What was once the one parade I could take my kids to has become an awful mess…read more Prior to this year I would always watch the parade at the very beginning. That meant easy parking, a quick viewing experience and an easy exit post parade. This year the geniuses in. Mandeville decided that area was a "no parade zone" due to construction. That meant I was forced to find a new spot or deal with the wrath of my children. You see, I promised them I would take them to a parade, and you should never make promises to kids that you don't intend to keep. So anyway, I studied the route and picked a spot. The spot I picked (classified) seemed to offer all that my old spot did, but in soon learned it was nothing like it. First off, I encountered some ne'er do wells smoking marijuana in the parking area. Thanks degenerates for exposing me to your bad habits. Second, the route in this area is not lined with barricades. It's a lot easier to prevent float crushings if the route is barricaded. Also in this area were an enormous amount of parked vehicles along the side of the road. Apparently the only spot without illegally parked cars was my original spot and that wasn't an option. These car people we parked literally on the route in the road. Should one of them decided he wanted to mow down the crowd nothing would have stopped him. The parade itself was all out of sync. The gap between floats was massive despite being somewhat close to the start of the route. This all women's crew was pretty good about throwing to the kids which was the one plus, but waiting so long between floats made my kids antsy. It was almost as if there was no organization to the parade whatsoever. The final nail in the coffin was the post parade experience. Despite the parade being completely past our location, traffic was at a standstill. For some reason the police had the only avenues of exit completely blocked. Making matters worse was that when one additional route opened, they weren't doing anything to facilitate traffic moving smoothly. It's almost as if this was the northshore's first ever Mardi Gras parade and no one knew what to do. As parades go, this was not a good experience. My kids did enjoy catching stuff, but if they don't improve the entire operation, I doubt I'll be back.

I love this Parade...I'm probably biased though. This was the S/O's and my first parade together…read more So, I might be alittle too generous with this review! I lived a couple of blocks away from the route where it turned off of Monroe onto 190 and it was a convenient place to watch. It's a small, Nice family themed parade where most people are well behaved and friendly. No real fighting over beads and throws. This year was the same, a fun local parade with plenty of throws and some good High school bands playing.

The sunset concert series are great. Beginning in March each year, this six week concert series…read morefeatures great food, music and family friendly fun. I went to my first concert here last night, and I am hooked. The trailhead is a perfect venue for an outside concert. The stage has a concrete dance area directly in front, and the seating area is a grass area that slopes upward, ensuring everyone can see the show. Outside food and drink weren't allowed, but two local restaurants served food and the venue sold drinks. One of the food vendors (Lago) sold shrimp fajita plates for $5. Beside the fajitas, the plate came with rice and beans. It was great. I cant imagine another place to get food, drink and music for so cheap. The performer last night was Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots and they were incredible. I have always enjoyed Sunpie, but in this small of a venue, he really shined. The dance floor was packed with kids, and adults dancing to every song. I thoroughly enjoyed this concert and hope to attend several more in the future. These concerts are perfect for families or couples who want a cheap night out.

The St.Tammany Parish Fair is a great family friendly event. The fair is held each year at the…read moreCovington Fairgrounds. Several local groups offer parking close by. We paid $6 and parked less than a block away. There is a large area with animals from the local FFA groups at parish high schools. Pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all on display. There were a huge amount of carnival rides for the kids. There was a ferris wheel, bumper cars, and an enormous amount of other rides. This fair had more rides than any other fair or festival I have attended. Mitchell Brothers Amusement operated the rides. Apparently they are the largest company of its type in the area. Every festival I have been to this year has had Mitchell Brothers rides. On the other side of the fairgrounds were cows from the FFA and a section with food vendors. We tried a gyro, alligator sausage po-boy and a steak bowl with mushrooms, onions and potatoes. The steak bowl and alligator sausage were great. The alligator sausage was from the vendor Big Will and the Warden. This vendor works all of the big events in the area and has incredible food. If you're at a fair, I highly recommend them. One nice thing about the fair is that there is no alcohol served. This ensures that it remains family friendly. The fair was not overly crowded on Saturday and we will definitely go again next year.

I saw a post about this festival on a social media account and decided to stop by. It was easy to…read moreget to from I-55. There was plenty of free parking very close to the festival grounds. Evidently it is held annually the last full weekend of April. There is a parade, rides, booths selling things, and most importantly food. It all seemed very reasonable priced. I would recommend for anyone in the area. All of the ground seemed level, so I am sure it would be easy to get around for handicapped people.

I have been going to this festival for 8 years and was surprised that no one had written a review…read moreyet. I have enjoyed every year. The boats are amazing and beautiful! They always have a big stage with very good live bands especially on Saturday afternoon and evening. Always plenty of great food and drinks available. They also have an area just for kids with shows and rides and stuff. There is a contest called the Quick n' Dirty which consists of teams building a boat on Saturday and Sunday morning, then on Sunday afternoon they parade their boats down the main festival area in hilarious and outrageous costumes. After the parade comes the highlight of the festival when they put their boats in the river and race. Always a hoot to watch, some go fast, some go slow, and then of course some sink! All of this fun on the banks of the Tchefuncte River in the month of October which is usually sunny but still cool enough to spend an enjoyable day by the river.

On a NOLA news station, the King and Queen of the 6th Annual Sicilian Festival were giving a…read morecooking demonstration and imploring New Orleanians to get themselves over to Independence, Louisiana for the Sicilian Fest. I was intrigued! Plus, I am so ready for Festival Season to start! Saturday morning, my brother and I decided for a little road trip to Independence, LA. We took the back roads through downtown Ponchatoula and downtown Hammond, both of which are very picturesque and should be explored. Arriving in Independence, you couldn't miss the Festival. They shut down part of a Hwy 51 that ran right through the heart of the downtown area. There were many carnival rides, that appealed to children and teenagers alike. There was one large stage set up for music. A Elvis singer, white jumpsuit and all, was on when we arrived. He actually wasn't bad. There were food booths that were sponsored by all local organizations. I had the lasagna. Holy moly, so freakin good! It wasn't a large Festival. It went up one street, crossed the railroad tracks, and down the other. But, you got a real sense of community. This small town was proud of their Fest. Many people seemed to know one another and they were celebrating their town and culture. The Independence Cultural Museum was just a few blocks away. Really enjoyed walking around this small museum, once the old Catholic church. They had an old confessional circa 1909 on display, as well as many pictures of old businesses and families that settled here in the 19th Century. Apparently many Sicilians were strawberry farmers. Overall, a very pleasant experience at this small town Festival! Good homemade food and good people!

I saw a post about this on my social media and decided to come up. Admission is cash only, but they…read moredo have ATM on site. Everyone was friendly. My favorite part was the outdoor wood fired ovens they were baking biscuits in and the biscuits were good and reasonably priced. Everything sold in the booths is hand made and sold by their creators. There were promised exhibits and displays. As I was buying kettle corn popcorn, I was offered a raffle ticket, the prize being the whole pig they were going to slaughter in front of everyone and then packaged and given to the winner. It was nice but did not seem very diverse in the crowd or people manning the booths.

This was my first time seeing this older Northshore krewe. When your youngest niece is marching…read morewith a group AND she requests your presence THEN you show up. So Mom and I trekked over to see the parade. We saw it near the beginning and the end since they drive in/out on the same road. I'm not sure what the theme was... Mom thought songs, my brother said something about New Orleans. Who knows. My niece said the floats were used in other Northshore parades that they had seen that season. Still they were attractive and the bands were good. Plus they had a couple of the ubiquitous marching groups. Really the atmosphere had the feel of the old school neighborhood parades and that low key feeling was great for my Mom.

As with most of the Mardi Gras parades in the suburbs, it is not recommended you expose your…read morebreasts or genetalia unless you want to become a registered sex offender because there are small children at the parade. This parade was well organized. It went off without a hitch. There were plenty of people hanging in the crowds with those nasty red hats and flags with someone on them. This is a family parade in Covington, so it is in his country. On one stretch, the floats sped by, the poor people marching had to run to keep up. It was horrible. But all in all, it was a good parade.