SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (KNOE) – The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) signed a memorandum of understanding agreement Friday in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The goal of the agreement is to establish a general framework for collaboration between the two universities with the intent of supporting academic cooperation, research engagement, student and faculty exchange, and other joint activities that advance the missions of both universities, a ULM news release said.

“We are honored to partner with the University of Puerto Rico for the advancement of both of our universities. Agreements like this broaden the cultural horizons for all of our students, faculty, and staff, while creating new learning and research opportunities. Thank you to Dr. Conde and her team for joining us in this collaborative vision. This is the beginning of a wonderful partnership,” said ULM President Dr. Carrie L. Castille.

The agreement comes after months of planning and cooperation between the universities, which began when President Castille and other ULM representatives visited Puerto Rico in November 2025 to explore opportunities for future partnerships, ULM said.

The two universities will explore opportunities to enhance academic programs through shared expertise, joint curriculum development, and exchange of academic resources. The agreement also lays the groundwork for students to participate in study-away programs and experiential learning opportunities, while faculty and staff may participate in collaborative research, teaching, and training, the news release said. Under the agreement, both schools may collaborate in pursuing funding opportunities from federal and state agencies, philanthropic organizations, and private foundations, with funding priorities focused on workforce development, cultural exchange, and community engagement. 

“This agreement reflects our shared commitment to expanding opportunities for students, faculty, and researchers while strengthening the ties between Puerto Rico and Louisiana,” said UPR President Dr. Zayira Jordán Conde. “The University of Puerto Rico is proud to partner with ULM to foster innovation, promote cultural exchange, and develop initiatives that will positively impact our communities. We look forward to building a lasting relationship founded on academic excellence, collaboration, and a common vision for preparing future generations to succeed in an increasingly interconnected world.”  

Castille said both universities can learn a lot from each other. She noted Puerto Rico is home to eight of the ten major pharmaceutical manufacturers and ULM has Louisiana’s only publicly funded college of pharmacy. She said ULM’s forthcoming Bachelor of Science in Disaster Management program can potentially aid Puerto Rico in disaster response, readiness and recovery, since the island is vulnerable to hurricanes.

“This moment also reflects something larger—the importance of partnership. Institutions like the University of Puerto Rico and the University of Louisiana Monroe are united in a shared mission: to create opportunity, strengthen communities and prepare students to thrive in a complex and interconnected world. When we work together, we multiply that impact,” said Castille. “Just like Northeast Louisiana, Puerto Rico is working to build the human and physical infrastructure that strengthens its communities. After spending two days on the island and returning to Louisiana, I’m reminded of what a gift this region is and how our partnerships expand opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to learn with and from different culture.”

ULM and Louisiana State University at Alexandra signed a similar agreement in May.  

MONROE, La. (KNOE) – Early voting has begun for Louisiana voters as the state holds its first closed primary runoff.

Deborah Smith said the process has been stressful.

“It’s so confusing. It is so I don’t know. It’s very stressful. It is so stressful right now,” Smith said.

“If you chose Democrat or Republican the first time, then you have to vote Democrat or Republican the second time. You can’t change it now. But if you stay no party during the first party primary, then you have the option,” Isabella Butler, a certified elections registration administrator, said. “Only the people that have the option now are people who didn’t make a selection in the first party primary, they remained a no party voter, or they didn’t vote the first party primary, or they just registered to vote.”

Election officials said voters might be confused with new laws underway. This is Louisiana’s first year with closed primaries.

Early voting starts at 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. To learn about early voting and Election Day locations, click here.

Smith said she wanted to ensure her vote counted.

“I want to make sure that my vote counts. I wanted to make sure that no matter what I was able to cast my ballot,” Smith said.

Early voting will continue through June 20, except on June 14 and 19. Election Day is June 27.

To learn what is on the ballot, click here.

Louisiana’s friendliest small towns tend to make their welcome visible through food, music and festivals. Historic streets and public spaces still bring people together in many of these towns. A town feels especially welcoming when the places visitors enjoy are also where residents gather and celebrate. Each one offers a different version of welcome. Cajun music, arts festivals, historic districts and harvest celebrations all show up in different ways across the ten towns.

Natchitoches

Natchitoches gives visitors one of Louisiana’s most welcoming downtown experiences because so much of the town gathers around Front Street and Cane River Lake. The historic district has restaurants, shops, museums, river views, and old buildings close together, which makes the town feel easy to settle into. The Natchitoches Area Convention & Visitors Bureau describes the city as Louisiana’s original French colony, which was established in 1714, with architecture, cultural heritage, museums, plantations, and year-round festivals still shaping the visit.

The town’s best-known community tradition is the Natchitoches Christmas Festival held downtown along Front Street. The visitors bureau notes that the festival is always held on the first Saturday in December. The season brings more than 300,000 lights, holiday decorations, food booths, carolers, and activities along Front Street. Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum, Cane River carriage tours, and local restaurants add more ways to spend time downtown. Natchitoches feels friendly because the town’s biggest traditions are not tucked away from visitors. They happen in the middle of town.

Breaux Bridge

Breaux Bridge feels welcoming because its identity is built around food, music, and Bayou Teche, all of which are easy for visitors to experience. St. Martin Parish tourism notes that Breaux Bridge is known as the “Crawfish Capital of the World” and traces the town’s roots to Acadian exile Firmin Breaux, who bought land along Bayou Teche in the late 1700s and built a bridge that helped connect the settlement. That origin still fits the town well, since the bayou and downtown remain part of the same visit.

The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival gives the town its biggest moment of friendliness each May. Explore Louisiana says thousands come to the city for the festival, while its festival guide points to crawfish, music, Cajun dance lessons, cooking demonstrations, an étouffée cook-off, and a crawfish-eating contest. Downtown antique shops, the Bayou Teche Visitor Center, Bayou Teche paddling, and nearby Lake Martin swamp tours give visitors several ways to connect with the area outside festival weekend. Breaux Bridge’s welcome comes through in the way local food and Cajun culture stay at the center of town life.

St. Francisville

St. Francisville has a slower kind of friendliness shaped by historic homes, small shops, gardens, and art events that bring people into the middle of town. Explore Louisiana points visitors toward The Myrtles, Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, Audubon State Historic Site, Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area, and Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, giving the town a strong mix of history and outdoor access. Variety helps St. Francisville feel like more than a preserved historic stop. It gives visitors several ways to experience the town’s pace.

The Yellow Leaf Arts Festival is the best example of how St. Francisville turns that hospitality into a community event. The festival takes place in October at Parker Park on Commerce Street and brings more than 50 artists and craftspeople, live music, and children’s activities into town. The event’s scale supports the town’s art, history, and small-business feel without overwhelming it. Between the festival, historic sites, local restaurants, and walkable streets, St. Francisville feels friendly because visitors can step into the town’s rhythm almost immediately.

Abita Springs

Abita Springs makes friendliness feel casual and creative. The town is small, but the area around the trailhead gives visitors a compact place to find local history, music, markets, and community events. The Abita Springs Trailhead Museum, located on Main Street, describes its mission as celebrating and supporting the history and culture of Abita Springs. The museum is also attached to an outdoor performance stage where the town hosts festivals and special events.

The Abita Springs Busker Festival brings that personality into public space with live music and vendors around the Abita Springs Trailhead. The museum’s own calendar also lists the Abita Springs Art and Farmers Market every Sunday, providing the town with a regular gathering point rather than relying solely on annual events. Visitors can also spend time at the Abita Mystery House, use the nearby Tammany Trace, or stop at downtown shops and restaurants. Abita Springs’ creative side is easy to find, whether someone arrives for music, a market, local history, or one of the town’s stranger and more memorable attractions.

Eunice

Eunice belongs on this list because its hospitality is rooted in Cajun music and traditions that still bring people together in public. The Liberty Theater is one of the town’s most recognizable cultural spaces, and Explore Louisiana notes that the historic theater airs a live Cajun radio show on Saturday evenings. The same source points to the Cajun Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, where National Park Service rangers and Cajun cultural programming help tell the broader story of the region.

The town’s biggest community tradition is Courir de Mardi Gras. The Eunice Chamber of Commerce describes the event as a reenactment of the old “feast of begging” tradition from medieval France, with riders and revelers collecting ingredients for a community gumbo on Mardi Gras Day. That tradition gives Eunice a friendliness rooted in participation, music, food, and shared local memory. Visitors can build a trip around the Liberty Theater, Cajun music sites, the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, and Mardi Gras events, which makes Eunice feel like a town that welcomes people through culture rather than surface-level charm.

Rayne

Rayne is friendly in a way that is immediately visible. The town embraces its title as the Frog Capital of the World and Louisiana’s City of Murals, with frog statues, public art, and downtown murals that turn local history into something visitors can actually walk around and see. Rayne’s mural identity came through a partnership between the city and the Rayne Beautification Board, which helped turn local history into public art. The annual Rayne Frog Festival, held each May, brings that same frog theme into the center of town with music, food, vendors, and community events.

That festival is the town’s main community event. The murals offer visitors a year-round experience. Southern Living notes that Rayne’s frog history goes back to its days as a top exporter of bullfrogs, and the town now honors that history through murals by artists such as Robert Dafford, frog statues, parades, music, and festival traditions. Local restaurants, frog-themed stops, and nearby Cajun Country lodging round out the visit. Rayne feels welcoming because it does not treat its unusual identity like a joke. It turns it into public art, community pride, and a townwide invitation to look closer.

Minden

Minden brings a north Louisiana version of friendliness, with historic streets, local festivals, and downtown traditions that feel different from those of the Cajun Country towns farther south. Explore Louisiana describes Minden’s events as a mix of German roots, Carnival traditions, Celtic influences, and holiday lights. That gives the town a festival calendar with more personality than a standard small-town lineup.

The Minden Mardi Gras Fasching Parade is the town’s most distinctive event, blending German Fasching with Louisiana Carnival. In spring, the Scottish Tartan Festival adds bagpipes, traditional dancing, and Celtic cultural demonstrations. The holiday season connects Minden to the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights. Downtown shops, historic buildings, and Webster Parish events keep the town active between those larger weekends. Minden feels friendly because its community traditions are specific and easy to join, whether visitors come for Carnival season, spring festivals, or the holiday lights. The town’s welcome is not only about Southern charm. It comes through in traditions that show how many different cultural threads have shaped the area.

Donaldsonville

Donaldsonville’s friendliness comes through history, food, faith, and River Road culture. Explore Louisiana lists several historic sites in town, including B. Lemann & Bro. Department Store Building, Church of the Ascension of Our Lord, and Donaldsonville’s Historic Portal to the Past. Visitors have access to a downtown and historic-district experience tied to the Mississippi River corridor, not just a quick stop between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The River Road African American Museum is one of the most important places to understand Donaldsonville’s welcome. Visit Louisiana’s Sweet Spot notes that the museum collects, preserves, and exhibits art, artifacts, and buildings related to African American history and culture. Country Roads also describes Donaldsonville as a place where a long African American heritage is preserved through the museum, especially its role in the decades after emancipation. Local restaurants, historic churches, and River Road drives give visitors more to do around town. Donaldsonville invites people into a deeper story of Louisiana history, one tied to community memory, preservation, and the river corridor around it.

Covington

Covington has one of the more active downtown scenes on this list, which makes its friendliness feel visible rather than vague. The City of Covington says its cultural arts office presents public events including block parties, farmers markets, art openings, festivals and live music, many of which take place along the streets of the downtown historic district. That gives the town a regular rhythm of gatherings, not just one large annual event.

The Covington Three Rivers Art Festival is the downtown’s biggest arts gathering, taking over several blocks of Columbia Street with about 200 juried artists working in ceramics, painting, photography, fiber art, woodworking, metalwork, sculpture, jewelry, and more. Downtown restaurants, galleries, shops, and the St. Tammany Art Association add to the town’s creative feel while the Columbia Street Block Party keeps the downtown tied to local life during much of the year. Covington feels friendly because visitors can experience the town through the same streets residents use for art, food, music, markets, and weekend gatherings.

Ponchatoula

Ponchatoula’s friendliness is closely tied to strawberries, local shops, and a spring festival that turns the town into one of Louisiana’s most welcoming seasonal gatherings. The City of Ponchatoula points to its famous strawberry festival, local shops, art galleries, and outdoor adventures as part of the town’s appeal. Explore Louisiana also notes that Ponchatoula is the oldest incorporated city in the parish and hosts the popular Strawberry Festival every spring.

The Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival is the town’s signature event. Festival organizers describe it as the largest free harvest festival in Louisiana, celebrating local strawberry farmers, nonprofits, and the community with three days of food, drinks, live music, rides, and family activities. Downtown Ponchatoula gives visitors antiques, local restaurants, art galleries, and a small-town shopping experience before or after festival time. Ponchatoula feels friendly because its best-known tradition is built around local growers, volunteers, families, and a downtown that knows exactly what it wants to celebrate.

Why These Louisiana Towns Feel So Welcoming

Louisiana’s friendliest small towns are not welcoming in only one way. Natchitoches and St. Francisville use history, art, and festivals to bring people into their downtowns, while Breaux Bridge, Eunice, and Rayne build their hospitality around Cajun food, music, murals, and public traditions. Abita Springs, Minden, Donaldsonville, Covington, and Ponchatoula show how much a town can do with a museum, market, parade, historic district, art festival, or harvest celebration placed at the center of local life. These towns stand out because friendliness is not just something they claim; it’s part of who they are. It shows up in the way people cook, play music, preserve history, sell art, welcome festival crowds, and keep their downtowns active.