Outdoors: Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

City Park's miniature golf course opens May 24

Kevin Allman — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:53:00 -0500

New Orleans City Park is getting a new 36-hole golf course — a miniature golf course. City Putt will have its grand opening May 24 across from the entrance to Storyland and the Botanical Gardens.…

St. Roch Park set to open summer 2013

Alex Woodward — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:51:00 -0600

The $1.8 million park project anchoring St. Roch Avenue should wrap before summer, according to city officials who announced the plans from outside the park gates this afternoon. Construction on the park's pool, however, will wait as the city and park planners gather more funding — the city already has $400,000 from FEMA dedicated to restoring the existing pool.…

NOPD offers free bike registration

Alex Woodward — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:15:27 -0600

The New Orleans Police Department, with the Fraternal Order of Police and Bike Easy, will offer bicyclists free licenses and registration from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5.…

4 (FOUR!) second line parades this weekend

Red Cotton — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:23:00 -0500

Take your vitamins and get your street shoes out cause we bout to get busy this weekend. Four (4) second line parades happening this weekend, three downtown, one uptown: Black Men of Labor, 6t'9 Halloween Parade, Men and Ladies of Class, and Treme 200 United Second Line.

For all you do New Orleans, this weekend is for you!

(parade times and routes below the jump!)

…

Scenes from the 2012 Louisiana Bicycle Festival

Kandace Graves — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 22:40:21 -0500

The 2012 Louisiana Bicycle Festival in Abita Springs Saturday, June 16, attracted a large group of bicycle aficionados as well as bike riders of all types and ages drawn to a festival ground filled with bikes from a variety of time periods as well as bike parts, accessories and live music.

Here's a sampling of what was there (Click on the photos for a larger image):

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Bicycle festival in Abita Springs Saturday

Kandace Graves — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:51:00 -0500

Bike enthusiasts of all types will gather in downtown Abita Springs Saturday, June 16, for the 12th annual Louisiana Bicycle Festival to swap, buy, sell or just admire human ingenuity on two wheels. (Photos shown here were taken at past festivals.)…

Free Jumpin’ into Summer celebration Saturday

Kandace Graves — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 22:06:30 -0500

The annual Jumpin’ into Summer at the Covington Trailhead celebration starts at 10 a.m. and runs until noon tomorrow (Saturday, June 2).

The City of Covington sponsors the kickoff to summer with activities that are children- and family-friendly.…

W Hotel opens its rooftop pool to public on Sundays this summer

Lauren LaBorde — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:34:00 -0500

We're in the beginning of Ew Season in New Orleans, when it's a million degrees every day and spending time as much time as possible submerged in cool water seems to be the only away to avoid dying. But where to swim?…

Voodoo Music Experience: Campout — and glampout — info

Kevin Allman — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:55:00 -0500

Even more interesting than the early Voodoo Music Experience lineup (Green Day, Neil Young, Skrillex, etc.) was the news that Voodoogoers will have the chance to camp out in New Orleans City Park. (Yes, Gambit will be doing it.)…

Jane Jacobs Walk 2012

Megan Braden-Perry — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:00:05 -0500

Urbanist, activist and community organizer Jane Jacobs once said, "Not TV or illegal drugs, but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of American communities." Known for her role in cancelling neighborhood-invading highway development in Manhattan and Toronto, she believed neighbors could come together to explore their own communities and find unique solutions to their neighborhood's problems.…

Comiskey Park reopens in Mid-City

Kevin Allman — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:44:29 -0500

Comiskey Park and Playground — once a neighborhood landmark, but a blight on a tough corner of Mid-City since Hurricane Katrina and the federal floods — was reopened today by Mayor Mitch Landrieu. The park had received national attention in 2007 when a production company planned to remake the park and document the effort in a reality TV/documentary show titled ReNewOrleans.…

Winn Dixie breaks ground in Mid-City

Kevin Allman — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:14:00 -0500

Steam shovels provided the backdrop for this morning’s groundbreaking for the new Winn-Dixie shopping complex at S. Carrollton and St. Louis streets in Mid-City. The lot — site of a former Bohn car dealership — has sat fallow since Hurricane Katrina and the federal floods.…

Louisiana gets 16 young whooping cranes

Kandace Graves — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:39:59 -0600

Southwest Louisiana’s colony of endangered whooping cranes grew to 19 Tuesday, when wildlife officials released 16 young birds into the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in Gueydan to join the three adult cranes placed there in March. The releases are part of a 15-year experimental program to establish a nonmigratory population of whooping cranes in Louisiana.

Similar programs to build whooping crane populations in the wild are under way in two other locations, and captive-breeding projects are being conducted at a dozen locations across the U.S. and Canada.…

Armstrong Park reopens to public

Kevin Allman — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:30:00 -0600

Sage was burned, the Treme Brass Band played, and Congo Square dancers did the bamboula at the Nov. 18 reopening of Armstrong Park in the Treme, which had been behind chain-link fence since last year when it became clear that the Roots of Music Sculpture Garden had been installed shoddily. Making the repairs and reopening the park was a stated goal in Mayor Mitch Landrieu's State of the City address earlier this year, and before he cut the ceremonial ribbon, Landrieu acknowledged the work had been done with "a lotta fits, a lotta starts and a lotta anxiety."

A few images from the park and from the ceremony:

More details below the jump.…

Son of a Saint collects sports equipment for kids

Kandace Graves — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:53:30 -0500

It’s time to clean out your garage/attic/closets/nooks and crannies and donate youth sports equipment you no longer use to REPLAY, the Son of a Saint Sports Foundation recycling program for youth sports equipment. Son of a Saint, which helps boys 9-13 who have no father in the home participate in organized sports, is collecting new and used sports equipment and has partnered with area groups to make drop-off easy.…

Hairy crazy ants come to Louisiana

Kandace Graves — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:26:02 -0500

They’re almost cute, the tiny reddish-brown ants sparsely covered with spiky hairs and with a tendency to run around in circles. But as people who live in Texas, Mississippi and Florida will attest, the 2 milimeter-long pests are destructive and very difficult to control.…

New Orleans dubbed a "Bicycle Friendly" city

Alex Woodward — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:27:36 -0500

The League of American Bicyclists today announced the recipients of its 2011 Bicycle Friendly Community designations. New Orleans was among 11 cities added to the list for the first time, including Omaha, Neb., Saint Paul, Minn., and Santa Fe, N.M. Bill Nesper, director of the League’s Bicycle Friendly America program, says the organization is "especially pleased to see so many communities improving their award level.”

The release announcing the awards specifically commends New Orleans: "(The city) has seen its number of bike commuters increase by more than 150 (percent) in the last five years.…

A Louisiana summer

Wendy Rodrigue — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:33:49 -0500

Did you see me last week at the Gretna BMX track? Granted, I was disguised, although not deliberately, behind the darkest sunglasses in the drawer, along with a well thought-out ensemble, a t-shirt and ripped jeans, far from my usual society-page attire.…

Swamp Women

Wendy Rodrigue — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:27:14 -0500

“Oh, this stinkin’ swamp water stinks!” —from the movie Swamp Women, 1955

Early one recent morning I met George Rodrigue in the garage for the two-hour drive to Lafayette, Louisiana, where we were to meet some friends from California at the Blue Dog Café. I was running late.…

Chris Paul hosts CP3 Foundation Golf Classic fundraiser

Kandace Graves — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:26:17 -0500

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It’s a good time to ditch work and start the Independence Day weekend early by attending the third annual Chris Paul Foundation Golf Classic at English Turn Country Club on Friday, July 1. You can watch lots of sports stars swing their clubs — and the proceeds go to a good cause.…

2011 Geaux Fish offers $275,000 in prizes

Kandace Graves — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:33:27 -0500

What better way is there to make a huge paycheck than fishing? String up your lures or live bait, jump in a boat and cast your way to $250,000 in cash.…

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Today Show features Atchafalaya Basin

Kandace Graves — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:55:57 -0500

Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, filmed a segment for the Today Show spotlighting the Atchafalaya Basin and Cajuns' way of life. View it here. It was good PR for the state.…
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Mapping shoreline activity in Louisiana

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:38:00 -0500

There’s an adage among geographers that you can’t manage the landscape without measuring it first.…
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2011 Hibiscus Show at Ursuline Academy

Kandace Graves — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:32:05 -0500

Do you have some extraordinarily beautiful hibiscus that you think might be award winners? Or do you just want to dress up your yard with some of the newest and most sought-after cultivars of hibiscus.?…
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Don't mess with wildlife escaping floodwaters: Scenes from the Atchafalaya Basin

Kandace Graves — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:06:00 -0500

As water gushes from the opened gates of the Morganza Spillway into the Atchafalaya Basin — and the Atchafalaya River laps over its own banks — wildlife are fleeing the expanding flooded areas and heading for higher ground. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is warning people to let wild animals be, even if you see them lying on a levee for a long while.…
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