Louisiana
Music, food, fun mark Tet Festival celebrating lunar new year in New Orleans
Signs written in Vietnamese, a few bearing English translations, pointed guests to New Orleans’ annual Tet Festival on Saturday, the lunar new year celebration held at Mary Queen of Vietnam Church in Michoud.
“People do it to bring us all together,” said Chris Lai, a member of the church. They’re “saying that ‘we’re still here.’”
In New Orleans, Lai said, the festival is a chance for people to see friends they haven’t encountered in years. It has grown in the decades since the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans resettled 2,100 Vietnamese refugees in southeast Louisiana in the late 1970s, after Saigon fell to communist forces fighting the U.S. military.
“You’re looking at the second generation,” Lai said. “They all come home.”Â
In 2024, the Year of the Dragon began on Feb. 10, but locals celebrate for weeks before and after the lunar new year itself.
Vietnamese signature dishes anchored the festival, as residents volunteered their time and resources to make banh mi, pho and other foods. More offered activities, including darts and face painting, to raise money for the church. Musicians played on a stage in the middle of the parking lot.
Lai called the festival a “way of giving back.”Â
“They spend the money, they sponsor the booth, and all the sales go straight to the church,” he said.Â
Mai Nguyen, a Sisters of the Holy Rosary nun, was attending a wedding inside Mary Queen of Vietnam’s chapel. She walked around the festival to enjoy its sights and sounds just after the wedding let out.Â
“It’s a coming together … not only to support the family values but also the culture, the Vietnamese culture,” she said.Â
Nguyen said the lunar celebration reminds her to be resilient, and of the new year’s blessings.
“This year is ‘be strong and fly high like the dragon,’” she said. “Come and enjoy [the festival] … friendship, the food.”Â
Ken Xu and Bree Ritz, both originally from Portland, Oregon attended the festival mostly to eat but also to immerse themselves in a part of southeast Asian culture that they said they don’t often see celebrated in the New Orleans area.
“It’s hard to find stuff like this,” Ritz said. “Exposure is important, especially to different cultures.”Â
Xu, who has Chinese heritage, said the festival was welcoming, as it felt familiar to his own cultural celebration of the lunar new year.Â
“It’s always nice to see,” Xu said. “I like that it’s a place where anybody can come and share in culture.”Â
New Orleans East native Erin Malone said she came to the festival as a tribute to her upbringing. She went to Lake Castle School in the neighborhood and was raised around Vietnamese Americans.Â
Saturday was a chance to celebrate it for her, especially by trying pho for the first time.Â
“I’m usually more of a curry girl, so I’m excited” she said.Â
Louisiana ranks among the top 10 most affordable states to retire, according to a new study from Retirement Living, a national journal of retirement research.
Researchers analyzed each state’s housing costs, living expenses and tax friendliness to compile the ranking. Louisiana, they say, is the eighth most affordable state for retirees.
In Louisiana, the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $932, the median home sale price is $255,000, monthly grocery spend per capita is $272, the average price per gallon of regular gas is $4, the average Medicare Advantage monthly premium is $13.35 and the average effective property tax rate is 0.55%.
West Virginia is the most affordable state to retire, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, Indiana and Kansas. Researchers describe the South as “the sweet spot for an affordable retirement.”
The most expensive state to retire, meanwhile, is California, followed by Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Utah, New York and Minnesota.
Read Retirement Living’s full report here.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – With hurricane season approaching, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is bringing the community together to prepare before a storm forms.
“We can’t stop disasters from happening. We can’t stop hurricanes from happening. But what we can do is equip our communities with the resources that they need to prepare for these storms ahead of time,” said Jayda Morris, CPRA outreach manager.
The agency hosted an event featuring interactive storm simulations and a full model of the Mississippi River.
“If you do it now, like on a sunny day like today, you’re ready to go for the rest of the season,” Jay Grymes said.
El Niño may reduce storms, but Louisiana still at risk
State Climatologist Jay Grymes said an El Niño pattern may reduce the number of storms in the Atlantic but warned against a false sense of security.
“In those 25 years, Louisiana, some part of the state has been impacted by 29 storms. That’s one a year, regardless of El Niño. So that should tell you something,” Grymes said.
He said the bigger concern is storms that can form in the Gulf with little warning.
“If we’re going to get a storm, it very possibly could be one that bubbles up in the Gulf and doesn’t give us five or seven days to track it coming our way. It gives us 40 hours to get ready for a landfall. So it’s imperative that you go ahead and do it now,” Grymes said.
Preparation goes beyond stocking water
Preparing now includes walking through yards, checking trees, and knowing whether everyone in the family can survive two weeks without power.
PhD students with the LSU College of the Coast and Environment gave the community a virtual reality experience that puts users inside a storm.
“If they wear the goggles or play with the Apple Vision Pro, they can understand how high will the flood be, and they can know how dangerous is the hurricane scenario,” said Yixuan Wang.
The VR simulation uses real historical data to show users what compound flooding looks like in New Orleans and surrounding areas. The goal is to make the science real for people who can’t picture what a flood map means.
“It’s just to let you understand the environment. We will add the audios, the different sound of the wind and the storm. And you can see how tense of the rainfall around you,” Wang said.
Organizers said the event is about making sure that when a storm threatens the area, families already know their plan.
Information from the event is available on CPRA’s website. Hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana homeowners can get financial help to upgrade their roofs and ensure they can better stand up to strong storms.
According to the Louisiana Department of Insurance, registration for next Louisiana Fortify Homes Program lottery opens at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 1. The registration period will stay open through 5 p.m. on Friday, June 19.
Under the latest round of the program, 3,000 grants of up to $10,000 will go out. After applying, homeowners will get placed into a lottery and will be randomly selected.
There are many specific benefits of having a roof upgraded through the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program. Officials said the roofs have stronger shingles that can protect against hail up to two inches wide, sealed roof decks to help prevent water damage, and stronger edges to keep wind from getting underneath.
Homeowners with a fortified roof can also get a certificate to receive a discount on insurance premiums.
“At the end of the day, this program is about more than just roofs,” said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. “It is about protecting families, it is about strengthening communities, and it is about putting Louisiana in a stronger position—both physically and economically—to face the challenges ahead.”
Only people living in Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish, Assumption Parish, Tangipahoa Parish, Acadia Parish, Calcasieu Parish, Cameron Parish, Iberia Parish, Jefferson Parish, Jefferson Davis Parish, Lafayette Parish, Lafourche Parish, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Martin Parish, St. Mary Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and Vermilion Parish are eligible to apply for the latest round of the program.
People living in a newly built home, mobile home, or condominium are not qualified.
For a detailed list of eligibility requirements, click here.
If a person registered for the program previously, he or she must do so again. The person will also need to provide the following information:
- A homestead exemption on the primary residence.
- A policy of insurance that provides wind coverage for the primary residence.
- A flood insurance policy on the primary residence if it is in a special flood hazard area.
For more information about applying, click here.
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