The Acadian Rain Garden Team is growing more and more every day (please excuse the pun, we’re just a bunch of nerds). Since our last update, our team has made major leaps and bounds in regard to designing our gardens.
We’ve been meeting on a bi-monthly basis. We’ve connected with Dr. Emad Habib (UL Lafayette Civil Engineering), an expert in hydrology, to discuss our local watershed. He and his graduate students provided us with an excellent GIS map of the Vermilion watershed. We plan to use this in our educational materials, to help people connect with their placement in the greater ecosystem. We’ve created a first draft of our educational signage and look forward to refining it with a graphic artist.
As a bunch of plant lovers ourselves, we finalized a list of native plant species that meet the desired qualities of our rain garden plants. These species are 1) native, 2) possess deep penetrating root systems to help absorb water, 3) provide aboveground structure to help filter debris from flood waters, 4) flood-tolerant and drought-tolerant, 5) aesthetically pleasing, and 6) provide ecological value and services.
In November 2017, team member John Oliver, AKA our resident landscape architect, led a charette. Together, his group collaboratively designed a first draft for the garden at Girard Park and the fountain site at city hall. In January 2018, John and the rest of our team refined that draft by determining which species of plants would be most suitable and by conducting a field survey of the site. We measured and marked our site, conducted a soil-water penetration test to determine the ability of the existing soil to absorb water, and measured elevation at the site. John return to the original sketch and refined it with our new additions. We have since sent this updated draft of our rain garden to the Parks and Rec department and look forward to their comments.
We still hope to break ground on this project by Spring 2018. In the coming months, we will be finalizing our designs, educational materials, ordering plants, and locating a source for soil and compost.
Mardi Gras is almost upon us, which means Krewe de Canailles is about to pop off. We’ve made a ton of new headway since the last update. We still haven’t received our 501(c)7 status approval so we’ve reach out to TRAIL to act as our fiscal agents. We’ve added a new board member with Paige Casselman Beyt, secured our permits and are ready to march!
We were also featured in another KATC story – this time with no name misspells! It can be seen here – http://www.katc.com/story/37211172/walking-krewe-to-start-new-mardi-gras-traditions-in-lafayette.
Lastly, we’ve secured the New Natives brass band and Lost Bayou Ramblers to play the afterparty at Warehouse 535, both of which will also be marching in the parade. Everything is shaping up for Krewe de Canailles to be a permanent Lafayette Mardi Gras fixture.
Until the march is over,
Rodney Hess (Team Leader)
The 24 Hour Citizen Project (24HCP) Team is always learning, always growing, and never excited to see a project’s community impact halted for any reason. But, we also believe in being as honest and transparent as possible, and we know that not all projects are going to be forever. This doesn’t make them a bad idea or a failure; instead, they serve as a lesson for future teams (and for ourselves) that will drive us to work harder and do better for the communities we’re involved in. One such project is Adrian Perron’s Recovery Garden, which recently had to permanently cease operations.
The Perfect Project Idea
Adrian had a dream during the 2016 24HCP. He believed that growing a garden was not only a way to feed the hungry, but could also act as a form of therapy for individuals suffering from addiction. Working in partnership with Catholic Services of Acadiana and the LSU Ag Center, his “Recovery Garden” project would build a community garden near St. Joseph’s Diner that could help to sustain the homeless shelters’ mission of feeding the hungry with fresh produce while working to beautify an area that had, for a long time, been neglected by the community. The 24HCP felt Adrian’s idea perfectly paired with our own mission. It was a win from all sides: The Recovery Garden wasn’t just beautification or a subtle improvement of something the city needed, it was a real work of true, civic good.
“The project was unique, and its therapeutic element made it something memorable and necessary within our city,” states Butch Roussel, founder of the 24HCP. “It was something our backers knew would serve Acadiana well.”
Growing a Garden for Good
In 2012, Catholic Services of Acadiana had previously attempted to build a sustainable garden in partnership with the Lafayette Sheriff’s Office. That project had fallen prey to growing security concerns that far overshadowed its yield of fresh produce for nearby St. Joseph’s Diner, a part of Catholic Services that works to serve the homeless with hot meals and a place to rest 364 days a year. Adrian’s project would pick up where Catholic Services had left off while simultaneously offering a therapeutic project for clients of the Acadiana Recovery Center. The project was successfully marked as completed in the spring of 2017 and, for a time, it had a real impact on the diner’s mission.
Ben Broussard, Catholic Services’ director of external affairs, says that Adrian’s project helped to beautify the neighborhood and create some goodwill between the diner and the community. “There was a positive impact for several months in terms of fresh produce for St. Joseph’s Diner and it gave new access for stakeholders to be engaged in the work we do,” adds Ben. “We’ve always pushed to heighten the community aspect of local volunteerism and involvement. This project was a great example of that.”
Even Great Projects Fail
Eventually, Adrian’s project began to fall prey to many of the same issues that the garden had experienced in its former form. Maintaining the space had a number of security concerns associated with it that began to turn the project into a risk for Catholic Services’ campus and the surrounding community. What had started as something good quickly began to have a negative effect on the neighborhood and, at the end of 2017, Catholic Services was encouraged to bulldoze the garden and shutter Adrian’s project permanently.
While we hate to see the Recovery Garden’s impact fail for reasons outside of our control, the project served as a learning example to future teams and the 24HCP Selection Committee. Lastly, we couldn’t be more proud of Adrian and his team for the hard work and dedication they put into making the garden a reality.
We’re completely on track to occupy the space left from the cancellation of kickoff parade this past year. Krewe de Canailles will now serve as THE Mardi Gras kickoff parade in Lafayette – and we’re bringing it back to downtown! The very talented Burt Durand has designed our logo, which allowed us to create our first official doubloons. These will be a signature throw of every parade, keeping in line with our mission of sustainability. We’re now incredibly close to launching our official website, which will allow the community to begin the signup process in preparation for the big day.
We took part in PARK(ing) Day Lafayette where we announced our inaugural theme – Local Legends! Red Lerille? Wayne Toups? The Cotton Candy Guy from the Cajundome? Pick your favorite Acadiana icon (or icons), and start planning your krewes, costumes, dance routines, and creations! This got us featured in a KATC story featuring a hilarious misspelling of board member Julie Bordelon’s name. Check it out here – https://www.facebook.com/LFTwalkingparade/videos/130458764259865/
We’re also keeping with our mission of inclusivity by reaching out to specific individuals, groups and bands to join the movement. We’re currently in the process of securing the required permits, which involves soliciting signatures from each business located along Jefferson St. It’s an arduous process but a necessary one. Once secured, we’ll reach out to the Lafayette police to schedule our escorts.
Lastly, we are utilizing the service of Casselman Beyt Law Firm to become recognized as a 501(c)7 so we can act as a non-profit organization and our own fiscal agents. This will free up the funding from the 24 Hour Citizen Project donors so that we can really get kicking.
Submit your email at krewedecanailles.com to keep updated on our progress. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @LFTwalkingparade and @krewedecanailles, respectively.
Our biggest lesson learned is that it is best to secure an attorney with the proper experience as early as possible. I did the preliminary research so we could begin collecting funds as early as possible but I ended up pushing back further than it needed to be. Paige Casselman Beyt has been instrumental in righting my wrongs and getting us back on track.
As you may recall, I am the team leader for the Pop-Up Kids Theater, a theatrical program for at-risk children ages 6-12 in the Lafayette area. Things for this project are moving along despite my teammate, Shannon Miller, who has moved out of the area. The good news though is that he is continuing to help with promoting the program within the theater community in the Lafayette through social media outlets.
I have created a Facebook page for Pop-up Kids theater and acquired the domain name for a website. It is in the early stages of development. The website will legitimize our program when we begin community outreach. In an effort to secure a location, I have contacted Girard Park and am working with Melissa Dalcour and Ronnie Chaisson. We are working on getting several options to lower the cost of an indoor space at either Girard Park, Domingue Recreation Center or the George Dupuis Centers. Our projected completion date remains February 1, 2018.
I also attended the Create Summit that was held in August 2017, and shared the idea with attendees in hopes to recruit volunteers. I made contacts with the following people, who are interested in volunteering and promoting the program:
Daniel Ladmirault from Cite des Art
Sarah Mikayla Brown, founder of Silverbacks Improv
Bree Sargent, Education Director of ACA
Cece Cole, artist and educator
Dennis and Kerrie Skerrett, local teachers
Dayna Haynie, artist and art therapist
Blaze Petersen (volunteer)
Rona Landry and daughter Cainwyn Landry (volunteer)
Julia D. Moroux (volunteer)
Trudy Heflin (volunteer)
And lastly, I have partnered with AOC and their field reporters will be taping the program for all 6 events and promoting the show on AOC’s Community message board. It will be broadcasted thru AOC TV channels. We’ve already begun collecting boxes, containers, paints and other items for costume and set design, and we’re about to begin writing the first script in mid-November 2017. Thanks for following my project, and huge thanks (again!) to all the backers that have supported us along the way. I have much more work to be done, and will keep the community updates as we make progress.
