Lisa Landry and Vickie Briggs
Cheryl Green, Brickey Doré and A.J. Miller
Ryan Goudelocke and Shawn Carter
Rajko Radovanovic with reeds in Grand IsleRajko Radovanovic with reeds in Grand Isle
ACA Executive Director Gerd Wuestemann, Margot Hasha Gould and Philip Gould
Billy Sizeler, Dr. Ken Odinet, John and Courtenay Mendell and Michelle Odinet
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.