As cold weather in the area turns warmer, many in Louisiana are already looking forward to spring and the events attached to the season. According to Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, there’s going to be a fun run of events to keep people busy. “We’re hoping to get back closer to those record numbers that we saw before COVID. Mardi Gras was a great kickoff. We saw increased numbers all over the state,” Nungesser points out. He’s optimistic those strong numbers will continue to grow as the area rolls into the festival season with weather warming in the region. There’s Festival International de Louisiane, French Quarter Fest, and the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival all happening in April. May brings Bayou Boogaloo and Cinco de Mayo. Summer ushers in a whole new slew of activities, so there’s no end in sight if you’re in the region.
Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor is also hoping to shine a greater spotlight on the state’s reputation as a sportsman’s paradise with more initiatives aimed at highlighting the natural bounty of the Pelican State. “We’ve got a lot of interest in private/public partnership in our state parks to improve them. We’re seeing that with the mountain bike trail in Bogue Chitto. That mountain bike trail was just named the #2 mountain bike trail in the entire country. “We had 2,500 people per month come in from 15 states to come ride that mountain bike trail,” Nungesser explained.
He went on to say an engineering company recently sent him a letter thanking him because the company was having problems getting people to move to New Orleans. According to Nungesser, 8 people took employment there specifically because of the mountain bike trail, relocating from South Carolina for the opportunity.
Nungesser is hopeful that, with the Moreno administration now in place, there will be renewed interest in new attractions in New Orleans as well. “The food, the music, the culture, is something. But, the thing I’m most proud of is that everyone who leaves has a story about the way we treat people. We treat strangers like family, they leave with a friend for life, and keep coming back. You hear stories of people who come here for Mardi Gras and get invited into someone’s backyard to eat crawfish with a stranger. Travel agents have told me that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world they send people. Some of those tourism numbers are because of the way our people here treat outsiders. I’m proud of that,” added the Lt. Governor.