New Orleans Treasure

I recently wrote about my trip to New Orleans to visit my husband’s family. We have been numerous times since Katrina, but each and every time I drive into the city it still shocks me to see sections of the city virtually abandoned. This blog isn’t about the aftermath of Katrina, but a little section of the city that I had the pleasure to visit for the first time and relieved now to know the residents volunteered their time to bring this park back to life.

My mother-in-law had told me leading up to the trip that she had planned for us to go into the city and pick up my husband’s grandmother, so we could spend the afternoon in City Park. Now that we have a little girl, I am getting to experience completely different parts of the city. As I understood, it was essentially a big park in the city with some fun things for the kids. I am thinking playgrounds, etc. That is only the beginning of the things you can discover at one of the best parks I have had the pleasure to tour.

City Park had playgrounds of course, a pond that winds through the park for fishing and an area for exhibitors to come in and set up displays. The best part of the park though was Storyland. It will bring the kid out of everyone. This section of the park had a brick path that wound its way past monuments of story book characters, dinosaurs, castles, whales, fire trucks and everything else you could imagine. If that was not enough, you move onto another section that has amusement park rides, a restored carousel and a train depot, so you can relax while taking a ride through the park.

I am not sure who had more fun that day visiting the park, but I am confident it will be a place we visit regularly when in New Orleans.

As we were leaving the park they started to tell us about some controversial plans for a section of the park and neighboring housing development that was destroyed by Katrina. The project was being modeled after East Lake, but on a much grander scale which would include three golf courses. There are currently two golf courses on that piece of land, but both apparently were badly damaged from the storm and have not yet been brought back to pre-hurricane conditions.

I think that the controversy is over funding, but really hate to speculate since I do not live in New Orleans to hear the daily banter. The city of New Orleans would have a real gem if they can find a way to add the amenities that 3 quality golf courses would offer and still maintain the space and beauty the park currently displays. This may be the destination in New Orleans the city promotes, rather than the evening stroll down Bourbon Street.

Stacy Easley
Director, Rules and Competitions