7th Annual Bus Fam Field Trip to Jefferson Parish Westbank Attractions was a HUGE SUCCESS!
For our 7th annual Bus Fam Field trip, a sold out 56 passenger Hotard Coach began at 8 am at La Madeleine in Elmwood with complimentary coffee and delicious quiche bites (compliments of MSWIT member Edna Fuentes) before heading across the Huey P. Long Bridge. Our special overall host for the day with the JCVB, MSWIT member Charlene Hale, pointed out key landmarks and history as we passed through Westwego and Bayou Segnette areas before our first stop at the Gretna Historical Society‘s collection of fascinating historic homes and buildings! Mayor Belinda Constant greeted us with a warm welcome and passion for Gretna and then Val Cole and several of her board members gave us tours of each of the 5 amazing structures. Then our incredible bus driver, Charlotte, took us a few blocks away to the German American Cultural Center and Museum where Carol Schlueter and Ira Hopkins gave us a big “willkommen” and briefly explained how the German settlers from the 1700’s were instrumental in developing what is known as the City of Gretna! We topped this part of the day’s agenda with a fabulous lunch experience at The Red Maple Restaurant and want to thank Carroll Gales who showed us her passion about our experiencing what her family has offered locals and visitors for the past 63 years!
Then we headed Southeast to another great destination…the town of Lafitte passing several great landmarks along the way including the JPRD in Marrero’s fabulous Parc des Familles, which offers visitors an 18 hole disc golf course that is in a Cypress Bayou Swamp and it hosts international tournaments with top tier players. It also offers a raised boardwalk through a marsh area, fishing piers, kayak rental and launch areas, a dog park, and a spray park (splash pad), along with picnic tables and pavilions. Both the mountain bike trail and the walking trail connect to this area.
As we crossed over the bridge to Lafitte for a tour of the brand new Louisiana Wetlands Educational Center, and a walk on the Wetlands Trace, we are greeted by Lafitte’s newly elected Mayor Yvette Crain, and hear all about this amazing new venue. Many of us took advantage of the gorgeous weather and walked inside the wetlands trail. We then headed a few blocks away to the Airboat Adventures impressive dock and pavillon for some additional education and lots of fun as we celebrated “happy hour style” with each of us crafting our very own decoupage and hand painted oyster shell to take home with us. We want to thank MSWIT member Brittany Perrin, her husband Jordan Hughes, and Brett Bares who hosted this extremely fun afternoon. Since Grand Isle is part of Jefferson Parish, but way too far away for a bus ride, we brought a piece of Grand Isle to Lafitte with Jonathan Hughes, owner of Island Oyster Company, treating all of us to some freshly shucked oysters and educated us on this new way of raising these “gem” oysters “off bottom”, year round! We then had a sneak peek tour of Airboat Adventures new pride and joy…the Paddlewheeler Betsy Ann…a sternwheeler riverboat that will soon operate tours and private charters from this location. There wasn’t enough time to actually offer the “Hour & 45 minute” airboat ride but we were all given a voucher to come back for the first hand swamp experience.
As we gathered back on the bus to return to the Eastbank, Charlene Hale gave us some descriptive details about several great attractions in the Avondale area including NOLA Motorsports Park, the new John Alario, Jr. Sports Complex, as well as the new Tripps Treehouse located in Lafreniere Park in Metairie.
A big thank you to MSWIT members Kate Wendel with JEDCO for donating the cloth tote bags and to Shannon Dallas with Hotard Coaches for your very “special” assistance, as well as all our Board Members who helped in so many ways. An event like this takes a group effort to make it a success but the major kudos go to our two specific members…