Slidell High Tigers 1954

 The 1954 Slidell High School Tiger Team. Click on the image to make it larger. 

Children's Museum Re-opens in Mandeville

 The Children's Museum of St. Tammany opened the doors on its new location on U.S. Hwy. 190 just east of Mandeville this past Thursday, October 31. The larger space has been outfitted with many of the educational panels and favorite activity areas from the previous location at Koop Drive, plus new exhibits and fun learning sections have been added. 

It is located in Suite A  at 813 Florida Street, in the building that also has the Triple Nickel Grill, S&S Consignment and St. Francis Thrift Store. 

While the old favorites are back, the Market complete with cash register and shopping carts, the boat surrounded by crabs, and the art activity center, there is also now a large gathering room for parties and meetings. Lite Zilla will offer a new light-filled experience, and the shadow wall will delight children with multi-colored shadows. 

The Museum is open from Tuesday through Friday,  10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The world globe is in the front window

The trees are standing tall

The play diner and the fishing boat have been launched.

The "Natural Wonders" exhibit has come indoors and expanded with additional displays and exhibits. 

This exhibit shows the many different stages of pumpkins

A reading space for kids and parents

The Market has been expanded. One little girl visiting this week not only went through the market, filling her cart and then "checking out," but after that she went over to the dining table set up and proceeded to start "boiling crawfish."

Plenty of art materials

Two real artists easels have been placed into service

Many of the panels from the old location on Koop Drive have been brought over and re-arranged to make a whole new experience. Children's Museum staff helped paint backdrops and scenes on the walls. 

There's a coral collection, a seashell collection, and a brand new "light table" that helps illuminate animal skeletons. One display shares the importance of seeds and how they are planted. The lighthouse is still a center focus point, and half wall panels with artistic wood cutouts encase one section of the museum. The additional wall panels will provide space to hang new exhibits and showcase artwork as it is produced. 

They have succeeded in taking every panel and piece of the former location and re-arranging it into a new museum space with even more learning opportunities. 

The organization is now partnered with the St. Tammany Public School System's Talented Art Program, so there will be even more emphasis on developing artistic talents in young visitors. Those efforts will include designing, creating and hanging "butterflies" from the ceiling of the new space. 

There is also additional space for offices for staff members, a welcome feature.

A mini stage complete with puppets

The Children's Museum of St. Tammany getting it in high gear

The Children's Museum will eventually move into a building at Pelican Park, with growing interest in providing STEM type activities. Its original location was proposed next to the Cultural Arts Center on Interstate 12, but those plans never did materialize. The originally planned gallery layout is being implemented as much as possible in the new location. For the past several years, the museum was located in a building on the opposite side of Tammany Trace from parish facilities on Koop Drive between Abita Springs and Mandeville.  

For more information:

Children's Museum Facebook Page

Children's Museum Website

Childrens Museum of St. Tammany

Children's Museum Offers Natural Wonders Section

Wings & Wheels at Abita Airport

Saturday, November 2, was a Family Fun Day at St. Tammany Regional Airport, just east of Abita Springs on La. Hwy. 36. The "Wings & Wheels" event brought out a number of visitors and aviation enthusiasts. 

A line of vintage trucks and automobiles were on display, the vintage bi-plane was taking folks up in the air, and the skydivers were also on the scene.

There was a DJ spinning music, food trucks to provide lunch, and even educational table displays from the Federal Aviation Administration. Here are some photographs. Click on the images to make them larger. 

Curious youngsters learned about aviation. 

Educational exhibits were on display. 

Food trucks were brought in to provide lunch. 

Cheersleaders at CHS in 1976

 Covington High School cheerleaders from 1976...

Click on the image to make it larger

1917 Graduating Class at CHS

 Here's a photo that appeared in the St. Tammany Farmer newspaper in 1917 showing the graduating class at Covington High School. Click on the image to make it larger. 

Krewe of Bogue Falaya Names Grand Marshal

 Lisa Condrey-Ward, owner of the Southern Hotel in downtown Covington, was named Grand Marshal for the second annual Krewe of Bogue Falaya Parade to be held on Mardi Gras Day in 2025. The honor was announced at a special gathering at the hotel Tuesday evening. 

Video of announcement ceremony

Click on the "Play Triangle" to view the video

Krewe Captain Larry Rolling introduced her to the crowd of more than 100 people at the special event. He commended her for making Covington a better place with an even greater future. A lifetime resident of Louisiana, she and her family moved to Covington in 1998, and she was involved in a successful law practice. She has been a past president of the Keep Covington Beautiful organization and the La. Trust For Historic Preservation. She is also active in the Covington Public Art Fund. 

She thanked the group for the honor and praised the Krewe for growing so fast and providing Covington with an outstanding Mardi Gras Day parade. 

"My favorite old photograph of Covington shows the king of Carnival arriving by boat in 1911," she told those in attendance. Local citizens of 100 years ago were proud of their celebration of Mardi Gras, she went on to say. Last year the Krewe revived that tradition of the arrival by boat, followed by a second line parade to the Southern Hotel.

She commended the residents of Covington for continuing to weave a strong tapestry of community forward into the future. "I think Mardi Gras Day is the time for us to celebrate what we are doing for this city, and I am going to have so much fun."

Click on the images to make them larger. 

Parish President Mike Cooper welcomed those present, telling how several years ago, he had asked Larry Rolling to set about getting a new Carnival krewe for Covington on Mardi Gras Day. The Krewe of Bogue Falaya was the result, a group which now has 600 members.

The 2025 parade will have 16 floats on the theme of "Movies in Paradise."

Among those present for the meeting were Mark Johnson, the mayor of Covington, and Jean Pelloat , the mayor of Madisonville. 

Krewe officials, from left, Jody Burke, Amy Tucker, Lisa Condrey-Ward, Larry Rolling, Betty Brock, Joanne Rucker and George Schaefer

Links for additional information:

2024 Krewe of Bogue Falaya Welcomes Grand Marshal 

Covington Mardi Gras History

Mardi Gras Pageantry in 1911

Covington Mardi Gras Get Ready

Team Picture of Dixie Youth All-Stars 1969

 Here's a team photo of the Covington All-Stars Team in the Dixie Youth tournament in July of 1969, some 55 years ago... 

Click on the image to make it larger.

Family Cemetery in Chinchuba

 The last week of October family cemeteries all across St. Tammany are spiffed up and tombs painted, weeds cut down, and repairs made to gravesites. It's all in preparation for All Saints Day, November 1, when legacy family cemeteries are visited by hundreds of descendants of those loved ones buried within.

Some families turn the annual cemetery clean up efforts into gatherings of young and old, bringing picnic lunches, along with the trimmers, rakes and family history scrapbooks. 

Such was the case at one of St. Tammany's oldest family cemeteries, the Tom Spell Cemetery in Chinchuba. This past Saturday dozens of family members from throughout the area converged on the cemetery, enjoying visiting under the shades of the trees, working together to clear away the brush, level the gravesites that needed attention, and partake of a lunch while sharing memories of ancestors long gone. 

Here are some photographs of that special occasion. 

Click on the images to make them larger. 

The cemetery was established in 1795.

A genealogical chart was on display to help connect the dots of family history. 

Lunch was enjoyed by all. 

The cemetery is on the banks of Chinchuba Creek, not far from where Father Rouquette had a chapel to minister to the Choctaws in the area. 

Ed Dicks, the cemetery coordinator, said it was a family day and a work day, an effort to involve the younger generation and help them get to know one another. More than 20 people turned out for the occasion. The cemetery has gravesites for many well-known area families, among them Spell, Sharp, Strain, Goodrow, and Phillips.

Historian Don Sharp attended with his research about the cemetery, two large books filled with photographs and photocopies of legal documents down through the years. 

Don Sharp

Links for more information:

Tom Spell Memorial Cemetery

A Cemetery For The Family

Father Rouquette and the Cabin in the Oak

Cemetery Locations